Photo/Wu Linjing (NBD)

The Starship, which is over 120 meters long and about 40 stories tall, is a ticket to Mars built by Musk for the people of Earth.

How many people want to board this "ship" to Mars? On October 19, 2023, at the "Elon Musk's Dreams and Distances: How SpaceX Was Refined" salon at the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Conference, when the host asked the question and invited the audience who wanted to board Mars to raise their hands, a child in the audience couldn't help but exclaim, "So many people!"

However, the road to human exploration of space is long. On April 20, US time, SpaceX's launched Starship exploded in the air about 4 minutes after liftoff. In the eyes of outsiders, the plan to board Mars on the Starship was dealt a heavy blow.

But what people still remember is that in the live video of the rocket launch, the SpaceX team cheered and applauded when the explosion occurred. What were they celebrating, a fireworks display worth 30 billion dollars? National Business Daily (NBD) got some answers at this salon.

After the Starship exploded in the air, the SpaceX team analyzed that the cause was an unexpected failure when the booster and the ship were separated. Elon Musk did not think that this launch mission was a complete failure, saying that he had learned a lot of lessons for the next launch in a few months, and even posted on social media saying, "Congratulations to the SpaceX team."

SpaceX's former executive Lewis Hong mentioned at the salon, "As long as the Starship does not explode on the launch pad, it is considered a success. This is a joke that everyone in the team often makes."

The breakthrough of the Starship is not only its "bigness", but also its "low cost".

Lewis Hong introduced that the construction of the Starship has reduced the cost of transporting one kilogram of goods from 20,000 US dollars per kilogram to 100 US dollars per kilogram, which is a very important milestone in space infrastructure. The drastic reduction in costs has made the goal of achieving space travel much closer.

Photo/Wu Linjing (NBD)

When the Falcon 1 entered orbit, it proved that SpaceX was a real rocket company. When the Falcon 9 completed the recovery, SpaceX's costs were greatly reduced, from being unprofitable to making a small profit. SpaceX became the "1", and it has been operating ever since, becoming a legendary existence among commercial space companies.

In Lewis Hong's view, the reason why SpaceX has grown rapidly in the past decade is due to the team's culture.

First, it is "long-term thinking." SpaceX has never defined itself as a rocket company. Its ultimate mission is to explore the universe. Lewis Hong said that this vision attracted a lot of talent from all over the world to come to Silicon Valley to join the team and work together to develop various series of rockets for their dreams.

Secondly, it is "not to think that any goal is a pipe dream." Lewis Hong said that there is a standard in the team, "Anything that does not violate science or physics can be achieved."

Lewis Hong also introduced that Elon Musk is a very focused and consistent person in his work. "What he said to the outside world, to the team, and ten years ago is basically the same as what he said now. In addition, he always speaks his goals and expectations straightforwardly in his work, although his standards are easy to understand, but they are generally very difficult to achieve."

These cultures are attractive enough to SpaceX investor Zhang Lu. She said that the innovative ecosystem of commercial space in Silicon Valley is still thriving. Just two months ago, her fund also invested in another startup company that manages space traffic.

Zhang Lu mentioned that although the risk of starting a business in commercial space is very high, the related entrepreneurship and investment have not stopped in Silicon Valley. As an investor in the field of commercial space, Zhang Lu values the belief of entrepreneurs more. "I want to change the world and create wealth, but the most important thing is to change the world."

After decades of development, space technology has long been beyond launching rockets and launching satellites. Scenes such as space mining and Mars immigration, which are full of science fiction colors, are gradually becoming a reality. How far humans can travel in the universe depends on aerospace technology, spacecraft technology, rocket technology, and energy technology.

Behind the stars and the sea, there are decades of hard work. SpaceX employees cheered for the "feasibility" that has been verified through this explosion