SpaceX Could Make Transatlantic Commercial Flights In Just Half An Hour Possible By 2030, Investors Claim

Futurists have long predicted exciting technological changes that could revolutionize society; by flying cars, robot assistants and all-in-one food pills. But while technology has really changed our lives beyond our wildest dreams, it seems mostly to have been concentrated in regions like convenience, communication and online connectivity. Now we could have everything we could possibly desire brought to our doorsteps, whilst we take bunny-ear-filtered selfies and argue about meaningless topics on social media.

Still, there are some people who dream big and give us tantalizing glimpses of real technological wonders, things that would really shake things up and make the world a better place. Elon Musk is most likely the best known of these people. The South African entrepreneur is the creator and lead designer of SpaceX; co-founder and CEO of Tesla, Inc. and has been chairman of SolarCity. According to Forbes, he has a net worth of around 21 Billion dollars.

Picture credits: elonmusk

However, while his Tesla and SolarCity projects promise a greener, cleaner and more sustainable future, these firms appear to be bogged down with suits and other problems. SpaceX, however, seems to be going from strength to strength, with a string of successful launches putting it in the forefront of space exploration and travel in the 21st century.

The latest sensationalist headlines around the company focus on the ‘proposals ’ of UBS, a Swiss investment firm that believes that extended flights will probably be made obsolete by SpaceX’s 18,000miles Starship rocket, due to make its first manned flight in 2023. Jarrod Castle and Myles Walton, financial analysts with UBS, stated : “Although some might see the potential to use space to support the long-haul travel marketplace as science fiction, we believe there is a large market. ”

Picture credits: elonmusk

“While space tourism is still in a nascent phase, we believe that as technology becomes proven, and the price falls because of competition and technology, space tourism will become more mainstream. ”

Picture credits: SpaceX

While Starship is envisaged to carry humans to the moon and Mars, those men from UBS speculated that the biggest potential for the rocket lies in replacing long-haul traveling on Earth. By 2030, 20-hour slogs from London to Sydney will rather be a quick blast to the edge of space and back again, slashing the travel time to less than an hour. Somehow they managed to come up with the unusually precise figure of 29 minutes for the London to New York leg. SpaceX themselves have not made any plans or claims concerning this kind of Earth-based travel.

Picture credits: SpaceX

Picture credits: elonmusk

Starship is intended to carry only 100 passengers, so these imaginary flights are probably going to be accessible only for the uber-wealthy, while the rest of us continue with our Netflix marathons while flying market on a normal airplane.

Continuing their wild speculation , the financial analysts said that space tourism to Mars and other planets will also become a reality with resorts queuing up to build rooms in space stations.

They also believe that the wider space industry, which is now worth around $400bn billion now, will be worth $800 billion by 2030. We will believe it when we see it. Now, where did I leave my hoverboard…

Picture credits: SpaceX

As for me, I’d rather see Mr. Musk continue to invest in his sustainability projects that could actually make a difference to the health of our planet, rather than flying businessmen quickly and easily between Shanghai and New York. However, kudos to him for pushing the boundaries of human endeavor and imagination. Maybe, thanks to him, we shall be able to pack our bags and move to Mars one day, after we have trashed our own planet once and for all.