Joris Luypaert, LL.M., Founder ONESTAGETOSPACE.COM

“Our generation wants to go to MARS and do the other things. Humanity will benefit from expanding our presence in the solar system and our organisation aims to design a reusable vehicle to enable it. It took a lot of studying to define this vehicle, but today… it can be done. The technology required to build a low cost and versatile civilian vehicle that can take us there and back, or to any destination within the solar system already exists. So we do it. We build it. We go.”

Also, the space market is growing. There are more customers and the costs to design, test and operate a vehicle are smaller. Today it is possible for a small commercial team to realize this dream and solve the engineering challenges involved. You no longer need unlimited public funds to finance this. Private investment, even in a small country, can obtain the permits, buy the computing tools, the talent, the materials, the technical assistance, the time on the test stands. Customers are eagerly awaiting for this service to materialize. Businesses, large and small, welcome the extra opportunities to fly payloads, experiments and people. The new scientific discoveries and the profitable commercial services it will enable, are more than enough justification. As a bonus, a commercial launch company can be profitable at a much lower cost for the customer. So yes, there is a whole lot to smile about with regards to the opportunities in the space market.”

“If you can’t afford to buy a ticket on a boat, then you have to assemble a team, gather the wood and build the boat yourself. Ours just travels a little bit further.”

“Why Space?  Well, I was just born with a passion for space and, growing up with NOVA and BBC Documentaries on scientific and human exploration,… I … No, lets face it…I saw all those shows and am very much into science, but more importantly it was because of the optimism of the Captain of the Enterprise, Jean Luc Picard, in Star Trek: the Next Generation. Thanks to the Millenium Falcon, E.T., Dune, Stargate and every Sci Fi show you can think off, I developed an unwavering ambition and excitement to visit space; so pursuing this path was always in the cards. I want to go. Having a few astronauts going in our place, simply is not good enough. I like to believe we all have the right stuff.”

And more seriously. Having access to the resources in the solar system and beyond would mean a shift to an abundance paradigm, the recognition that there are no physical limits to the resources at our disposal. We could do that today, on Earth, but I think that the leap into space, with her unlimited resources, and the need for space crews to manage their resources optimally, might be the catalyst to drive humanity to reconsider the relationship it has with resources in general… It might shift our thinking about the need for transactional economic markets as a distribution mechanism. But for now, and the next century, I think good old Space Capitalism will be an excellent driver for exploration.  And even if it eventually means that humanity will spread out or disperse into the solar system and beyond, we will, at heart, always be connected by the space between us.

Personally reading about Rocket science, the industry and tech for 30 years, I started noticing that the really good ideas were all tested with great success, and yet never made it into production. Funding issues, risk averse reflexes, mismanagement being the only problems. This means that a lot of technologies are available, offer synergies, and can offer better performance at lower cost… Someone should really start a company and use those technologies…

What about you?

If you are an explorer, an artist, a doer or a thinker, then join the effort. Life on Earth would do well with a back up plan. But is that what drives you? Not me. I just want to explore. And not through the lens of a robot. With my own eyes. Imagine what lies out there, hidden in a crater, or beneath the ice, in the oceans of EUROPA, GANYMEDE and TITAN. Is there life on MARS? Shouldn’t we visit Cydonia region and just take a close look at that mysterious face? What about the so called pyramids? Are they artificial? Who doesn’t like a good mystery?  We can search for signs of life anywhere and in a commercial space program, you do what you want; or not? Should MARS become an unusable reserve modeled after Antarctica, as some strict COSPAR adherents would have it? Are the Space Treaties outdated? Can we and do we “use” Mars and its resources for colonization or as an agricultural colony? Does the universe have a stop sign saying: “Don’t Touch !!”? What will other planets teach us about the evolution of life on Earth? What do other religions teach us about space exploration? Will we find God waving at us from on top an asteroid passing by? Can we thrive on other planets?  What does it mean to stand on their surface and take it all in? Could I or your family plant a tree under a dome and could we see the beginning of a new world?  Leave your comment below.

For me, it is about the experience. And the growing realization that we can turn the most hopeful visions for the future into reality, just moves me into action.

Maybe Les Brown, the American motivational speaker, says it the best:

“It is possible.”

See, it is possible. Les Brown said so and I do believe it.

So,  I am curious about the reasons why you would go into space. Science? Meet Von Daniken’s ancient Aliens? Annunaki Gods? Reptilians? Or…enable international cooperation? To make all of humanity wealthy and resource abundant?

Why don’t you give us your reasons why we should travel into space?