Joining the Thrillionaires 314
learn a lot from the suborbital RLVs [Reusable Launch
Vehicle]. Of all the suborbital RLVs, I like John Carmack’s
approach the best, as it has the clearest upgrade path to
orbital capability.”53,285
Another competitor in the modern space race is Copen-
hagen Suborbitals. The 22-employee strong space venture
from Denmark developed a rocket with the goal to launch
themselves into space. They wanted to show the world that
human space flight is possible without any major govern-
ment budgets and administration. In 2011, they launched a
rocket with a full-scale human model inside of the space-
craft Tycho Brahe, named after the Danish astronomer. But
the rocket began to veer off course and had to be aborted
21 seconds after the launch.^398
Elon’s long-term goal with SpaceX is to help, not only
trained astronauts, but also ordinary humans to begin
living on Mars. “The goal of SpaceX has been to advance
technology to create a self-sustaining colony on Mars,” Elon
said. “We have a long way to go and this is really hard
work. It’s the most difficult thing humanity has ever done,
but also the most interesting and inspiring.”^50
To always be reminded of this goal, there’s a large
photo of the red planet in the entrance to the SpaceX
factory. There’s also a picture of how Mars will look like
when the planet is colonized and transformed to be more
Earth-like. “Over time you could terraform the planet and
make it like Earth,” Elon said. “You heat the planet up by