Why you should start your business now, Space exploration, colonization and tourism Source YouTube
...he will do it, but not alone.
He needs a million people to help him, or you or anybody else won't be able to get there.
Here is how you can help and also leave your mark on the red planet.
there are two mindsets for viwing the SpaceX's path to Mars:
- Consumeral
- Entrepreneurial
Give me what I want for as few money as I have to pay
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Sadly many see space exploration throught this consumerist lens. Even if they don't mention it so drastically they still just have only one way to support: with their money. Some even may go as low and, instead of investing their own money by buying goods, just demand government to pay for their wishes with other peoples money.
Similar to a tourist, they just expect to get what they pay for. A huge industry in those countries that can offer what people want.
It stands on the back of people who can silence their desires just enough, so that they can think about what they would have to do to get what others want.
How can I make other people give me what I want?
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To think about the other persons perspective, shows intuitive understanding that each trade is done to mutual benefit - Both parties have to profit if a voluntary exchange has to be done.
Money as exchange medium makes it easy to forget this: Prices are not open for debate in supermarkets because the speed of exchange is more important than bargaining with each customer.
But when you are the one selling stuff, you need to find out what good or service you have to offer, so that others exchage it with you.
The benefit here is that you have an unlimited amount of options to choose from. Every person values products different, even the same person changes their percieved value of a product every minute.
A bar of gold and a glass of water might have a very different value to a man in London and another one alone in the desert.
This enables entrepreneurs to chose the market according to their interests and the area where they excel in. Meanwile everyone is pretty much the same proficient in spending money.
Many problems equals many business opportunities
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The behavior above is shown by many people that just comment in groups. They wait until they can buy their ticket.
On the other side, people are starting businesses:
- SpaceX
- Planetary Ressources
- Deep Space Industries
- Virgin Galactic
- Blue Origin
- Bigelow Aerospace
and many more.
In his first presentation about his Mars endeavor, Elon Musk broke down his plan with the following Venn-diagram:
Picture is from waitbuywhy.com. Read his article about Elon Musks plan it's awesome!
Now at the first glance it looks like Elon already got your back: he is reducing the costs to get to Mars enough to enable a million people to get there and then we all win. What you might recognize thought, is that it is again in the consumer mindset. While this is already giving up your ability to influence it to your liking, it also leaves aside all the other needs you will encounter once you get to Mars.
Keep in mind that we expect...no we want a million people to live on Mars. Self sufficient and happy at that. Think about living with a million people on the colony and then imagine that you will not be resupplied by earth: what will it be like and then rethink how can this somehow be awesome?
Why making a Mars business?
For a business involving Mars we have to interpret Elons Venn-diagram the following:
If you invest in Mars, you increase the chance that it will actually happen. This would mean that your products and maybe even yourself would have a significant impact for people going to and living on Mars. This in turn could attract previous investment and thus enable tackling even harder problems, that might occure on Mars. By solving more and more harder problems, you continue to make going to Mars easier.
It takes many people to make a place worth living. Even if it is easy to get there, it needs to be a place worth staying. On Mars it is not possible to buy comfort, upgrate your appartment-membership or book a luxury packet. All this needs to be build first.
The matresses for the lounge chairs have to be made with carbon pulled from the thin martian air. The meter high panoramic windows at the edge of Labrinthus Noctis have to be cast from purified regolith. The grapes and whine have to be cultured in inflateable greenhouses. Build by machines that where build from the soil the plants may grow on.
There is a lot to do on the red planet.
Your Mars Business
Gettin a business idea for Mars is pretty easy, you can do it in three steps:
- Think about what you would like to have on Mars. Right now you got a lot of sand, a dim sunlight and a lot of real estate.
Sandboarding, cinema, archelogic sites, water, air, a nice place to sleep.
- Think about if there are other people would like it. You can try it out aswell, just describe your idea in a quick article and post it in one of the many Facebook groups.
"Hey guys! Did you think about living in a tight community with a million people could lead to a really smelly situation? You think this could be a problem?"
- Think about a technical solution, that is self sufficient.
Easy: Ship a million cans of Axe bodyspray every three months.
Hard: Make something similar on Mars.
Pro: Make something on Mars that is so good it will be exported to Earth.
There you got your plan.
You got 2 to 15 years headstart for your experimentation, depending on which stage of colonization your product will need to get a grip.
So start tinkering!
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