[Global Focus] Similar but Archrivals... The 'Space War' of the World's Top 1st and 2nd Richest Individuals

Jeff Bezos vs Elon Musk
Parents Divorced, Immigrant-Origin IT Entrepreneurs
Childhood Dream of Space Exploration Becomes Reality
NASA Rocket Leasing and Patent Battles Repeatedly Clash

▲Jeff Bezos (left) and Elon Musk (right)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] On the 3rd (local time), the Mars colonization spacecraft 'Starship' developed by the private space development company SpaceX exploded immediately after landing. This is the third consecutive time that a Starship prototype has exploded during a test launch. SpaceX plans to carry up to 12 people on Starship for a round trip to the Moon within two years. The ultimate goal is to send an exploration team to Mars. Previously, Starship prototypes were test-launched on December 9 last year and on the 3rd of last month, but both exploded during landing.

Another private company, Blue Origin, recently succeeded in the 14th test flight of its reusable low Earth orbit space tourism vehicle, the 'New Shepard' propulsion system and capsule. Although this achievement is regarded as significant ahead of the first manned flight scheduled for April, Blue Origin adopted a secrecy strategy, stating "nothing has been decided yet." This is widely interpreted as being conscious of SpaceX, which succeeded in launching a private manned spacecraft earlier than Blue Origin.

Blue Origin is led by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and SpaceX by Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla. The world's richest and second-richest individuals are both deeply involved in space development.

▲Blue Origin's 'New Shepard' rocket

◆ Bezos Was Faster to Start = Musk and Bezos have many similarities. Both are successful IT entrepreneurs, both experienced their parents' divorce during childhood, and both are immigrants who exemplify the American Dream. Musk and Bezos also share a similar inventor mindset. Among these, the strongest common bond is that they expanded their childhood dream of 'space exploration' into a business.

Bezos was the first to jump into space development. Bezos, who founded Blue Origin in 2000, five years after Amazon.com began full operation, has recalled that his ultimate destination was space from the start. In his autobiography, Bezos said, "When I was five, I vividly remember being very excited watching the Apollo 11 Moon landing scene with my family," adding, "This became the source of my passion."

Blue Origin, founded near Seattle in 2000, is named to reflect the idea that humanity originated from the blue planet. Blue Origin has launched reusable rockets 'New Shepard' and 'New Glenn' for private space tourism and announced plans to reach the Moon by 2024.

▲SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket [Image source=Yonhap News]

◆ Musk Leads Popularization = SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002, was established two years later than Blue Origin but is credited with leading the popularization of space development. SpaceX is currently the first private company capable of delivering cargo to the International Space Station. After applying a method to recover and reuse launch vehicles, it is also planning a way to carry many people and various goods together like a delivery service through the manned lunar and Mars exploration spacecraft 'Starship.'

Starship is a large manned spacecraft that SpaceX is producing for full-scale manned space exploration. It is a reusable spacecraft capable of carrying about 100 passengers and 150 tons of cargo to and from space. The industry expects that if Starship, regarded as the most innovative platform heading to space, becomes popularized, a full-fledged space industry era will unfold.

This method can be applied not only to logistics but also to tourism, internet, and various other fields. Musk has expressed ambitions to launch hundreds of low Earth orbit satellites using solar power at an altitude of 1,200 km to provide internet service worldwide and to establish a manned base with a population of one million on Mars by 2050.

◆ Enemies Even in Space Development = The two billionaires dreaming of space development are known not only as competitors but also as rivals. It started in 2013 when NASA selected a long-term lease contractor for the unused Rocket Launch Pad 39A, where SpaceX and Blue Origin competed. The two competed over the historic launch pad that sent Apollo 11 to the Moon, but SpaceX was the winner.

Less than a year later, they clashed again over patents related to reusable rocket technology. When Blue Origin's patent was recognized in 2014, SpaceX filed a lawsuit to invalidate it. The court revoked 13 out of 15 patents, siding with SpaceX. Since then, they have engaged in verbal battles on Twitter, and last year, Musk openly targeted Bezos on Twitter, saying, "Time to break up Amazon. Monopoly is wrong," after Amazon.com rejected an e-book publication emphasizing the dangers of COVID-19.

◆ Is the 'Space Market' Worth $1 Trillion? = Blue Origin and SpaceX share the common goal of space exploration but differ significantly in their business approaches. Unlike SpaceX, Blue Origin has pursued space development by actively cooperating with private companies. Blue Origin sells rockets to other private companies such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing and jointly hosted the lunar exploration competition 'Moon Race' with Europe's Airbus. This approach, including partnerships with Canadian private companies in the internet business, differentiates Blue Origin from SpaceX.

Their space development goals also differ. Blue Origin aims to build a space base on the Moon and promote lunar tourism, while Musk is pushing to establish a colony on Mars.

Both competing for the world's richest and second-richest positions are focused on space because they see it as the last 'blue ocean' yet to be explored. The U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs forecasts that the global space market will reach $1 trillion (about 1,129 trillion KRW) by 2040.

Meanwhile, as of the 7th (local time), Jeff Bezos recorded a net worth of $177 billion, and Elon Musk $157 billion, ranking first and second respectively on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.