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Richard Branson space flight: should billionaires be going to space? | Ticker VIEWS

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As billionaire Richard Branson welcomes humanity to “the dawn of new space age”, we are left to wonder if now is the time to leave earth

In the early hours of today, Richard Branson joined fellow billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos as a competitor in the new age space race. However, should we be celebrating the possibility of a future where the extremely wealthy can afford space getaways?

The last few years have been catastrophic for planet earth. The escalating climate crisis has seen wildfires ravage through Australia last year, and more recently in California. Global tensions continue to rise with escalating conflict throughout the Middle East and a widening political divide. The Covid-19 pandemic has become not only a health crisis, but also an economic and political one.

With this in mind, billionaires going to space as the world burns feels slightly out-of-touch. In many ways, the entire concept feels like it could be pulled from the plot of some dystopian blockbuster. As the world burns, the uber-rich get to escape in their personal space jets. However, these same men (and they are all men), insist that their escapades beyond earth are inherently philanthropic.

Last year, the UN’s David Beasley implored billionaires to “step up” and help fund the fight against hunger worldwide. Beasley also took to Twitter in June to specifically encourage action from Bezos, Branson and Musk.

And yet, it seems this is the exact moment the space race between Silicon Valley’s elite is heating up. Aside from Branson, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos also have space travel firmly in their sights with SpaceX and Blue Origin.

Will space travel be accessible to all, or only the rich?

Traveling to space must be “more accessible to all,” Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson said during a news conference following his successful space flight. However, the sentiment feels rather hollow when you look at the hefty cost of space travel.

Although the $250,000 price tag to go to space with Virgin Galactic may seem excessive, it’s a bargain compared to what other companies offer. A ticket aboard a SpaceX mission costs about $55 million, and a seat on a spaceflight next to Jeff Bezos costs about $28 million.

Even Virgin Galactic’s offerings for relatively cheap space travel cost about the same as the US’ medium house price. Thus far, the company says at least 600 people have made reservations for future Virgin Galactic flights, at a ticket price estimated to cost as much as $250,000.

Space Connector Christina Korp has over 12 years managing former NASA astronauts and says although Branson, Bezos and musk are fuelling the cash and ‘billionaire space race’ angle… it’s just a natural progression to take space to a commercial market.

“I heard their intention is to hopefully begin to do flights once a week or possible once a day (to space)”

Space Connector Christina Korp

Korp says NASA astronauts want to share their perspective of earth and believe more people should be able to also experience space.

“We’re here to make space more accessible to all,” says Richard Branson.

For his part, Branson has committed to reducing ticket prices. Although, he hasn’t specified when we can expect cheaper flights, or how cheap the tickets could become. Of course, many analysts say that space tourism flights will naturally become less expensive as technology continues to develop.

Space travel isn’t the only new technology that has a price tag too large for the average person. During the early days of commercial aircraft, a plane ticket was far out of most people’s reach. Now, over a billion people travel internationally every year (albeit this statistic was prior to Covid-19 restrictions).

“The price point is high, but that’s just like any other early adopter,” said Ann Kim, managing director of frontier tech at Silicon Valley Bank.

Are billionaires using their money to go to space, or is going to space making them money?

At the core of each of these discussions is a central component: money, and lots of it. Experts anticipate that space tourism will represent an annual market of $20 billion, as a competitor to long-distance commercial flights.

The billions of dollars pouring into private space companies represents “a high level” of capital formation, UBS said. Even though space tourism is still in its early days, UBS said they believe the sub-sector “will become mainstream as the technology becomes proven and cost falls”.

With so much money at stake, it leaves you to wonder whether the mission of these billionaires truly is to provide for humanity. And if so, why would they not direct their philanthropic endeavours closer to earth?

This isn’t to say that improving space travel technology won’t be beneficial to humanity. However, you’d be kidding yourself if you saw space technology as anything other than a capitalistic investment.

Let the record say: I’m not opposed to space travel, or investing in the development of space technology. However, perhaps billionaires should be using their astronomical wealth to contribute to social causes closer to earth.

Natasha is an Associate Producer at ticker NEWS with a Bachelor of arts from Monash University. She has previously worked at Sky News Australia and Monash University as an Online Content Producer.

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Starbucks joins AI revolution but will robot baristas take over?

Starbucks joins the AI wave, testing OpenAI tech to enhance service and cut costs; experts discuss its potential impact on customer service.

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Starbucks joins the AI wave, testing OpenAI tech to enhance service and cut costs; experts discuss its potential impact on customer service.


Starbucks is the latest global brand to test AI assistants behind the counter, joining a wave of companies using OpenAI tech to boost service and cut costs. But will it work?

Experts weigh in on whether AI can truly revolutionise customer service.

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#AI #StarbucksAI #ArtificialIntelligence #OpenAI #TechNews #RetailTech #Innovation #TickerNews

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Apple unveils new iOS with major updates and features

Apple unveils iOS 26, its first major redesign since 2013, introducing the unified “Liquid Glass” style and enhanced Image Playground.

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Apple unveils iOS 26, its first major redesign since 2013, introducing the unified “Liquid Glass” style and enhanced Image Playground.

In Short:
Apple has unveiled a major redesign of its operating system called “Liquid Glass” with a unified naming system for iOS 26 and other platforms this year. The update will enhance the Image Playground tool, allowing users to create personalised contact posters while ensuring customer data privacy.

Apple has announced a significant redesign of its operating system, marking the first major update to iOS since 2013.

The new design, dubbed “Liquid Glass,” takes inspiration from the Vision Pro.

In a shift towards consistency, Apple will implement a unified naming system for its operating systems.

iOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, macOS 26, visionOS 26, and iPadOS 26 will all be released this year, according to Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, at WWDC.

Operating system names

This change aims to alleviate the confusion caused by differing operating system names. Previously, Apple maintained multiple names, including iOS 18 for iPhone, iPadOS 18 for iPad, watchOS 11 for wearables, tvOS 18 for Apple TV, macOS 15 for computers, and visionOS 2 for Vision Pro.

The upcoming iOS will enhance the Image Playground tool initially announced last year with assistance from OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

With iOS 26, users can request a contact’s poster in various styles, which will be reflected during calls and text chats. Users can specify their desired style, and ChatGPT will adjust the image appropriately.

Customer data will remain private, as nothing will be shared with OpenAI without permission.

Additionally, third-party developers will have access to the upgraded Image Playground API for use in their applications.

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Elon Musk promises more risky launches after sixth Starship failure

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Elon Musk promises more risky launches after sixth Starship failure

Sara Webb, Swinburne University of Technology

What goes up must come down, and earlier this week yet another of SpaceX’s Starships, the biggest and most powerful type of rocket ever built, came back down to Earth in spectacular fashion. In the sky above the Indian Ocean, it exploded.

This was the ninth test flight for the rocket, and the third catastrophic failure in a row, just this year.

Is this what we should expect from the very ship some are counting on to take humans further than we’ve ever been in the solar system? Or does this failure point to deeper concerns within the broader program?

A decade of development

The Starship program from Elon Musk’s space technology company, SpaceX, has been in development for more than a decade now and has undergone many iterations in its overall design and goals.

The Starship concept is based upon the SpaceX Raptor engines to be used in a multistage system. In a multistage rocket system, there are often two or three separate blocks with their own engine and fuel reserves. These are particularly important for leaving Earth’s orbit and travelling to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

With Starship, the key factor is the ability to land and reuse vast amounts of the rocket stages again and again. The company’s Falcon 9 vehicles, which used this model, were fantastically successful.

Initial tests of Starship began in 2018 with two low-altitude flights showing early success. Subsequent flights have faced numerous challenges with now four complete failures, two partial failures and three successes overall.

Just two days ago, during the latest failed attempt, I watched alongside more than 200 other space industry experts at the Australian Space Summit in Sydney. Broadcast live on a giant screen, the launch generated an excited buzz – which soon turned to reserved murmurs.

Of course, designing and launching rockets is hard, and failures are to be expected. However, a third catastrophic failure within six months demands a pause for reflection.

On this particular test flight, as Starship positioned itself for atmospheric re-entry, one of its 13 engines failed to ignite. Shortly after, a booster appeared to explode, leading to a complete loss of control. The rocket ultimately broke apart over the Indian Ocean, which tonnes of debris will now call home.

Polluting Earth in pursuit of space

We don’t know the exact financial cost of each test flight. But Musk has previously said it is about US$50–100 million.

The exact environmental cost of the Starship program – and its repeated failures – is even harder to quantify.

For example, a failed test flight in 2023 left the town of Port Isabel, Texas, which is located beside the launch site, shaking and covered in a thick cloud of dirt. Debris from the exploded rocket smashed cars. Residents told the New York Times they were terrified. They also had to clean up the mess from the flight.

Then, in September 2024, SpaceX was fined by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for 14 separate incidents since 2022 where the launch facilities discharged polluted water into Texas waterways. Musk denied these claims.

That same month, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a fine of US$633,009 in civil penalties should be issued to SpaceX. This was on the grounds of using an unapproved launch control room and other violations during 2023. Musk denied these claims too and threatened to countersue the FAA for “regulatory overreach”.

It’s unclear if this suit was ever filed.

Two other failed launches in January and March this year also rained rocket debris over the Caribbean, and disrupted hundreds of commercial flights, including 80 which needed to be diverted and more than 400 requiring delayed takeoff to ensure they were entering safe air space.

Success of different space programs

Until last year, the FAA allowed SpaceX to try up to five Starship launches a year. This month, the figure was increased to 25.

A lot can go wrong during a launch of a vehicle to space. And there is a long way to go until we can properly judge whether Starship successfully meets its mission goals.

We can, however, look at past programs to understand typical success rates seen across different rocketry programs.

The Saturn V rocket, the workhorse of the Apollo era, had a total of 13 launches, with only one partial failure. It underwent three full ground tests before flight.

SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 rocket, has had more than 478 successful launches, only two in flight failures, one partial failure and one pre-flight destruction.

The Antares rocket, by Orbital Sciences Corporation (later Orbital ATK and Northrop Grumman) launched a total of 18 times, with one failure.

The Soyuz rocket, originally a Soviet expendable carrier rocket designed in the 1960s, launched a total of 32 times, with two failures.

No sign of caution

Of course, we can’t fairly compare all other rockets with the Starship. Its goals are certainly novel as a reusable heavy-class rocket.

But this latest failure does raise some questions. Will the Starship program ever see success – and if so when? And what are the limits of our tolerance as a society to the pollution of Earth in the pursuit of the goal to space?

For a rocketry program that’s moving so fast, developing novel and complex technology, and experiencing several repeated failures, many people might expect caution from now on. Musk, however, has other plans.

Shortly after the most recent Starship failure, he announced on X (formerly Twitter), that the next test flights would occur at a faster pace: one every three to four weeks.

Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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