Thanks to SpaceX, humans can probably live on Mars in the near future. SpaceX was found in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk. He created this organization to reduce space transportation costs and enable colonization on Mars. SpaceX is known for its main goals: to colonize Mars, to build rockets whose parts can be reused,  and to lower the cost of commercial space transportation. SpaceX has already reduced the cost of space transportation by an extraordinary amount. According to company’s website, “SpaceX says the Falcon Heavy [rocket] will cost about $90 million per launch but aims to make BFR cheaper than that — possibly a lot cheaper — because it will be 100-percent reusable.”

Musk’s efforts with SpaceX will make space exploration significantly cheaper than NASA missions. According to NASA, it costs their team about $1 billion to send humans out of the Earth’s atmosphere. SpaceX’s rocket, by comparison, will only cost $90 million to build. In other words, SpaceX is cutting the building costs by $910 million by reusing parts for their rockets.

“According to Elon Musk, almost every piece of the Falcon should be reused over 100 times. Heat shields and a few other items should be reused over 10 times before replacement.” Over that time, $1 billion will be saved from reusing parts from their rockets. SpaceX is able to reuse these parts because they have found a way to land rockets back on Earth in good condition. “The company has now successfully performed more than 20 rocket landings, including landing two Falcon Heavy boosters back on land during the rocket’s maiden flight in February 2018.” They have also landed two rockets at the same time on a previous occasion. That’s how SpaceX is able to reuse and cut down on the cost to build a rockets: because they already have all the parts, and those parts are good to be used over 100 times.

Those are just a few ways SpaceX has revolutionized space exploration. But there is one big main cause for this company to make a way for humans to colonize on Mars. “Musk’s plan to colonize Mars revolves around a large rocket, codenamed the BFR, which blasts a spaceship carrying up to 100 people into orbit before returning to the launch pad for an upright landing. The rocket then blasts off again carrying a fresh load of fuel for the transport ship. Next, the colonists depart for Mars.” This rocket is the biggest rocket in the U.S.,  at 387 feet tall, 30 feet wide, and weighing 4,400,000 kg. To build the BFR, it will cost a total of $5 billion to build. This rocket is big enough to bring 100 humans to a planet that ranges between 33.9 million and 250 million miles from Earth.  

“SpaceX aspires to send its first cargo mission to Mars in 2022”

All those are ways a private company (SpaceX) is revolutionizing space exploration, lowering space transportation costs, reusing rocket parts, and finding a way to colonize Mars. They have lowered the cost by $910 million because they have figured out how to reuse rocket parts over 100 times. Finally, they have figured out a way to build a rocket that can bring humans 250 million miles away from Earth to Mars. These is all the things SpaceX has done so far, and they are continuing to make more remarkable findings to help with space exploration.