SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell has revealed that their upcoming Mars mission in 2022 will be the initial stepping stone to discover alien life. These remarks came out during an exclusive interview with CNBC. She even made it clear that the aliens which we may find might be either friendly or not friendly.
Even though SpaceX has already taken a commanding role in rocket business, Gwynne Shotwell revealed that satellite business will turn more lucrative in the future. It should be noted that the 18 rocket launches conducted by SpaceX's Falcon 9 accounted for 20 percent of the total world's orbital liftoffs in 2017. Shotwell told CNBC that the launch tally will rise between 24 to 28 percent this year.
"The market size for launches is dramatically less than telecommunications, so that's a nice way to go and make additional revenue," said Shotwell during the interview.
Last year, internal financial records of SpaceX obtained by Wall Street Journal had revealed that the company expects its satellite data service to bring in more than $30 billion in annual revenue within the next seven years.
During the talk, Shotwell also talked about the Dragon cargo capsule, which is the company's much-anticipated program.
"It is very complementary to the work that we are doing right now. Dragon is a highly sophisticated satellite. We have our own launch capability, so, assuming if we get the physics right, as well as the business right, I think we'll be able to emplace a constellation that could be quite successful," added Shotwell.
Earlier, Elon Musk, the SpaceX founder has revealed that once Mars gets colonized, the possible governance on the red planet will be based on direct democracy. In 2022, SpaceX will carry cargo from earth to the red planet. Later, the company will take humans and their belongings to Mars. He also believes that colonization of Mars is very necessary to protect our species from extinction if a nuclear war breaks out on our planet.
