{"id":13739,"date":"2026-06-12T07:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T07:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=13739"},"modified":"2026-06-12T07:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T07:04:11","slug":"science-fiction-musks-lofty-spacex-goals-unrealistic-skeptics-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=13739","title":{"rendered":"Science fiction? Musk&#8217;s lofty SpaceX goals unrealistic, skeptics say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-right:0;padding-left:0\">\n<p>Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX has made awe-inspiring achievements since its founding over two decades ago and has big ideas \u2014 colonies on Mars, orbital AI data centers, rapidly reusable rockets \u2014 for the future.<\/p>\n<p>But as SpaceX makes its record-breaking public market debut, some experts express doubts it can reach its lofty goals, especially on its planned timeline.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe achieve what others think is really the impossible, and we make that possible,\u201d CFO Bret Johnsen said in a recent video.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the company\u2019s development of a partially reusable rocket \u2014 which has allowed it to conduct more launches than all other providers combined \u2014 was once thought unattainable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpaceX has accomplished a great deal, that\u2019s quite real,\u201d Robert Zubrin, an engineer and president of the Mars Society, told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the other hand, Musk frequently makes claims that are not real,\u201d he said, citing deadlines that are regularly pushed back.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Fairytale timelines \u2013<\/p>\n<p>While many experts believe they will see SpaceX send humans to Mars in their lifetime, the prospect of a mass inhabited colony will take much, much longer \u2014 if ever.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe simple answer is that I don\u2019t see this as realistic at all,\u201d said Christian Bach, head of the space transportation division at Germany\u2019s Technical University of Dresden and co-author of a critical analysis of Musk\u2019s Mars plans.<\/p>\n<p>He said that even just settling a handful of people on the Red Planet is unlikely this century due to unsolved technological and biological challenges.<\/p>\n<p>To make the roundtrip journey to Mars, which takes about three years, Musk and Spacex are counting on their newest rocket under development: Starship.<\/p>\n<p>However, perfecting launches with Starship will not be enough, warns Scott Hubbard, a former senior NASA official. Astronauts will also need new life-sustaining systems, such as oxygen and water recyclers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey like to portray it that they can do it on their own, they cannot,\u201d said Hubbard.<\/p>\n<p>He believes NASA \u2014 which is planning future missions to explore Mars but not to colonize it \u2014 will have to join the project for it to become a reality.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX also faces a major hurdle, Hubbard noted, over its goal of refuelling rockets in-orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The idea would be to launch several rockets, one carrying crew or cargo, and the others carrying tanks of liquid oxygen and liquid methane that would be offloaded through coupling.<\/p>\n<p>That capability \u201cis something that is absolutely crucial to their plans that has never been done before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have extraordinarily good engineers\u2026so they will solve the problem, the thing is the schedule,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 New-age Napoleon? \u2013<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX has other major projects on its plate \u2014 including building a modified Starship to use as a lunar lander for NASA\u2019s Artemis program, and developing a new satellite constellation to serve as orbital AI data centers.<\/p>\n<p>While the idea of moving energy-intensive AI data centers off-Earth may sound appealing, most experts remain skeptical.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you do conquer all the technical hurdles, there\u2019s still the economic aspect, and it\u2019s just not financially reasonable at this point in time,\u201d Kathleen Curlee, a space analyst at Georgetown University, told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>Zubrin was more blunt: \u201cThis AI data centers in space thing is fiction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you owned a company that could build ocean ships better than anyone else, you would say the place to do AI is in the middle of the ocean,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the unprecedented influx of cash from SpaceX\u2019s IPO, the company will nonetheless have plenty of resources to devote to the project and others.<\/p>\n<p>While flying high for the moment, SpaceX could still face unexpected turbulence \u2014 as evidenced by competitor Blue Origin\u2019s recent launchpad mega-explosion.<\/p>\n<p>Zubrin linked Musk\u2019s potential for failure to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s calamitous campaign in Russia.<\/p>\n<p>If he were to fail, Zubrin said, it\u2019d be because \u201che had succeeded in everything he had done before, and so no one could tell him that he was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; 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display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t\r\n<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114303\" data-width=\"125\" data-height=\"125\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114303});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u7ad6\u680f\uff1a160\u00d7600 \u6574\u5217\u9ad8\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row:3\/8; height:600px;  display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114301\" data-width=\"160\" data-height=\"600\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114301});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<br \/> Science fiction? Musk&#8217;s lofty SpaceX goals unrealistic, skeptics say<br \/>\n<br \/>#Science #fiction #Musks #lofty #SpaceX #goals #unrealistic #skeptics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX has made awe-inspiring achievements since its founding over two decades ago and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[12475,12477,12476,4021,256,12479,2484,12478],"class_list":["post-13739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-fiction","tag-goals","tag-lofty","tag-musks","tag-science","tag-skeptics","tag-spacex","tag-unrealistic"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9.jpg",768,516,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9-300x202.jpg",300,202,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9.jpg",640,430,false],"large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9.jpg",640,430,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9.jpg",768,516,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9.jpg",768,516,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9.jpg",768,516,false],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9-768x500.jpg",768,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9.jpg",768,516,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67b6878a2fbd41c42ac3de216a1ac40cc1d54ef9-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?cat=7\" rel=\"category\">Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}