Can SpaceX build the pick-up trucks of space?

"LIKE the smell of a brand-new car." So said US astronaut Don Pettit as he entered the Dragon space freighter after it docked with the International Space Station last week (see "Spectacular images show moment SpaceX Dragon docked").

Pettit's words speak to the slickness of the SpaceX craft - which was, after all, created by a man who has form in making cars. Elon Musk's Tesla Motors has done much to make electric cars desirable: its head-turning Roadster revolutionised ideas about what an emissions-free vehicle might achieve.

But SpaceX cannot just build the Roadsters of the space business. Reliable workhorses are what's needed, not ritzy performance vehicles. The vast majority of the $60-million cost of a SpaceX launch comes from its Falcon rocket. This currently burns up on re-entry, but the company aims to make it fully reusable. The shuttle fell short of this goal, but SpaceX thinks it can succeed where NASA failed.

Can it? Tesla Motors is now building on the Roadster's technology to roll out a family sedan and an SUV. If SpaceX proves similarly adroit, astronauts can look forward to more new car smells to come.

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