Billionaires and their spaced-out projects

Mankind's quest to boldly go where no one has gone before has received a boost from these mercurial wealthy men, known for investing in ideas that once might have been considered too good to be true.

Yuri Milner

This Russian entrepreneur and venture capitalist has invested in some highly successful online ventures. Some of the usual suspects include Facebook, Twitter, Flipkart, Alibaba, Spotify, OlaCabs and more. These days Milner is in the news for Breakthrough Listen, a hunt for extraterrestrial life. He has pledged to spend close to $100 million to the project over the next decade. It will cover a billion stars that are the closest to earth and 100 galaxies beyond the Milky Way.


(Image: AFP)

Peter Thiel

Thiel co-founded PayPal with Max Levchin and Elon Musk. He is also the fi rst outside investor in Facebook. This entrepreneur, hedge fund manager, venture capitalist, philanthropist has a keen interest in "fl oating countries" built on the sea. Since 2008, Thiel has been generously pledging money, close to $1.25 million, to the Seasteading Institute that is looking "to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political and legal systems". Thiel is reportedly inspired by Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and believes seasteading is necessary for humanity's future.


(Image: Getty)
Elon Musk

A businessman, investor, engineer, inventor; Elon Musk dons one too many hats. The co-founder of PayPal and Tesla Motors has a keen interest in space technology too. He is also the founder and currently the CEO and CTO of space transport services company, SpaceX that he used $100 million of his early fortune for. SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles focusing on rocket technology. One of Musk's cherished dreams is to start a human colony on Mars and eventually replace Earth as our home.


(Image: Reuters)

Richard Branson

The founder of the Virgin Group is a legendary entrepreneur. Known for his extravagant lifestyle, Branson has been more than enthusiastic investing in technology. He pushed the envelope founding Virgin Galactic, a company within his empire, that develops commercial spacecraft and is working to make space tourism a reality.


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Jeff Bezos

Founder of e-commerce bellwether Amazon.com, Jeffrey Bezos is kicked about space travel too. His aerospace manufacturing company, Blue Origin will testify so. As a part of his other interests, Bezos invested $42 million to develop the 'Clock of the Long Now.' The proposed mechanical clock is being designed to keep time for 10,000 years. It is being manufactured on Bezo's land in Texas.


(Image: Reuters)

Paul Allen

Paul Allen is better known as the co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates. Boasting of a vast investment portfolio that spans across technology, real estate, media and sports, Allen in 2011 announced Stratolaunch Systems, a proposed orbital launch system consisting of a dual-bodied six engine jet aircraft capable of carrying a rocket to high altitude, which would then detach from its carrier to fi re its own engines and complete the climb into orbit. The Stratolaunch plan will of course, be the largest aircraft ever with a 385-foot wingspan and the rocket will weigh a modest (not) 1,200,000 lbs.


(Image: Getty)