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Simon O'Reilly

Billionaires have the money to make things happen. The ultra rich individuals on this list for the most part have two main subjects on their mind: space travel and immortality. Almost all the ideas appear to be for the benefit of mankind.
While the ideas seem impossible or crazy, the CEO of a tech or major telecoms company can afford the best minds and talent around to make their dreams a reality. Here’s a list of well-known billionaires and their pet projects.
Suborbital space travel

Stratolaunch
Whose idea is it? Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Estimated net worth US$20.2 billion.
What is it? The world’s largest plane. Its wingspan is 385 feet or 117 metres ( compared to an Airbus A380’s 79.8-metre wingspan), and it is powered by six Boeing 747 jet engines. It has 28 wheels, two fuselages and two cockpits. It weighs 226,000kg (500,000 pounds) empty and has a maximum take off weight of 589,000kg.

It will be used to lift satellite rockets, and a manned space plane, to the upper atmosphere to launch into space. Its first test flights are expected this autumn.
Take a look at world’s largest airplane, with 117m wingspan
Other projects: Allen also founded the Allen Institute for Brain Science to conduct research into the human brain hoping to better treat diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s; the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Allen Institute for Cell Science.
Space travel
Space flights were once limited to global superpowers: the Space Race was exclusively between the United States and Russia, before China, the Europeans and other nations joined in. Now, a few individuals have the funds to lead space travel.

SpaceX
Whose idea is it? Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla. Estimated net worth US$19.1 billion.
What is it? Musk plans to avoid human extinction by establishing a human colony on Mars. His SpaceX company plans to send cargo to the red planet by 2022 and people by 2024.
Elon Musk says a new study gives humans more reasons to colonise other planets
Other projects: Musk is also developing a transport ring around New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington. The Hyperloop will carry people at 700 miles per hour (1,126 kilometres per hour) in vacuum tubes.
Another concept is the Musk electric jet, a jet-powered supersonic electric aircraft.

Blue Origin
Whose idea is it? Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. Estimated net worth US$154 billion.
What is it? Essentially space tourism. Bezos wants to make it cheaper and more reliable. Blue Origin is focusing on suborbital flight first, then moving up and out from there. Blue Origin may offer suborbital flights as early as 2019. Bezos is funding it with US$1 billion per year.
Watch: Bezos’ reused Blue Origin rocket lifts off and glides back to Earth
Other projects: Bezos also wants to build a 10,000-year mechanical clock that ticks once a year.

Eternal life
Billionaires have more money than they could spend in a lifetime, so why not extend that lifespan? The quest for immortality has a certain appeal for the mega rich.

Breakout Labs 
Who’s idea is it? Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal. Estimated net worth US$2.5 billion.
What is it? Breakout Labs is part of Thiel’s search for the secrets of anti-ageing and immortality. It involves various life extension projects. Breakout Labs gives grants to early-stage radical scientific research. Thiel has said he has registered to be cryonically preserved.
Other projects: Seasteading to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities with diverse social, political and legal systems.

2045 Initiative
Who’s idea is it? Dmitry Itskov, media billionaire. Estimated net worth unknown.
What is it? To create technology that will, in a number of stages, allow the transfer of a human personality into a non-biological carrier to extend life to the point of immortality. These stages include the creation of avatars (2015 to 2020), creating the technology to support a human brain linked to a robot (2020-2025), creating a computer model of the brain and the means to transfer consciousness onto an artificial carrier (2030-2035).
Something different
Some billionaires look to space to potentially prevent the human race being wiped out, others want to combat poverty and disease around the world, while others look at eco-friendly ways of living.
One man has a different dream: to turn his nation into a giant gated community.

The Mexican Wall
Whose idea is it? Donald Trump, CEO The Trump Organisation, reality TV star and the President of the United States. Estimated net worth US$3.1 billion.
What is it? An extension to the series of walls and fences set up along the Mexican border with the US to keep Mexicans from illegally entering the US. Trump believes that an enormous wall would solve many of the US’ most pressing problems. Trump has said that the projected cost of US$8 billion to US$12 billion would be covered by Mexico.
 
The Mexican president, Enrique Pena Nieto, was not a supporter of the idea. He refused to pay, saying: “Mexico doesn’t believe in walls.”
Trump has come up with suggestions to beautify and monetise the wall with solar panels.
WHY DONALD TRUMP’S WALL WILL BE AROUND CHINA, NOT MEXICO
Last September, the US Department of Homeland Security issued a notice saying that “certain laws, regulations and other legal requirements” would be waived to speed up the building of the wall. These include “the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Noise Control Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Antiquities Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.”


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Fame and celebrity

The pet projects Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other billionaires spend their fortunes on – from space travel to immortality

This image provided by Nasa shows the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft just prior to being released by the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm in 2012. Photo: AP/Nasa

The New Shepard rocket booster lands in this handout photo provided by Blue Origin, in West Texas April 2, 2016. Jeff Bezos' space transportation company Blue Origin successfully launched and landed for the third time a suborbital rocket capable of whisking six passengers off their home planet, taking another step on the company's quest to develop reusable boosters, the company said on Saturday. REUTERS/Blue Origin/Handout via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS - FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks during an inspection of border wall prototypes in San Diego, California on March 13, 2018. Donald Trump -- making his first trip to California as president -- warned there would be "bedlam" without the controversial wall he wants to build on the border with Mexico, as he inspected several prototype barriers. The trip to the "Golden State" -- the most populous in the country and a Democratic stronghold -- was largely upstaged by his own announcement that he had sacked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN

This April 24, 2015 handout photograph obtained courtesy of Blue Origin shows Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, at New Shepard's West Texas launch facility before the rocket's maiden voyage. The two companies leading the pack in the pursuit of space tourism say they are just months away from their first out-of-this-world passenger flights -- though neither has set a firm date. Virgin Galactic, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, and Blue Origin, by Amazon creator Jeff Bezos, are racing to be the first to finish their tests -- with both companies using radically different technology. / AFP PHOTO / BLUE ORIGIN / HO / With AFP Story by Ivan COURONNE: First space tourist flights could come in 2019 == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT: "AFP PHOTO / BLUE ORIGIN" / NO MARKETING / NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS / DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ==

epa06004331 A handout photo made available on 01 June 2017 by Stratolaunch Systems Corp. showing the Stratolaunch aircraft rolling out of its hangar for the first time ever in Mojave, California, USA, 31 May 2017. The plane, which is the world's largest with a wingspan of 385 feet (117m), will now transition into a phase for ground testing, engine runs, taxi tests and ultimately its first flight according to a statement from CEO Jean Floyd. EPA/STRATOLAUNCH SYSTEMS CORP. / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

PLEASE CLEAR THE RIGHTS BEFORE USE/ SIPA PRESS. Bill Gates and Paul Allen in a file photo taken in 1981 when they founded Microsoft. SIPA PHOTO

PayPal founder Peter Thiel attends a talk "Zero to One" at PMQ Cube in Central. 23MAY15

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 7, 2017 shows US President Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto holding a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. US President Donald Trump pressed Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to stop saying publicly that Mexico would not pay for his promised border wall, according to a transcript of their January conversation obtained by The Washington Post."You cannot say that to the press," Trump told Pena Nieto according to the transcript of the January 27 call published by the Post on Thursday."I have to have Mexico pay for the wall -- I have to," Trump said. "I have been talking about it for a two-year period." / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk introduces SpaceX's Dragon V2 spacecraft, the company’s next generation version of the Dragon ship designed to carry astronauts into space, at a press conference in Hawthorne, California, May 29, 2014. The private spaceflight company’s unmanned Dragon spacecraft has been delivering cargo to the International Space Station three times since 2012. The new Dragon V2 will ferry NASA astronauts to and from the space station. AFP PHOTO / Robyn Beck

Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov speaks at the Global Future 2045 Congress, Saturday, June 15, 2013 at Lincoln Center in New York. Some of humanity’s best brains are gathering in New York to discuss how our minds can outlive our bodies. The conference is funded by a Russian billionaire with an aggressive time schedule: immortality by 2045. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

As Kylie Jenner makes Forbes’ super rich list, five young Chinese billionaires already on Forbes’ China Rich List

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(170904) -- XIAMEN, Sept. 4, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Cheng Wei, founder and CEO of China's car-hailing company Didi Chuxing, speaks at a panel discussion on connectivity during the BRICS Business Forum in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Sept. 4, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Xin) (zhs)

Qudian Inc. CEO Min Luo, left, and CFO Carl Yeung celebrate with a ceremonial bell ringing as their company's IPO starts trading, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Country Garden Holdings vice-chairman Yang Huiyan is worth US$24 billion. Photo: Forbes

Lifestyle

If you had a spare US$1 billion or US$100 billion, what would you spend your money on? These men could have anything in the world, but they want more as they push the boundaries of health, science and infrastructure


If you had a spare US$1 billion of US$100 billion, what would you spend your money on? These men could have anything in the world, but they want more as they push the boundaries of health, science and infrastructure.


Tech CEOs

The pet projects Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other billionaires spend their fortunes on – from space travel to immortality

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Suborbital space travel

Suborbital space travel