Yes, it's dry sarcasm in the finest English print tradition.

That is pretty much its entire purpose.

I think you might be hard pressed to find a Reg article that doesn’t take this tone.

Yes. But the British have a special hate on for all things Elon Musk, going back to at least the early Tesla Roadster days.

Do we just stop all research and development then? This is what we're doing here.

If we go back to the Stone Age there will be no pollution!

kinda ignorant imo. this isn't blue origin - spacex is trying to save the species. not to mention all of the innovations made from space exploration like gps and the computer mouse. spacex's endeavors is already enabling people to have internet in remote areas

In aggregate increasing wealth increases care for the environment.

Perhaps someone didn't want Nazis on the moon.