Space Tourism

A few years ago, Spaceship One flew into the record books. Now, parcels of land are being made into private spaceports. More and more private industry is getting into the door of space flight.

Don't get me wrong, that's awesome. But I'm getting sick of the media portraying space flight as something that's going to be common in a few years. By the vision they give us, half of us will be visiting the moon in a matter of years! The fact is that a seat on Spaceship Two will cost 200,000 dollars. And even then, in my opinion, you aren't in outer space. You are in lower earth orbit technically, and even that is a misnomer, as you aren't in an orbit like the space station is in orbit. Spaceship One flew at about 100km up, but it would have to be around 200km to have an stable orbit for a few days. At 100km, Spaceship One still felt some of the effects a small amount of atmosphere. By contrast, the Space Station orbits at about 350km. My opinion is that current private spaceflight is less of spaceflight and more of a really freaking high plane ride!

From what I hear, a seat on Spaceship Two will set you back 200,000 dollars. That is beyond the scope of any normal person. Even if that price comes down, I believe that these flights will still be beyond the reach of most. The problem I see is that you still have to overcome gravity, and rockets can only be so efficient, they take up a certain amount of fuel, give you a certain amount of power, yadda yadda. Furthermore, any additional altitude will only add to the cost of such a flight, although whether it will keep pace with reduced prices, overtake them, or be off no consequence, I do not know. All totaled though, rocket power will have a lower limit to it's ability to provide a "cheap" means to space. It is my belief that outer space won't reach the masses until we have a new generation of technologies to send us spaceward.

There are two technologies that fascinate me. Rail Guns and the Space Elevator. Both are simple concepts to understand, but will require significant steps to bring them to reality, if done though, they could bring space flight to the masses. In concept, the rail gun is like the Maglev Train. Using magnets, more exactly electromagnets, they levitate the vehicle to the desired speed, which would cruise down the rail until it reaches the end and speeds off into orbit or farther, simply put. This would require enormous amounts of energy, and I think some of the details need to be ironed out. I do not think it will actually come to fruition though due to the other technology I am excited about. I think the Space Elevator, if build, holds even more promise. The name alone gives you the basic idea, however how it differs is that instead of an shaft, it will be a ribbon or cable of carbon nanotubes, maybe as thin as a piece of paper. The climbers climb up the ribbon, towards a large counter-weight that is about half way to the moon, which holds the ribbon tight. Before the climbers reach the end, they detach and off they fly into space. When I first heard of the Space Elevator, I fell in love with it, it sounds so much like Science Fiction, which it did start off in the mind of writers I believe. However, this could be a reality, I believe the only factors stopping it from being a reality today are the inability to mass produce Carbon Nanotubes, and of course construction cost. Once finished though, it would drop the cost per pound of launch to a fraction of what they are now. Space, I believe, would be finally in the hands of the masses. I believe it would be the most important endeavor humankind has ever taken.

No, the era of space travel for everyone is a far ways off, sadly. A thousand years ago, people lived and died within 25 miles of where they were born. More recently, traveling across the state, or country became more and more common. Similarly, someday space travel will be common, but today is not that day, nor will it be for quite a few years to come. In my lifetime, I believe and hope, outer space will be in our grasp. Until then, I just wish the media would stop making us think all of us will be partying it up on the moon by 2007!

Ok, rant over, I'm feeling better now.