Space Tourism

Nevyan writes: "A conglomeration of Japanese firms plan on making space flight available to the general public. Cost: $26,000. Duration: 3 hours. Training: even a monkey (or a politician) could do it..."

Comments

Re:Public Space Trips

[ZanshinWedge]

What happens when something goes really wrong in some 3rd world country where you're more likely to die of an infection at the hospital than get proper treatment? What happens in Antarctica when something goes wrong? What happens when you're on a sailboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Or on Mt. Everest? There is an approx. $7,000 fee per person just to have the priveledge of climbing Mt. Everest and it presumably costs a hefty chunk of cash to get the equipment and proper training and guides as well. Yet, on average over 100 people climb (successfully) Mt. Everest every year. On average about 5 people die on Mt. Everest every year, in 1996 15 people died on Mt. Everest, since 1975 129 people have died on Mt. Everest.

Sure, space is dangerous, but there are lot's of things that are dangerous that we still "let" people do, and as long as people know what they are getting into we shouldn't stand in their way.

Likely To Happen With Such A Long Wait :)

[grantdh]

To get away with something like this, there are a large number of issues to address over & above the whole "We've never done this before" thing (don't forget, the Japanese have an excellent track record at taking what others have done and making it better). Lets see:

Just turn up, pay & fly:
Hmmm - no massive acceleration or there'd be coronaries galore ("Did you pack your bags? Have you had your shots? Are you fit for massive amounts of acceleration?" :)

I don't even want to think about the whole space sickness thing - are they going to spin/keep thrusting/etc to keep everyone's stomachs down? If even the gung-ho "Right Stuff" guys puked, what chance does a desk-jockey like me have of keeping it where it belongs?

Shirt sleeve environment:
OK, lots of nifty technology issues to address to ensure that everyone gets a window with enough viewing space, etc (anyone remember the Comet aircraft - it had a nasty habit of braking up in flight due to stress cracks around the square windows in the fuselage)

$26,000 fare:
Hell - I'd pay it, no problems (so I mortgage my soul again - what the hell :) It's basically for those with senior positions, family money, lotteries or serious desire + the guts to save. It'll probably be closer to $100k by the time it gets there, but anyhow - the equivalent right now is good for evaluation...

Given the accelaration & environment issues, there's lots of work required on propulsion and materials issues. Fortunately there's lots of research happening here, provided funding remains.

Tourists in space will happen, it's just a matter of time. It didn't happen by the 90's as predicted in the 60's. It may not happen by 2016 as predicted now, but it will happen. Of course, it will require some very long-term planning people with the balls to fund an expensive programme with a very long term pay off (once it's cheap to get people & things into space, space can start to pay off).

There will be accidents, there will be deaths and some people may try to go legal. Like the early days of aviation, each safely completed trip and each pile of twisted remains (or cloud of atoms/molecules/bits) will teach us more. Eventually, we'll get it right. If it were available right now, I'd do it in a flash.

The concept is good. The hype is crap. Maybe these guys can pull it off - probably they can't. At least they're trying!