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Space Tourist Trips To the Moon May Fly On Recycled Spaceships
thomst writes "Rob Coppinger of Space.com reports that UK-based private company Excalibur Almaz plans to offer commercial lunar-orbital tourist missions based on recycled Soviet-era Soyuz vehicle and Salyut space stations, using Hall Effect thrusters to power the ensemble from Earth orbit to the Moon and back. The company estimates ticket prices at $150 million per seat (with a 50% profit margin), and expects to sell about 30 of them. Excalibur Almaz has other big plans, too, including ISS crew transport, Lagrange Point scientific missions, and Lunar surface payload deliveries. It expects to launch its first tourist trip to the Moon in 2014."
Several articles on /. along these lines recently. Humble beginnings from actual private space enterprise closely followed by science fiction from space charletons.
Who cares about sustainability with business? Lots of businesses have no such need; they get in, make a bunch of money, and that's the end of it; as long as the owners are able to walk away with a pile of cash, that's good enough for them.
Not all businesses need to continue to grow without end. That's mainly a requirement of publicly-traded companies because shareholders expect it, but private businesses operate very differently.
If these business owners think they can get a few dozen rich people to pony up $150M apiece for Moon tickets, at a claimed 50% profit margin thanks to recycled Soviet hardware, that's a nice hunk of profit to walk away with after 5 years or so.
Hall effect thrusters are NOT high thrust devices. He's not talking three days to Luna, more like three MONTHS.
Each way.
Somehow, I'm not seeing this as terribly practical.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"