Friday 26 / July / 2024
New York: Earlier this week, shortly after Amazon's Jeff Bezos announced he would fly to outer space on July 20 on a craft designed by his aerospace company Blue Origin, rumors began circulating that Virgin Records' Sir Richard Branson would try to beat him there on a ship designed by his own space flight company, Virgin Galactic.
This billionaire space race highlights a flurry of activity taking place in the realm of space tourism, as companies seek to bring space travel to the people, or at least the people who can afford it.
Aerospace companies have provided private travel to space for years, but until now the missions have been almost entirely for purposes of science and development. Only seven individuals have flown to space as tourists. Between 2001 and 2010, the space tourism company Space Adventures facilitated tourism stays on the International Space Station (ISS), reserving travelers a spot aboard a Russian spacecraft for between $20 million (€16 million) and $40 million a seat. The pleasure trips ceased in 2010 due to increasing demand from research crews.
But the space tourism industry has developed rapidly in the last few years, with many players on the scene now in advanced stages of development.
Aiming higher
The space travel and tourism market is expected to generate nearly $8 billion in revenue between 2020 and 2030, according to a study by space and satellite industry consultancy Northern Sky Research (NSR).
Virgin Galactic also aims to offer commercial suborbital flights aboard its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane. The company already has a long waiting list of people reserving spots on board. The total cost is still unknown, but a reservation requires a $250,000 deposit. Commercial flights are pegged to begin in 2022. Virgin Galactic plans eventually to scale up to offering 1,200 flights per year, with six seats per flight.
"The resulting economies of scale and competing technologies will lead to further downward pressure on the cost of launch — enabling an ever-increasing number of users with diverse, world-changing applications," the company wrote on its website. The market can be broken down into three primary types of flights on offer: orbital, suborbital, and parabolic. Orbital flights reach speeds high enough to remain in orbit around the Earth.
Suborbital flights fly slower than this, reaching outer space, but without the velocity to enter orbit. Parabolic flights, the most accessible of the three, take place in modified commercial jets that perform special maneuvers, coming temporarily into freefall. This replicates the feeling of weightlessness experienced in outer space without going there.
Over 100 parabolic flights took place in 2019, with tickets for a flight running around $5,000 per person. Parabolic flights are the most accessible in terms of price and technology, but they don't actually involve entering outer space.
Today people want the real deal, so the more expensive and technically demanding orbital and suborbital flights are expected to make up a combined 98% of the market until 2030. Pre-booking for these flights has shown healthy demand, while the parabolic segment has seen sluggish growth, according to NSR.
Suborbital flights take passengers outside of the Earth's atmosphere for a few minutes, where they have a view of their home planet and the sensation of weightlessness, then return to Earth a few minutes later. Trips to the ISS, which orbits the Earth, are considered orbital space flights.
A room with a view
Amazon's Blue Origin, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, and Elon Musk's SpaceX are considered the frontrunners of an industry made up of over 20 key players.
Following Bezos' landmark trip, Blue Origin plans to offer suborbital trips on the New Shephard, a traditional rocket that takes off and lands vertically. The crew capsule, located on top of the spacecraft, contains comfortable seats and massive windows designed with tourists in mind. Spots on board are to be made available for purchase to the public once Bezos has completed his flight. Prices are currently unknown, though an ongoing auction for one seat on Bezos' flight recently hit $4 million, according to a ticker on Blue Origin's website.
Virgin Galactic also aims to offer commercial suborbital flights aboard its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane. The company already has a long waiting list of people reserving spots on board. The total cost is still unknown, but a reservation requires a $250,000 deposit. Commercial flights are pegged to begin in 2022. Virgin Galactic plans eventually to scale up to offering 1,200 flights per year, with six seats per flight.
"The resulting economies of scale and competing technologies will lead to further downward pressure on the cost of launch — enabling an ever-increasing number of users with diverse, world-changing applications," the company wrote on its website.
