Space Tourism
From a bit of market research, we know that people would have to pay approximately $20,000 for a trip to orbit space. But most people are disappointed because they end up paying so much and their desire is to stay in space for a few days or more is not fulfilled. Luckily this has caused for a potential market of orbital accommodation which is good news for investors and people who would love to travel to space. In order for space tourism to reach its full potential, there has to be sufficient development in orbital accommodation so that people will have a choice to stay in space, and the cost of getting there and staying there has to decrease overtime with its development so more people can afford it.
In recent years, some commercials spaceliners have sprung up like the XCOR Aerospace founded in 1999 and Virgin Galactic founded in 2004. These companies have been working to launch their spaceliners for commercial/tourism purposes in the upcoming years. Although there have been some flights brokered by Space Adventures to the International Space Station by a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with being $20 million in 2001 and $40 million in 2009. Russia has halted orbital space tourism in 2010 due to its increase in its large crew size, but they have planned to resume it by 2015.
The hotels planned to be opened in space will vary greatly, from being quite simple in the early days to huge luxury structures in future. It is very shocking that there were a few designs published since 1997. This is probably because those who design are expecting the launch costs to decrease so it is more feasible.
Plans for space hotel by a Russian Firm
In order for space tourism to be successful, organizations need to work together to overcome some problems. The main problem about space is that it costs too much to get there and this is because the launch vehicles are expendable. They need reusable launch vehicles which will not only reduce the cost but can be a sustainable option. The second problem is that most people aren’t familiar with the concept of space tourism, which are people like in the space industry, who think that space is for activities like research and military operations. On the contrary to what people assume, space agencies are not at all interested in space tourism. This is a pity because space activities will never be profitable until tourism service begins, remaining small scale, expensive and dependent on taxes coming from general public.
