Children have dreamed for decades of growing up to be astronauts and traveling to the final frontier — fantasies that, for most of these children, were brought to an end by adolescence. But the sky is no longer the limit for customers willing to pay the price to travel to Earth's stratosphere as once−inaccessible outer space becomes just another space for commercialism.
Anyone with $200,000 to spare can now board either Virgin Galactic's or Space Adventures' suborbital space flights. Both companies allow viewers to experience four to six minutes of weightlessness and a grand view of Earth as the shuttle soars 62.5 miles up.
Commercial space travel took a giant leap forward last month when Virgin Galactic CEO Sir Richard Branson unveiled the first−ever commercial spaceport, Spaceport America, in Upham, N.M.
Essential to the spaceport's launch was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (A '70, F '71), who earlier this year signed the "New Mexico Space Flight Informed Consent Act," which set up liability protections for commercial space companies. He has expressed his commitment to the development of the commercial spaceflight industry.
With a higher degree of accessibility and newer spacecraft on the rise, commercial space travel will become a reality not only for Virgin Galactic but for other companies as well. Space Adventures, a Virginia−based private company founded in 1998, has been offering flights to the International Space Station (ISS), a space station in low Earth orbit, for private customers at a $40 million price tag and, since 2008, an additional 90−minute spacewalk during their "mission" for an additional $15 million.
While the deal has attracted few customers thus far, Space Adventures' vice president of communications, Stacey Tearne, believes a new program the company is developing will attract a wider customer base.
"Space Adventures plans to provide suborbital spaceflights through a partnership with Armadillo Aerospace announced in April 2010, with a ticket price of $102,000," Tearne told the Daily. "[We] already have over 200 reservations for this flight profile."
Despite the difference in price, Space Adventures' suborbital spaceflight is similar to the one Virgin Galactic offers — both are vertically launched, approach the same height above earth's surface and will commence flights in 2011.
Tearne added that it is just a matter of time before the company's clientele begins to grow.
"When the cost of accessing space decreases, the availability of more people that can afford to fly will increase," she said.
A bill signed by President Barack Obama in September also helped to usher in the age of the space industry. The NASA Authorization Act of 2011 will add another space shuttle to NASA's fleet, extend the life of the International Space Station until at least 2020 and appropriate $58.4 billion, part of which will go toward commercial space programs.
Assistant Professor of Astronomy Danilo Marchesini believes that the advent of space tourism can have positive effects on the population's attitudes toward environmentalism.
"Who never wanted to be an astronaut? I think going into space and seeing the Earth from up there, from a completely different perspective, will actually increase the awareness of how fragile the Earth is and that we really need to act to preserve it and make it a better place to live," Marchesini said.
Professor of Astronomy Kenneth Lang echoed this sentiment but said that any effect on space travelers will be minimal, given the small size of the population able to afford commercial space travel.
"Space tourism could increase public interest in space science … [but] space tourism is a good idea for the very rich who might not know what to do with their money," Lang said. "Even the well−off middle class are not going to climb on board in great numbers with a lower price, but there will be some — we did send John Glenn Jr. back into space at the age of 77. The older, wealthier might jump at the chance to feel young again."
But space travel does not come without repercussions, as commercial space tourism can be detrimental to the Earth's environment. An estimated 1,000 suborbital flights per year will result in over 600 tons of soot, which will trap heat in the stratosphere and lead to a one−degree centigrade increase in global temperatures, according to researchers.
Tearne does not believe that Space Adventures' flights will contribute to environmental problems, though.
"Unlike solid rocket motors, hybrids and some other rocket propellants which produce a lot of particles, Armadillo's engine will be using a combination of liquid oxygen and ethanol, and these produce principally water vapor and carbon dioxide in any quantity," Tearne said. "Space Adventures' customers will be able to purchase carbon credits to offset the impact of their spaceflight."
In addition, Lang explained that the environmental costs of human activity on Earth's surface, coupled with the damage done by non−commercial space missions, are much more detrimental than space tourism.
"Check out how many satellites are now up there orbiting Earth — all doomed to eventual decay," he said. "There is a possibility, though, that many of the proposed advancements in commercial space travel will simply not pan out."
"There is … a chance that the entire idea will go the way of Trailblazer, a commercial lunar spacecraft that was supposed to be launched by a private U.S. company," Lang said. "Trailblazer was supposed to take high−resolution video images of the moon's surface for use in video games and movies and would have crash−landed a hardened capsule that delivered personal items to the moon — like a picture of a loved one or the wedding ring of someone now divorced. The cost was $2,500 a gram. But the spacecraft never happened."
Another problem facing commercial space companies, Marchesini said, is that the available expertise lies in the hands of NASA.
"NASA has already decided that private companies need to get into their hands a good chunk of NASA business; perhaps private companies will be able to transform this into a business," Marchesini said. "But who knows? Research will always be in the hands of NASA, so the space missions related to astrophysics will not go to private companies, as they have no financial return."
Safety issues and financial problems aside, Tearne is confident that many new customers will jump on the space exploration bandwagon, no matter the consequences.
"It's mankind's inherent desire to explore, and there are infinite resources in space that can benefit all people of Earth," Tearne said.
