April 12, 2010 at 00:32Sky-high money
Private companies are taking the initiative in the development of extraterrestrial space from state space agencies. In the coming years, the space tourism industry will begin to generate multimillion-dollar revenues.
The British businessman Richard Branson is not jealous of the commercial flair of the Pope. But for a person whose thoughts should be the most disinterested, Branson’s ability to see a distant future will certainly cause sincere admiration.
Branson made a multi-billion dollar fortune, operating in several areas of business. In the 1970s, he created the recording studio Virgin Records, which was engaged in the publication of representatives of the alternative rock movement. In particular, it was Branson who opened the world to Mike Oldfield by releasing his debut album Tubular Bells in 1973. Branson later created his own Virgin Atlantic airline, today one of the largest in the world. Tens of millions of subscribers from different regions of the world are connected to Virgin Mobile. The Virgin group of companies also includes enterprises in the banking and transport sectors.
However, there is no doubt that after a couple of decades, Branson’s biography is somewhere on Wikipediawill begin with the words “pioneer of space tourism” or “founder of the world's first commercially successful space company”.
When in 2004 Branson announced the creation of Virgin Galactic, the main profile of which was to become space tourism, almost no one took it seriously. The term “space tourism” itself was then associated exclusively with the delivery of a couple of rich people who had dumped tens of millions of dollars to the International Space Station.
Branson said that he would create his own ship, capable of putting passengers into orbit for substantially less money. He promised that in ten years, the company would serve its first customers.
In 2006, the company tested its first ship,
which received the simple name SpaceShipOne, a second prototype was later created, SpaceShipTwo. At the end of March of this year, the Enterprise was successfully tested. Branson suggests that the first tourists will be able to go on it beyond the atmosphere of the earth as early as 2011. You can buy tickets for the first commercial flights of the miracle ship today. At first glance, they cost a lot - about $ 200 thousand. However, this is significantly less than the cost of a flight to the ISS.
Branson does not doubt the commercial success of his enterprise. Partly the validity of his optimism confirms the activity of competitors. In addition to Virgin Galactic, the American company Bigelow Aerospace, owned by hotel magnate Robert Bigelow, plans to make money on the desire of wealthy citizens to diversify their leisure time. Branson's competitors have chosen a different path of space exploration - instead of a ship, they are building an orbital station.
It is difficult to explain the choice of the name by other motives, besides the desire for
associations with the classics. Millions of Americans and Europeans grew up on the series Star Trek, the protagonists of which were members of the crew of the starship Enterprise.
The new Enterprise, of course, is significantly different from its on-screen progenitor. He does not know how to overcome the speed of light and travel between stellar systems. This is a suborbital ship - its purpose is only to bring passengers into the zone of zero gravity.
March trials over the Mojave Desert in California showed that Enterprise is quite capable of coping with its task. During the three-hour flight of the Enterprise and its carrier aircraft, no technical problems were identified. True, the ship did not go into space. Tests were limited to flying at the height of conventional jet liners. But, according to Branson, test space flights will begin this year.
Thus, it can be stated that in March the WhiteKnight carrier aircraft was tested first of all. It looks like a catamaran in design, its two cabins and engines are combined by one wing. Between the cabs Enterprise itself is attached.
According to the plan developed at Virgin Galactic, the carrier aircraft should rise to an altitude of 35 km, where the Enterprise branch will take place. It will turn on its own engines, with the help of which it will be able to climb to a height of 110 km, giving tourists the opportunity for several minutes to enjoy the weightlessness and fantastic view of planet Earth. There are six passenger seats in the cockpit; the trim is distinguished by the luxury characteristic of elite private jets.
Going back will be much easier to start. Enterprise can descend from orbit
and land at the airport like a regular airplane. The entire flight will take several hours in total.
Nevertheless, it will be an unforgettable few hours, Branson is convinced. His opinion is shared by many people. Rich people. Virgin Galactic set the price for one ticket at $ 200 thousand. Currently, about 300 tickets have been sold for a total of $ 45 million.
Among those who expressed a desire to get on the first Enterprise flights are many celebrities, for example, Hollywood stars John Travolta and Brad Pitt, pop star Robby Williams. The legendary physicist Stephen Hawking also dreams of flying in zero gravity.
Robert Bigelow, the owner of the American hotel chain
Budget Suites of America, is certainly not as famous as Branson. However, he can boast of simply incredible commercial flair. Bigelow turned to the topic of space tourism in 1998, when space tourism was absolutely fantastic - the Mir station was still flying in orbit, and there were three years left before the launch of the ISS.
Successfully engaged in the hotel business on the surface of the planet, Bigelow quite reasonably decided that he could manage to expand the scope of activities beyond the atmosphere. Over the past 12 years, the businessman has invested more than $ 180 million in Bigelow Aerospace, most of which went into the development of the orbital station project, which could become the first extraterrestrial hotel.
Bigelow did not start the project from scratch. Based on the development of NASA called TransHab, which is an inflatable module that launched into space in a deflated state, and then straightened out in orbit to a given size. Initially, NASA planned to put into orbit a residential module, inflated with a diameter exceeding 8 m. This is a huge construction - for comparison, the largest module of the ISS is today only 4.5 m in diameter. However, in the late 1990s, due to insufficient funding, NASA curtailed work on the project. Bigelow picked up the initiative. The businessman acquired a license from NASA for the technology of creating inflatable structures in orbit and hired a team of engineers to bring it to mind. One of the key innovations was the use of Vectran in an inflatable structure - a material that is twice as strong as Kevlar.
In July 2006, the Genesis I experimental module was launched into orbit and safely opened at a given altitude. A year later, the second module, Genesis II, was successfully launched into orbit.
This year, the company announced the imminent testing of the next prototype of the future station. The module is more than 8 meters long and more than 6 meters in diameter and is called Sundancer. After the module is successfully tested, the next stage of work will be its equipping with two additional sections. The first will be equipped with engines that will allow the station to adjust its orbit, and the second will help the space hotel dock with the ISS.
However, this design will only become a prototype. If successful, Bigelow Aerospace plans to test a real masterpiece of engineering - the BA 330 manned spacecraft. Its length will be 14 m, diameter - 6.7 m. Six people will comfortably fit inside, for a comfortable stay in orbit all the amenities are provided, including beds, exercise machines , showers, kitchen and large stocks of products.
This will be a real space hotel, which Bigelow had dreamed about all these years. The launch of the BA 330 is scheduled for 2014-2015. Over time, several of these modules, docked to each other, will make a real orbital hotel complex. And it will be the most expensive hotel on the planet. One day in orbit will cost $ 1 million. However, this is preliminary information, possibly with time Bigelow Aerospace will die down its appetites. Or maybe, on the
contrary, prices will rise.
The fact is that Bigelow Aerospace does not have its own transport for delivering tourists to orbit. A few years ago, the company even announced a competition to develop a shuttle that could take tourists into orbit, but even a prize pool of $ 50 million did not help attract at least one sensible project. NASA will not be able to play the role of a cabman, since the agency itself will soon lose the shuttles - their flights will be curtailed at the end of this year - as well as funding that would allow the development of new generation ships. At the initiative of President Barack Obama, the preparation of space transport will be handed over to private companies. However, it is obvious that this is a distant prospect.
In the coming years, NASA will use the services of Russian Soyuz spacecraft to deliver astronauts and cargo to the ISS. It is possible that Bigelow Aerospace will also have to take its guests into orbit in the Russian “taxi”.
In addition to the hotel business itself, Bigelow plans other types of commercialization of the engineering developments of his company. Inflatable orbital modules may be of interest to various public or private companies conducting in-orbit research.
A few links on the subject:
Virgin Galactic animation about a trip to SpaceShipTwo
50 sec. SpaceShipTwo presentations
Official site of Virgin Galatic
Cute photos on Flickr from Virgin Galactics
Company Scaled Composites LLC (USA)- SpaceShipTwo designer, since 1982 engaged in the production of experimental aircraft
2.5 min. Video from NewScientist about Bigelow module.
Robert Bigelow interview with Space News correspondent (trans.)
Alexey Bondarev, penultimate issue of the journal Correspondent
The British businessman Richard Branson is not jealous of the commercial flair of the Pope. But for a person whose thoughts should be the most disinterested, Branson’s ability to see a distant future will certainly cause sincere admiration.
Branson made a multi-billion dollar fortune, operating in several areas of business. In the 1970s, he created the recording studio Virgin Records, which was engaged in the publication of representatives of the alternative rock movement. In particular, it was Branson who opened the world to Mike Oldfield by releasing his debut album Tubular Bells in 1973. Branson later created his own Virgin Atlantic airline, today one of the largest in the world. Tens of millions of subscribers from different regions of the world are connected to Virgin Mobile. The Virgin group of companies also includes enterprises in the banking and transport sectors.
However, there is no doubt that after a couple of decades, Branson’s biography is somewhere on Wikipediawill begin with the words “pioneer of space tourism” or “founder of the world's first commercially successful space company”.
When in 2004 Branson announced the creation of Virgin Galactic, the main profile of which was to become space tourism, almost no one took it seriously. The term “space tourism” itself was then associated exclusively with the delivery of a couple of rich people who had dumped tens of millions of dollars to the International Space Station.
Branson said that he would create his own ship, capable of putting passengers into orbit for substantially less money. He promised that in ten years, the company would serve its first customers.
In 2006, the company tested its first ship,
which received the simple name SpaceShipOne, a second prototype was later created, SpaceShipTwo. At the end of March of this year, the Enterprise was successfully tested. Branson suggests that the first tourists will be able to go on it beyond the atmosphere of the earth as early as 2011. You can buy tickets for the first commercial flights of the miracle ship today. At first glance, they cost a lot - about $ 200 thousand. However, this is significantly less than the cost of a flight to the ISS.Branson does not doubt the commercial success of his enterprise. Partly the validity of his optimism confirms the activity of competitors. In addition to Virgin Galactic, the American company Bigelow Aerospace, owned by hotel magnate Robert Bigelow, plans to make money on the desire of wealthy citizens to diversify their leisure time. Branson's competitors have chosen a different path of space exploration - instead of a ship, they are building an orbital station.
Space plane
It is difficult to explain the choice of the name by other motives, besides the desire for
associations with the classics. Millions of Americans and Europeans grew up on the series Star Trek, the protagonists of which were members of the crew of the starship Enterprise. The new Enterprise, of course, is significantly different from its on-screen progenitor. He does not know how to overcome the speed of light and travel between stellar systems. This is a suborbital ship - its purpose is only to bring passengers into the zone of zero gravity.
March trials over the Mojave Desert in California showed that Enterprise is quite capable of coping with its task. During the three-hour flight of the Enterprise and its carrier aircraft, no technical problems were identified. True, the ship did not go into space. Tests were limited to flying at the height of conventional jet liners. But, according to Branson, test space flights will begin this year.
Thus, it can be stated that in March the WhiteKnight carrier aircraft was tested first of all. It looks like a catamaran in design, its two cabins and engines are combined by one wing. Between the cabs Enterprise itself is attached.
According to the plan developed at Virgin Galactic, the carrier aircraft should rise to an altitude of 35 km, where the Enterprise branch will take place. It will turn on its own engines, with the help of which it will be able to climb to a height of 110 km, giving tourists the opportunity for several minutes to enjoy the weightlessness and fantastic view of planet Earth. There are six passenger seats in the cockpit; the trim is distinguished by the luxury characteristic of elite private jets.
Going back will be much easier to start. Enterprise can descend from orbit
and land at the airport like a regular airplane. The entire flight will take several hours in total.Nevertheless, it will be an unforgettable few hours, Branson is convinced. His opinion is shared by many people. Rich people. Virgin Galactic set the price for one ticket at $ 200 thousand. Currently, about 300 tickets have been sold for a total of $ 45 million.
Among those who expressed a desire to get on the first Enterprise flights are many celebrities, for example, Hollywood stars John Travolta and Brad Pitt, pop star Robby Williams. The legendary physicist Stephen Hawking also dreams of flying in zero gravity.
Orbital bubble
Robert Bigelow, the owner of the American hotel chain
Budget Suites of America, is certainly not as famous as Branson. However, he can boast of simply incredible commercial flair. Bigelow turned to the topic of space tourism in 1998, when space tourism was absolutely fantastic - the Mir station was still flying in orbit, and there were three years left before the launch of the ISS. Successfully engaged in the hotel business on the surface of the planet, Bigelow quite reasonably decided that he could manage to expand the scope of activities beyond the atmosphere. Over the past 12 years, the businessman has invested more than $ 180 million in Bigelow Aerospace, most of which went into the development of the orbital station project, which could become the first extraterrestrial hotel.
Bigelow did not start the project from scratch. Based on the development of NASA called TransHab, which is an inflatable module that launched into space in a deflated state, and then straightened out in orbit to a given size. Initially, NASA planned to put into orbit a residential module, inflated with a diameter exceeding 8 m. This is a huge construction - for comparison, the largest module of the ISS is today only 4.5 m in diameter. However, in the late 1990s, due to insufficient funding, NASA curtailed work on the project. Bigelow picked up the initiative. The businessman acquired a license from NASA for the technology of creating inflatable structures in orbit and hired a team of engineers to bring it to mind. One of the key innovations was the use of Vectran in an inflatable structure - a material that is twice as strong as Kevlar.
In July 2006, the Genesis I experimental module was launched into orbit and safely opened at a given altitude. A year later, the second module, Genesis II, was successfully launched into orbit.
This year, the company announced the imminent testing of the next prototype of the future station. The module is more than 8 meters long and more than 6 meters in diameter and is called Sundancer. After the module is successfully tested, the next stage of work will be its equipping with two additional sections. The first will be equipped with engines that will allow the station to adjust its orbit, and the second will help the space hotel dock with the ISS.
However, this design will only become a prototype. If successful, Bigelow Aerospace plans to test a real masterpiece of engineering - the BA 330 manned spacecraft. Its length will be 14 m, diameter - 6.7 m. Six people will comfortably fit inside, for a comfortable stay in orbit all the amenities are provided, including beds, exercise machines , showers, kitchen and large stocks of products.
This will be a real space hotel, which Bigelow had dreamed about all these years. The launch of the BA 330 is scheduled for 2014-2015. Over time, several of these modules, docked to each other, will make a real orbital hotel complex. And it will be the most expensive hotel on the planet. One day in orbit will cost $ 1 million. However, this is preliminary information, possibly with time Bigelow Aerospace will die down its appetites. Or maybe, on the
contrary, prices will rise.The fact is that Bigelow Aerospace does not have its own transport for delivering tourists to orbit. A few years ago, the company even announced a competition to develop a shuttle that could take tourists into orbit, but even a prize pool of $ 50 million did not help attract at least one sensible project. NASA will not be able to play the role of a cabman, since the agency itself will soon lose the shuttles - their flights will be curtailed at the end of this year - as well as funding that would allow the development of new generation ships. At the initiative of President Barack Obama, the preparation of space transport will be handed over to private companies. However, it is obvious that this is a distant prospect.
In the coming years, NASA will use the services of Russian Soyuz spacecraft to deliver astronauts and cargo to the ISS. It is possible that Bigelow Aerospace will also have to take its guests into orbit in the Russian “taxi”.
In addition to the hotel business itself, Bigelow plans other types of commercialization of the engineering developments of his company. Inflatable orbital modules may be of interest to various public or private companies conducting in-orbit research.
A few links on the subject:
Virgin Galactic animation about a trip to SpaceShipTwo
50 sec. SpaceShipTwo presentations
Official site of Virgin Galatic
Cute photos on Flickr from Virgin Galactics
Company Scaled Composites LLC (USA)- SpaceShipTwo designer, since 1982 engaged in the production of experimental aircraft
2.5 min. Video from NewScientist about Bigelow module.
Robert Bigelow interview with Space News correspondent (trans.)