Private space: today

More recently, space was accessible and interesting only to the governments of leading countries, since space launches were very expensive, and successes were used mainly in the political arena. In modern society, satiation with space achievements has come: flights to the ISS have become commonplace, telephone communications and even television are transmitted over the Internet, images of the earth's surface are in the public domain. The Space Shuttle flew off. Perhaps the only space service that interests the world's population is global positioning. The question is ripening: what should a man do in space in general ?

As it turned out, enthusiasts of rocket science have not yet transferred. As usual, money is to blame. There were those who wanted to spend their considerable savings on a childhood dream of flying into space.

In an incredibly short time, private projects offered their options for almost all types of space services. The entertainment sector seems to be the most tidbit: from riding tourists to the stratosphere, to settling on Mars(The main cost coverage is assumed by selling the live broadcast of the event). Also under the spotlight are services for remote sensing of the Earth and various types of communications. The ongoing miniaturization of electronics already allows you to create a spacecraft literally on the table. And since the cost of launching into space is proportional to weight - the desire to have your own satellite has ceased to seem unrealizable.

And of course, a living legend of modern astronautics, the CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk, who stated that he founded the company with the main goal of helping to become humanity multi-planetary . True, there is another topic:

Humanity is a “ biological loader ” for digital life forms.

What do we (humanity) expect to see in the near future.

Domestic private space

Presented by Sputniks (LLC Satellite Innovative Space Systems) and Dauria Aerospace. Both companies produce microsatellites for Roscosmos and other interested parties. Sputniks offers to launch small satellites into orbit using universal launch vehicles, integrating them into domestic launch vehicles, and provides ground-based infrastructure for controlling and receiving data from them. Dauria’s order portfolio includes two geostationary telecommunications satellites for India and two Earth remote sensing devices (ROS) for Roscosmos, which will be commissioned in 2015 on July 8, 2014 using the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle, the company launched the third device: experimental platform DX-1. Earlier in June, the Dnepr rocket successfully launched two Perseus-M microsatellites into orbit.

At the stage of stratospheric tests, the satellite-star of the community “Your space sector” :
Cosmonautics is a company of like-minded people and an interesting job, not a team of loafers and a lack of interesting projects; this is science and creativity, and not blind copying of the heritage of fathers and grandfathers, this is our radiant tomorrow, and not fading yesterday.

Most recently, Lin Industrial lit up with the attraction of virtual tank builders. While it is difficult to say whether they will succeed in flying anything in hardware, the plans are too ambitious.

Non-domestic space

Xcor Aerospace's Lynx is a two-seat suborbital spacecraft capable of taking off and landing on a regular runway. In addition to entertaining commercial passengers, it is planned to conduct scientific experiments. XCOR has already signed a contract with the Southwest Research Institute for the flights of its scientists and for conducting experiments in the suborbital space. The company plans to sell tickets at $ 95,000.

Six-seater SpaceShipTwo by Virgin Galacticlike Lynx, it is designed to send tourists and researchers into suborbital space flight. And, like XCOR, Virgin has also contracted with the Southwest Research Institute. SpaceShipTwo will rise to an altitude of about 15 kilometers on a WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft. Then, using its own rocket engine, SpaceShipTwo will reach a height of 100 kilometers above the surface of the Earth. Landing is made on an airplane. Virgin Galactic has already sold over 500 tickets at $ 200,000 per seat aboard SpaceShipTwo. October 31, 2014 SpaceShipTwo crashed during a test flight , one pilot died. Despite some outflow of customers, Virgin Galactic is not going to close the project .

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Exos Aerospace, created in May 2014 from Armadillo Aerospace, is developing a spacecraft for suborbital vertical launch flights. The device will accommodate two passengers. The space tour operator Space Adventures booked space on the ship for $ 110,000. A man from Arizona recently won a free flight in a contest hosted by Space Adventures and Seattle's Space Needle, although his flight date has not yet been set.

Bigelow aerospacedesigns and builds large, expandable modules, which should become the main link in the creation of private space stations in orbit. The company has already conducted in 2006 and in 2007 two tests of prototypes in orbit. The six-seat module BA 330 provides about 330 cubic meters of usable volume. Bigelow involves connecting at least two 330s together. The company has concluded contracts with Boeing and SpaceX for the delivery of passengers to huge space hotels. Potential clients include space agencies, government departments, and research teams.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen recently teamed up with aerospace pioneer engineer Burt Rutan to create an enterprise called Stratolaunch Systems. The company plans to launch rockets into space from a carrier aircraft, which will be the largest aircraft in history, with a wingspan of 117 meters. At first, Stratolaunch will send cargo and satellites into space, but in the future it hopes to launch astronauts as well. The first test flight is scheduled for 2015, commercial launches are possible from 2016.

Liberty Launch Vehicleproducing solid propellant rocket boosters for the space shuttle, teamed up with Lockheed Martin and European Astrium, is developing its own system for launching astronauts into low Earth orbit. The upgraded 91-meter Liberty rocket will deliver a seven-passenger capsule into orbit. Test flights of the system will begin in 2014, the launch of the first astronaut is expected at the end of 2015. If successful, commercial flights are possible from 2016.

Blue origin, created by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, hopes to win a NASA contract to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station. The created spacecraft is designed to carry seven passengers or a combination of cargo and crew. The company is developing a reusable first stage of the launch vehicle in order to minimize the cost of launch. Representatives of the company claim that commercial spacecraft flights will begin by 2018. Blue Origin is also developing a suborbital spacecraft called New Shepard, which will be equipped with a reusable propulsion module.

Dream Chaser company Sierra Nevada ( Sierra Nevada You) a small space plane designed to transport seven astronauts to low Earth orbit. A participant in the final round (Commercial Crew Transportation Capability) of a competition hosted by NASA to deliver American astronauts to the ISS. The device will be launched into space using the Atlas-5 launch vehicle, and will land on its own in an airplane. Representatives of the company say that the space plane should be ready by 2016. The first manned flight will take place in 2017.

The second participant in the competition - the aerospace giant Boeing - is developing a reusable (up to 10 flights) spacecraft for delivering cargo and up to seven astronauts to the ISS called CST-100. The device uses proven technology from Apollo and NASA's space shuttle. It is expected that the CST-100 will act as a lifeboat on the ISS in emergency situations. The commissioning of the CST-100 is planned in 2016.

Cygnus is an automatic cargo supply spacecraft. Developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation as part of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Program . Designed to deliver goods to the International Space Station after the completion of the Space Shuttle program. The launch is carried out using an Orbital proprietary launch vehicle, Antares, formerly known as Taurus II. NASA has entered into a contract with Orbital Science for a total cost of $ 1.9 billion for 8 Signus flights to the ISS until 2016.

California-based SpaceX is developing a reusable Dragon V2 spacecraft for transporting cargo and crew into low Earth orbit and beyond. Third NASA Contestant. The manned version will transport up to seven astronauts to the ISS or to deep space, for example, to Mars. The company has already launched several unmanned Dragons to the ISS. The flights were a demonstration of SpaceX's readiness to fulfill a contract with NASA for 12 cargo deliveries to the station using its own Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The Falcon 9 will also be reusable in the future with a vertical landing on extendable legs.

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Mars oneit is a private organization whose task is to establish a colony on Mars. The project itself is not an aerospace company and does not produce equipment. All equipment will be developed primarily by SpaceX. The uniqueness of the project lies in the fundamental impossibility of returning the colonists to Earth and financing through real-time TV broadcasts. Replenishment of the colony is expected every two years for six people starting in 2025. Rumors add that confidence in the success of the event is that the founder of Mars One, the Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, is about to move to Mars.

The falling banner of the discoverers of space was picked up on time. A new space race has begun! A little competition will never hurt. Demand for space flights, albeit for entertainment, will apparently remain for the time being.

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