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Space Tourism UniversityOne focus of Universal Space Systems is to to educate and inform the public about Space Tourism. We intend to accomplish that goal here by presenting a wide range of topics on human space travel - from Astronaut to "Zero-G". Topics will usually be presented on a quarterly basis, in no particular order. Earlier topics of discussion can be found in the STU Catalog. February 2008Orbital Space TravelOrbital spaceflights will be the next step for Space
Tourism. Sub-orbital space travel starts at what is commonly known as the "Edge
of Space" beginning at an altitude
of 328,000 feet = 62.5 miles = 100 kilometers. An orbital spaceflight refers to a mission
that flies out of the atmosphere and reaches the "Edge
of Space" then continues on with the speed needed to sustain
continuous orbiting of the earth. In orbit a space traveler can experience
unlimited weightlessness, but the cost and risks are a whole lot more than
sub-orbital spaceflight. An orbital
spaceflight places a spacecraft on a trajectory where it could remain in space
for at least one orbit, usually meaning Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
LEO is defined as geocentric orbits (orbits adound the Earth) ranging in
altitude from 100 - 2000 km (62.5 - 1240 miles); one revolution takes 90
minutes, the speed is 8 km/s. For an orbital spaceflight, both the apogee
(highest point of the trajectory) and the perigee (lowest point of the
trajectory) are at an altitude beyond the "Edge
of Space". On the other hand, a sub-orbital spaceflight is where the
apogee of a spacecraft reaches space but the perigee is too low. In
April 2001, orbital Space Tourism became a reality when American businessman
Dennis Tito flew to space via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which docked with the
International Space Station (ISS). Mr. Tito spent eight days in space, six of
which were spent inside the ISS. Tito's successful flight, carried out over the
initial objections of NASA and other ISS partner nations, opened the door to
further flights by paying “space participants” (the term NASA uses to
describe space tourists). Orbital space travel is currently limited to only one
spacecraft, the Russian Soyuz vehicle. Russia regularly launches Soyuz on supply
flights to the ISS but because only two cosmonauts are required to fly the
Soyuz, a third seat on each mission is available to potential space tourists.
This creates a steady number of flight opportunities for those interested in
orbital space travel, however, Russia recently announced that the third seat
would no longer be available when the ISS crew expands from three to six crew
members in 2009. Building on a comprehensive and detailed survey about
public space travel among affluent individuals, Futron Corporation released
20-year forecasts for the orbital and sub-orbital Space Tourism markets.
According to Futron, by 2021 commercial space travel could amount to an industry
worth over $1 billion (USD). This is reason enough why many companies came into
being to grab a piece of this new, lucrative marketplace creating what are
called New Space companies. Futron's
forecast for orbital space travel projects that by this same year, 60 passengers
may be flying annually, representing revenues in excess of $300 million (USD). Some of the more
interesting findings in the Futron Corporation study relating to orbital
spaceflights include:
Many of the companies that are now involved in developing commercial sub-orbital vehicles will also go on to develop an orbital spaceship. Some of these New Space companies are opting to by-pass the sub-orbital market completely and are focused solely on bringing the first commercial orbital vehicle into being. Needless to say, destination space companies are also in work developing the first orbital commercial space hotels, spas and resorts. Back to Top |
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