After the release of China's aerospace white paper on the 28th, everyone suddenly found that space tourism was coming, and expressed their joy and desire for "heaven".
So, what is space tourism? What does space tourism play? And what to prepare? Now, physically exercise, save money, raiders look.
How to get to space?
Ride the suborbital space shuttle
At present, the key to space tourism is how to reduce the cost under the premise of ensuring safety. There are already many programmes in this regard. For example, it has been proposed to convert the large cargo compartment of the US space shuttle into a "space airliner" that can carry 74 people, so that the fare of each ticket is only 3.6 million US dollars, but it has not been realized, and even if it is, there are still only a few people who can afford it.
From the current point of view, due to the low technical difficulty and travel cost of suborbital space tourism, safety and comfort are also better, so it is more feasible. Therefore, companies such as Blue Origin in the United States and Virgin Galactic Space in the United Kingdom are now actively preparing to carry out suborbital space tourism business and have developed corresponding aircraft.
▲ Virgin Galactic Space cosmos spacecraft 2
The british Virgin Galactic Space Company adopted the plan to launch the Spaceship 2 suborbital space shuttle in the air through the White Knight 2 aviation aircraft to send tourists into suborbital orbit. It is characterized by both aircraft are horizontal take-off and landing, and can be reused, flying once for about 1.5 hours. Blue Origin in the United States uses the traditional manned spacecraft method to carry out suborbital space tourism, using the new Shepard rocket to launch the new Shepard spacecraft (also known as the crew module). It is characterized by the fact that both aircraft are vertical take-off and landing, and can also be reused, and the time to fly once is about 10 minutes.
The windows of the new Shepard suborbital spacecraft are large
Blue Origin in the United States built the new Shepard suborbital spacecraft. Bezos believes that its new Shepard suborbital spacecraft is better than the British Virgin Galactic Space Cosmodrome spacecraft Spacecraft 2 suborbital space shuttle, because the new Shepard can fly automatically, without the use of space pilots, so it is more efficient.
The veteran U.S. Space Exploration Company plans to use the "Manned Dragon" spacecraft to send space travelers into orbit around the Earth.
How much does it cost?
It is expected to fall to around $40,000
Virgin Galactic Space is said to have received subscriptions for more than 700 seats, averaging $200,000 to $250,000 each. The company expects to fully launch commercial space travel in 2022 and eventually expect to reduce fares to around $40,000.
Bezos' Blue Origin, based on Branson's competitive scheme and other factors, intends to set passenger fares at at least $200,000 per space trip, though plans are subject to change. For now, Blue Origin has not revealed its long-term pricing scheme.
Musk's SpaceX has successfully sent astronauts to the International Space Station, planning to send tourists 400 kilometers away in outer space for a round-the-world space tour in 2022, but the total cost is expected to be more than $100 million.
What to play?
Overlook the beauty of the earth and experience weightless life
At present, there is no strict definition of space tourism, but it generally refers to the activities of non-professional astronauts who take manned spacecraft to space tourism at their own expense. Space tourism can mainly bring tourists two novel experiences: one is to enjoy the beautiful beauty of the earth from above, and to look at the brilliant cosmic starry sky under vacuum conditions; the other is to experience the magical weightless life, floating freely in the cabin, lifting weights.
The first is to look at the celestial signs. In space, it is not affected by the atmosphere, and the stars can be seen without flickering, and the various constellations that are very bright can be admired. It is more interesting to see the moon, the moon seen during the day is light blue and beautiful, and when you look at the moon at night, you can only see parts of the moon, but it is very bright. It's also fun to watch the sun, with a cycle of sunrise and sunset in 90 minutes. Especially at sunset you can see the sun's whitish light and the exact location of its setting.
▲ Looking at the Earth from the orbit of the Moon
The happiest thing is looking down on the Earth from space. At large it is a blue sphere, on closer inspection it is light blue. The only real green belt on it is China's Tibetan plateau; looking at the Bahamas on Earth like emeralds in space; seeing lightning on Earth is very exciting, flashing like blooming caryoforest flowers, when the lightning is continuous and frequent, it is like seeing a sea of fire, and sometimes you can see the lightning of different clouds in five or six places at a time, illuminating the entire cloud. It is also beautiful to see the aurora borealis in space and is an ideal paradise.
In the manned spacecraft, you can also enjoy the weightlessness on the ground that is difficult to simulate, experience the feeling of having light work, "flying cornices and walking the wall", play a bamboo basket to draw water and water, sleep standing and floating like a bird with your mouth to catch food, perform seemingly difficult juggling, one-finger Zen, hanging meditation, you can also drink water balls, make water films, etc.
If you travel to the moon, you can see the beauty of silence, the beauty of desolation, because there is no sound or air flow, there is fine sand, impact craters and craters everywhere, you can also see the ground, and you can jump high because of the small gravitational force.
More Visions?
Go to space and stay in a hotel, set foot on the moon and Mars
On May 5, 2011, the U.S. Space Exploration Corporation announced that it intends to implement the world's first commercial circumlunar tourism by 2015. This circumlunar tour will be completed by a professional astronaut piloting two tourists in the "Soyuz" series of spacecraft for 2 weeks. Tourists take the "Soyuz" series of spacecraft to the "International Space Station" after liftoff, stay in the station for 1 week and then take the spacecraft to the moon, and return after about 1 week, the cost of 1 passenger is 100 million US dollars. U.S. Space Exploration signed an agreement with a tourist for $150 million (Cameron, director of Titanic and Avatar), but later failed to find a second tourist.
Concept map of a starship and a future lunar base
In 2018, the U.S. Space Exploration Technology Corporation unveiled a plan to travel around the moon, planning to send tourists into lunar orbit in January 2023, with Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa becoming the first participant. The journey around the moon will last a week, and visitors will travel aboard Space Exploration Technologies' "Starship", which will be the most important trip to the moon since 1972. Maezawa Said he would pack up the entire spacecraft, which could cost $175 million, and would invite 6 to 8 artists, including architects, musicians, fashion designers, and more. He hopes to inspire artists through his journey around the moon to create greater works.
Elon Musk said That SpaceX plans to send humans to Mars by 2030. Musk said they had such a plan 5 years ago to build 1,000 Starship rockets, launching 3 a day, and eventually sending 1 million humans to Mars.
▲Schematic diagram of the space hotel
In addition, private companies in the United States and Russia are preparing to build space hotels. In the farther future, lunar travel and Mars travel are also likely to be realized. After the space elevator is developed and completed, ordinary people are expected to carry out space tourism.
What preparation is required?
Cultivate interests, exercise, store expenses
To think of traveling in space, in addition to having money, you must also have a better body and a strong interest. First of all, the body can not have major problems. While space travelers don't have to be as physically demanding as professional astronauts, they also can't have obvious heart disease problems. Because in rocket launches, spacecraft returns and space life, various factors may lead to the recurrence of old diseases and even induce new diseases.
In 2006, a Japanese tycoon named Daisuke Yukimoto originally planned to spend $20 million on the "Soyuz" series of spacecraft to board the "International Space Station" for sightseeing, becoming the world's fourth space tourist. But after months of training in Russia, it was found that its body was not suitable for space flight, so it was forced to cancel the space trip, giving the opportunity to Ansari, the world's first female space tourist.
Conducting suborbital space tourism or taking a space shuttle to the sky has looser physical requirements for tourists, and orbital space tourism or taking a spaceship to the sky has stricter physical requirements for tourists.
In addition, all space tourists must train before going to heaven, and the training time and intensity need to vary according to the type of space tourism. For suborbital space tourism, due to the short flight time, space tourists only need to go through a few days of training to meet the conditions. Orbital space tourism, etc. is different, tourists have to live in space for a long time, so they must master life skills such as eating, drinking, and sleeping in space, which require professional training. At the same time, the weightless environment is easy to make people "upside down", unable to find the direction, and produce a sense of fear, which also needs to be overcome through training. Therefore, the training time of tourists who carry out orbital space tourism is generally up to half a year or so.
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