Space tourism has become a reality, 910,000 yuan can see the panorama of the earth, 400 million yuan can go to space for three days

Focus

• 1 With the improvement of people's living standards and the advancement of technology, people are no longer satisfied with sightseeing on Earth, and space tourism is becoming a new fashion.
• More than two companies are developing different ways to travel to space, including space balloons, space planes and spacecraft into the stratosphere, suborbital and space.
• Musk's SpaceX, Branson's Virgin Galactic, and Bezos' Blue Origin are seen as the Big Three in space tourism, and a so-called "new space race" is underway between them.
• 4 Industry analysts expect the global space tourism market to reach $678.3 million by the end of 2023. By 2033, space tourism will reach $13.2 billion.

Humans have been walking the Earth for 300,000 years, but it wasn't until 1961 that Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to escape the Earth. Today, more than 60 years later, regular trips to the International Space Station (ISS) have become the norm, and Elon Musk is even talking about going to Mars. Meanwhile, space tourism companies have sprung up around the world, promising to lead ordinary people on interstellar adventures.

However, the vast majority of companies' ticket prices are so high that only the super-rich can afford a seat, but as technology develops, the ticket price for access to space will gradually decrease. So, who will win the race to provide regular commercial travel to space? From Musk's SpaceX's Crew Dragon, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceplane, and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket, to stratospheric balloon adventures, trips to the International Space Station, and orbital hotels, in a few years of money, which way will you choose to get into space?

01 The competition of the Big Three is fierce, and alternative ideas are also eye-catching

Virgin Galactic

Price: US$450,000 (about RMB 3.26 million)

Take-off location: American Spaceport, New Mexico

Experience duration: 90 minutes

Cost per minute: $5,000

Weightless state time: about 5 minutes

Sightseeing effect: Virgin Galactic's spaceplane has 17 windows that give you a glimpse of the Earth

Altitude: 80 km, technically still not in space, 20 km away from the so-called Kármán line, which is the internationally recognized boundary of space.

Aircraft: VSS Unity spaceplane

First commercial flight: It could be this summer, but it could also be 2024

Passengers: Up to 6 people, plus 2 pilots

Virgin Galactic is one of the major airlines and a major contender for offering regular commercial space flights. Many have dubbed the rivalry between Musk, Bezos and Branson the "new space race," and the three billionaires all want a piece of the space tourism pie, so their relationship can sometimes get pretty bad.

Since founding Virgin Galactic in 2004, Branson has been a major player in the field. He has experienced many setbacks, but in 2021, he arrived at the edge of space nine days earlier than archrival Bezos. Now, Branson hopes to begin offering similar space edge travel to the public. Virgin Galactic had hoped to begin commercial operations this summer, but given that the company said it wanted to "assess the customer experience" after the latest test flight, next year seemed more realistic.

If it goes according to such a plan, Virgin Galactic will lag behind several other competitors. In addition, the company faces several challenges, such as its high ticket prices, being technically considered not to have gone into space, and funding problems. Its sister company, Virgin Track, just filed for bankruptcy due to financial difficulties.

Blue Origin

Ticket price: 200,000 to 300,000 US dollars (about 1.45 million yuan - 2.18 million yuan)

Take-off location: Van Horn, Texas, USA

Duration: 10 minutes and 20 seconds

Cost per minute: $20,000 to $30,000

Weightless state time: about 3 minutes

Sightseeing effect: Blue Origin's spaceship has six windows, is more than 90 centimeters high and about 76 centimeters wide

Altitude: 100 km, technically this altitude already belongs to space, but it is still suborbital

Aircraft: New Shepard rocket + spacecraft

First Commercial Flight: The New Shepard has completed several flights and is expected to reopen to visitors starting in 2024

Passengers: 6 people

Training requirements: 2 days

Amazon founder Bezos entered space in 2000, two years before Musk created SpaceX and four years before Branson.

Blue Origin is headquartered in Kent, Washington, but has a launch facility in western Texas focused on suborbital spaceflight. The company is going head-to-head with Musk in a race to build cheaper, more reliable, reusable launch vehicles.

In space tourism, Bezos participated in Blue Origin's first manned spaceflight mission on July 20, 2021, after which the company began offering commercial spaceflight later that year. After Bezos' maiden flight, there were five more spaceflights attended by paying customers.

However, last September, an unmanned mission had to be stopped mid-flight because the rocket appeared to have propulsion failure. The capsule landed safely with the help of a parachute, meaning they might have survived if someone was on board. But the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was forced to investigate, and the New Shepard has since been grounded.

It was a major setback for Bezos, but he still led in the suborbital race. Blue Origin hopes to resume flying "soon," meaning it could resume later this year.

SpaceX

Ticket price: 55 million US dollars (about 400 million yuan)

Take-off location: Interplanetary Base in Texas, USA

Experience duration: At least 3 days

Weightless state time: Except for takeoff and regression, most of the time is weightless

Sightseeing effect: In addition to the 4 round portholes, the Crew Dragon spacecraft also has transparent dome windows on the top

Altitude: 575 km, technically this altitude belongs entirely to space

Aircraft: Crew Dragon spacecraft

First commercial flights: The Crew Dragon has completed several commercial manned flights, including transporting NASA astronauts and sending civilians into space

Passengers: Up to 7 passengers

In the commercial manned field, SpaceX is at the forefront of all companies, and its Crew Dragon spacecraft is also occupying an increasingly important position. According to statistics, in just over 3 years, SpaceX has completed ten manned missions and transported a total of 38 astronauts.

Axiom Space/SpaceX

Ticket Price: $55 million (including $35,000 per night on the International Space Station)

Takeoff location: Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Experience time: 10 days, 8 of which are on the space station

Cost per minute: $3800

Weightless state: 8 days

Sightseeing effect: See the entire Earth from the International Space Station

Altitude: 400 km

Vehicle: Falcon 9 rocket + manned space capsule

First flight: 2022, four or five more flights are planned

Passengers: 4 plus 1 captain

If you think both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin space tourism services are expensive, check out Axiom Space's partnership with SpaceX. Their ticket prices are not hundreds of thousands of dollars, but for the super-rich, with tickets running up to tens of millions of dollars.

On the plus side, though, visitors do have access to space, an experience that can last more than a week, and it does include a trip to the International Space Station. Last year, three businessmen paid $55 million each to become the first all-civilian team ever to arrive on the International Space Station.

Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy, American entrepreneur Larry Connor and former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe made history.

Axiom plans to launch four or five more similar missions as a starting point for regular space travel for paying customers. The company's ultimate wish is to launch its own space station and make space tourism the norm.

Zephalto

Price: US$130,000 (about RMB 940,000)

Take-off location: France

Duration: 6 hours

Cost per minute: $370

Time: None

Sightseeing effect: Large panoramic window with 98% view of the earth

Altitude: 25 km, not yet in space

Aircraft: Stratospheric balloons and the Celeste spacecraft

First flight: 2025

Passengers: 6 plus 2 pilots

Flying in rockets and space planes is clearly the more expensive option in space tourism, so what alternative services are there? There are many companies around the world that are studying opportunities to travel above Earth using stratospheric balloons.

As a cheaper, greener way to travel to space, passengers won't come close to the Carmen Line. But they still have a lot to offer, like a cocktail experience, or a Michelin-starred restaurant. Zephalto plans to start flying balloons in 2025 and promises to offer food cooked by famous French chefs and wines selected by renowned sommeliers.

It's a 6-hour experience that includes 3 hours at a top altitude of 25 kilometers above Earth, an altitude that exceeds 98% of the atmosphere and twice the altitude flown by a regular commercial aircraft. Once at the edge of space, guests aboard a stratosphere balloon will have the opportunity to enjoy stunning panoramic views of the Earth, the Sun, and the stars, which were previously only visible to astronauts.

Space Perspective

Price: US$125,000 (about RMB 910,000)

Take-off location: Ocean Spaceport/Florida coast

Duration: 6 hours

Cost per minute: $350

Time: None

Sightseeing effect: panorama of the earth

Altitude: 32 km

Craft: A Neptune spaceship in a balloon

First flight: end of 2024

Passengers: 8 people

Space Perspective, another company in the space balloon space, has designed a sleek-looking capsule called the Neptune spacecraft that offers views 32 kilometers above Earth. The company plans to offer up to 8 passengers a panoramic view of the planet during the 6-hour round trip.

Space Perspective hopes to debut the service by the end of next year, complete with a cocktail menu, music playlists, lounge chairs and even an "unparalleled view toilet." Customers will have two hours to see the curvature of the Earth, "the darkness of space, and the thin blue lines of our atmosphere."

Radian Aerospace

Ticket price: Not yet announced

Take-off location: Washington state, USA, but can take off and land at most major airports

Experience: No details yet, but not specifically designed for space tourism

Time to weightlessness: possible, not yet determined

Aircraft: Radian One

First flight: undisclosed

Passenger: Not disclosed

The Bellevue, Washington-based company has unveiled plans to build a fully reusable spaceplane that can take off and land on a runway. When completed, it will be a single-stage orbiter that can return within 48 hours.

Radian Aerospace has raised $27.5 million in seed funding, and while not revealing a specific budget, experts predict it will cost more than $1 billion to develop. The company claims that their focus is not on the travel market, but on finding a way to make research, space manufacturing, and Earth observation easier and cheaper.

02 When will space tourism take place?

So, when will these space tourism programs be available? Blue Origin should resume flights soon, while Virgin Galactic won't be too far behind, and Axiom Space will continue to offer high-end travel for space tourists. That being said, space tourism expert Derek Webber warned that he "doesn't expect any significant uptick in space tourism this year or next."

Weber acknowledges that different space tourism projects have a lot of potential, but some of them may take a long time to get off the ground.

"I thought suborbital space tourism would start commercializing a few years after the 2004 Ansari XPRIZE [a $10 million competition for companies launching reusable manned spacecraft in space], but it seems to be starting now," he said. Setting up and operating a space tourism program commercially proved to be much more difficult than I expected, although I was never able to find out why. ”

Weber added: "This is a combination of factors, such as technical challenges, regulatory factors, but there are also unknown factors at play, including the general public attitude towards space exploration, the unfair distribution of wealth, and considerations of global warming." Still, he is optimistic that while the various adventures were initially affordable only to the wealthy, they would eventually become national sports.

Balloons aside, Webb believes suborbital travel will be the cheapest option for space enthusiasts, while orbital space tourism will remain a more expensive affair. He also discussed the possibility of lunar tourism, saying that SpaceX is "dominating" lunar tourism. He eventually thinks lunar orbit and lunar surface tourism will take off, but understandably these services will be expensive.

Dr Maggie Lieu, an astrophysicist at the University of Nottingham, believes Blue Origin may be the most successful space tourism company "in the long term". Between Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX's Inspiration4, she said Branson's project was "the least impressive."

She added: "It's all because they don't reach the Carmen line, and in my opinion, below that boundary it can't be counted as space." And Blue Origin was able to surpass that, but even more impressive was the inspiration 4 that got into orbit. However, they all show that anyone can now go into space, rather than the rigorous testing and training required like traditional astronauts, and paying customers, regardless of age or able-bodiedness, can quickly experience the feeling of space! ”

Dr. Liu, a former researcher at the European Space Agency, also said: "Space balloons are simply not comparable to companies such as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and Axiom Space because they are not even close to the Kármán line. These high-altitude trips are much cheaper, much cheaper, a more environmentally friendly alternative, and safer, though. I think balloon travel would be popular, but I don't think it's space tourism. ”

03 What are the risks of space tourism?

Attention to high-risk travel by wealthy adventurers increased after the crash of an expedition submersible en June 18 that headed to the Atlantic to see the wreckage of the Titanic. All five people on board the Titan submersible allegedly died, and three of them bought tickets for about $250,000 each.

In fact, there are big similarities between deep-sea exploration and space tourism: many people who venture into the depths of the ocean also buy space tourism tickets. Among them was Hamish Harding, who was killed aboard the Titan submersible and was also a passenger on the 2022 Blue Origin spacecraft.

Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin often emphasize the importance of safety, saying it is critical to their company's success as well as the industry as a whole. However, just like deep-sea exploration, space travel comes with inherent risks.

In a 2014 accident, Virgin Galactic's spaceplane disintegrated in flight, killing mission co-pilot Michael Alsbury. In 2022, a Blue Origin rocket exploded during liftoff, although it was not carrying passengers at the time and the launch vehicle's safety suspension function was operating as expected, suggesting that the crew should have survived.

Just like deep-sea diving, the U.S. commercial space industry is largely self-regulated. The Federal Aviation Administration revealed that Congress has suspended the issuance of new regulations for private manned spaceflight. The policy has been extended several times since 2004 and will expire again in October this year. The policy is designed to support avant-garde space companies with the opportunity to develop and test innovative technologies without the need for cumbersome regulatory frameworks.

However, the FAA does issue licenses for commercial rocket launches, and the agency's primary role right now is to ensure the safety of bystanders and nearby property, rather than focusing on protecting passengers on board. Currently, paying customers traveling to space must sign an "informed consent" document acknowledging the risks before flying.

04 Can space tourism catch fire?

Industry analysts expect the global space tourism market to reach $678.3 million by the end of 2023. The space tourism market will grow at a CAGR of 18.6% from 2018 to 2022, and this figure will reach 38.6% by 2033. By 2033, space tourism will reach about $13.2 billion.

Orbital space tourism, lunar space tourism, and suborbital space tourism are several of the main types of space tourism, and more and more people tend to choose space travel to gain new experiences in space, which will help boost the market. Currently, space tourism is very expensive, and only a small percentage of consumers are able and willing to have this space experience. However, advances in space technology are gradually changing that.

The development of new space technologies is expected to reduce the cost of space travel, which will help boost space tourism worldwide. Over the next decade, more and more of the middle class will opt for space travel, which will also generate lucrative revenues for space tourism companies.

Another key factor driving the demand for space tourism is the development of new space commercial destinations. Some governments and space agencies are working to build commercial space stations or destinations that will be open to private agencies and government customers. This bodes well for the market.

Companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are blazing the trail for space tourism, investing heavily in research and development activities, experiments, and testing of space technologies.

Space tourism is now expanding as part of extreme tourism, and it is expected to grow further. Making space tourism affordable will help the market boom. Initiatives taken by governments will also boost space tourism between 2023 and 2033. In addition, the development of infrastructure will have a positive impact on space tourism.

However, with the launch of the rocket, the environment will be greatly affected. Space tourism is likely to lead to the destruction of the ozone layer, which is the basis of human survival on Earth. The key reason behind this phenomenon is the burning of fossil fuels, which absorb the sun's light and heat, which have a huge impact on climate warming.

When rockets are launched into space, they release black carbon into the stratosphere and stay there. Black carbon emissions are currently at relatively low levels, but when all projections and growth will be consistent, it will make all of these threats a reality. (Text/Golden Deer)