Do you remember hearing stories of the little red martian man who lives on Mars (who could somehow magically be seen by your parents here on Earth)?
Or ever had your parents on particularly starry nights point to a random crater on the moon 384,000 km away and tell you that’s where the man on the moon lives?
Do you remember as a child thinking to yourself “What a load of fucking shit this is,” yet vehemently holding on to your beliefs of Santa Clause and the tooth fairy?
Well, what a 180 life has taken on us.
I have good news and I have bad news…
Turns out Mr. Santy Clause and the mythical tooth fairy both happen to be your parents.
However, as part of the good news, these stories may actually be some kind of underlying, self-fulfilling prophecy. You may one day be this little red being on Mars.
I know it’s a lot to take in this year, one extreme after the other.
The Space race for Space tourism
Space tourism is not a new industry, between 2001- 2009 Space Adventures orchestrated 8 flights to the International Space Station for 7 tourists who flew out aboard the Russian Soyuz aircraft.
SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue origin are currently in a race to break into the industry of Space tourism, with the aim of making space tourism as common as domestic and international travel. Why?
Well, today this industry based on ticket prices, pace of development and supply, has a projected cumulative revenue of $14 billion dollars annually.
May 2020 saw the success of the launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s astronaut carrier, The Crew Dragon. This event has a massive impact on the future of travel, being the first time ever a private company has sent humans into space. The success of this launch has paved the way for the certification of more long-term manned missions into space by private companies, jet-setting the development of commercialised and affordable space tourism. NASA is particularly relying on Space X and Boeing, both private companies to carry humans into orbit with economic prices and sustainable methods.
Well, what does this look like?
Space tourism will be divided into two categories Sub-orbital and Orbital travel.
Blue Origin and Virgin Atlantic plan to capitalize on sub- orbital space travel, with tours which will allow customers to enjoy for just under 10 minutes unimaginable views of our planet through Earth’s atmosphere.
You can see Blue Origin's test voyage here:
Orbital journeys include SpaceX and Space Adventure’s ambitious 5 day experience for customers, where tourists will tour the Earth's orbit atop of the SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.
To give a scope of how ambitious these plans are, the “world’s first ever luxury space hotel,” Aurora Station is currently being developed by Orion Span, and is set to open as soon as 2022. The hotel will grant tourists the opportunity to experience an astonishing sunset and sunrise in a low Earth orbit.
.
The future: “Earth’s getting a little ghetto honey, it’s time to relocate.”
Commercialised and affordable space travel has never been so close to home, and more long-termed prospects see humans actually living on other planets. Jeff Bezoz, founder of Amazon, envisions a future of humans living on actual space colonies. Elon Musk, CEO of TESLA, has ambitious goals of transporting humans to Mars by 2024 with the dream of future colonisation (which he believes is essential for the preservation of our species).
The future of travel is space travel, which may become the new "norm" of luxurious splurges, as NASA hopes to “change the economics of spaceflight by increasing competition and driving down costs.”
Feeling like getting away? It may be time to ask your sugar daddy/mummy to drop a deposit on a space experience. Reach for the stars, Dubai is so last season.
Комментарии