Commercialization of Space

[HenryTo]

At this rate, it looks like private interests will get back to the moon ahead of NASA, which has its own target date of 2020:

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/070628_genesis2_update.html

[HenryTo]

A new era for commercial space flight has begun as SpaceX successfully launches its Dragon Capsule--set to dock with the ISS this Friday.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-spacex-launch-space-station-20120521,0,4066674.story

[HenryTo]

NASA restarts the space race, as it develops the J-2X engine, the successor to the J-2 engine that carried astronauts to the moon during the 1960s and 1970s.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=24549

[HenryTo]

Private investor group to launch asteroid mining operation? We will find out next week.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27776/?nlid=nldly&nld=2012-04-19

[rffrydr]

[HenryTo]

Commercial spaceflights (finally) becomes a reality.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/science/space/spaceflights-prepare-to-expand-customer-base.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto

[HenryTo]

Jitters about China's race to the moon.
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Chinese-Manned Moon Base to Be Massive Lunar Land Grab?

There is at least one person who believes that ownership of the moon could go to China once the country's efforts to actualize a moon base are realized (planned for the 2020s) -- even though there exists an international treaty that forbids direct ownership by claim, use, or other means of the moon by any one country or organization.

However, space exploration advocate Robert Bigelow says, according to Discovery News, that China's economic strength, national direction, and proposed timeline for reaching the moon and constructing a lunar base will place the Asian nation in an optimum position to dictate moon matters and claim important mineral rights. He says the international treaty will not matter and ownership of the moon will be the first step in China's gambit to win what he calls "Solar System Monopoly."

"This will characterize the 21st and 22nd centuries and beyond. If we ignore this, it will be at our extreme peril," Bigelow told his audience at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight going on this week in Las Cruces, N.M. "Nothing else China could possibly do in the next 15 years would cause as great a benefit for China."

Bigelow believes that China's global economic influence, not to mention the technological capability and will to colonize and/or mine the moon, will provide a buffer zone of allowance. Most nations will be too poor and economically dependent to object to a Chinese land and mineral grab.
The United States, Russia, India and European nations (or the European Union) might object but have little in the planning or operational stages as competition to a Chinese lunar base. Economic problems and political policies (such as massive defundings of NASA) are seen to also work as a curb against opposition to a determined effort by the Chinese government space program to reach and setting up mining operations on the moon.
Why the worry? Bigelow believes that a territory grab will set the Chinese up for mineral rights ownership. Discovery of water on the moon last year (where NASA "bombed" the lunar surface and found water deposits) would make it possible to set up missions with longevity through permanent lunar facilities. A recent study released information that the moon also has areas where it is titanium rich.

Titanium, a rare metal on Earth, is more durable than steel, lighter, and, because of its rarity, expensive. A lunar base could possibly lead to an advantage to the operator, establishing a "claim" and subsequent mineral rights to that which can be extracted from the claimed territory.

In short, if China gets to the moon first, establishes a lunar base first (plans are in place to establish a base in the 2020s), they could set up extraction facilities that greatly benefit China and few others. Although minerals and goods manufactured in low gravity would ultimately make it to Earth market, China would dictate the supply and price with its monopoly. A space mission that results in a lunar base could also lead to manufacturing installations on the moon itself and establish for China a foothold on dominating the space race, not only with regard to the moon but also future expeditions to Mars.

Bigelow, billionaire hotel owner (Budget Suites) and aerospace entrepreneur (founder of Bigelow Aerospace), is hopeful that pointing out such Chinese dominance with regard to future space missions will alter the current American space race lethargy, a position almost diametrically opposed to the national effort during the 1960s that placed a man on the moon before the end of that decade.

In fact, the United States has placed NASA funding in stasis for the next half-decade, the shuttle fleet has been mothballed, and although there will be exploratory probes and the like launched in the coming decade, the only manned space missions will be done in conjunction with other space agencies. American astronauts will hitch rides into space with the Russians for the foreseeable future.

"Hopefully this will produce the fear factor necessary to motivate Americans," Bigelow said.

In a nation distracted by latest celebrity sex scandal and other general non-issues, where the political landscape is more often as not polarized and in gridlock through the pervasive use of the fear angle, Bigelow's message might simply be lost in the general cacophony of what might be the greatest threat to America's economic and political future.

Although Bigelow says that it might not be too late for America to get back in the space race, the political reality suggests that much of China's competition might not come from other nations but from private companies such as his own that are developing space vehicles and initiating missions to the moon.

Even during the Age of Exploration (15th century to early 17th century), where governments, individuals, and trading companies alike sponsored exploratory missions and the Treaty of Tordesillas demarcated the globe for Portugal and Spain, expeditions set up colonies and outposts all over the world. And to those who operated the claimed territories (often done in the name of a sovereign for protection) -- and could do so without interference or replacement (usually via force) -- went the spoils of ownership and development.

And if history is the ultimate adjudicator as to what China might do once it has established a moon base, a treaty establishing international non-ownership of the moon will most likely produce little effect with a nation that can make an unopposed proprietary claim through presence, development, and usage.

[rffrydr]

I would gone out there if I knew there were going to be P58 Lightnings buzzing around. You can have the rocketship, Henry.
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[HenryTo]

Spaceport America completed. Commercial suborbital flights expected to begin in 2013:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/virgin-galactics-branson-in-new-mexico-for-dedication-of-commercial-spaceport-terminal/2011/10/17/gIQAE8aLsL_story.html?wprss=rss_national

[HenryTo]

Slowly but surely?

Dream is over for Virgin Galactic space tourist

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Venture capitalist Alan Walton has trekked to the North Pole, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and skydived over Mount Everest. A hop into space to enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness would have been the ultimate adventure.

After waiting seven years to fly aboard Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceline, Walton gave up on the dream and asked for a $200,000 ticket refund on his 75th birthday this past spring.

Walton, who was among the first 100 customers to sign up, is not as spry as he used to be, and he's concerned about the project delays.

"This was a decision I wish I didn't have to make," he said recently. But "it was time."

Promises of space travel for the masses reached a euphoric pitch in 2004 when the experimental SpaceShipOne air-launched over the Mojave Desert and became the first privately financed, manned spacecraft to dash into space. It won the $10 million Ansari X Prize on Oct. 4, 2004, for accomplishing the feat twice in two weeks.

The flights were hailed by space enthusiasts as a leap toward opening the final frontier to civilians.

Virgin Galactic, which licensed the SpaceShipOne technology, began taking reservations before a commercial version was even built. Branson predicted back then that the maiden passenger flight would take off in 2007.

Other private rocketeers hunkered down in their hangars and sketched out designs to compete with Virgin Galactic. Soon a cottage industry rose. While there's been progress made — most are in the testing stage — there's still no launch date.

"It's tough," said Erika Wagner of the X Prize Foundation, which sponsored the 2004 contest. "We've seen slower progress than a lot of people would have liked."

Human spaceflight so far has been restricted to governments and a handful of wealthy thrill-seekers who have plunked down millions of dollars to hitch rides aboard Russian rockets to the International Space Station, which circles the Earth 250 miles high.

Instead of flying all the way to orbit, current space tourism efforts are focused on suborbital trips using vehicles designed to rocket up to the edge of space then immediately descend rather than circle the Earth. Virgin Galactic promises flights to altitudes of at least 62 miles with a few minutes of weightlessness. Cost per head ranges from $100,000 to $200,000 — far cheaper than the trips to orbit but still pricey.

Besides Virgin Galactic, other players include XCOR Aerospace headed by rocketeer Jeff Greason; Armadillo Aerospace founded by computer game programmer John Carmack; and Blue Origin headed by Amazon.com chief executive Jeff Bezos.

The companies are privately held and do not answer to shareholders. As a result, details about progress are hard to come by. Scaled Composites, which designed SpaceShipOne and is building a passenger version for Virgin Galactic, is publicity-shy, but posts results of test flights on its website.

Blue Origin is the most tight-lipped. The company didn't disclose a recent accident until a week after it happened. Even now, details about what failed during the test flight are sketchy.

Except for Blue Origin, the space tourism players are separate from those vying to build space taxis to the International Space Station under a NASA contract.

John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, a trade group that represents suborbital and orbital space companies, is pleased with the testing despite the longer-than-expected time frame to get off the ground.

"Everything in aerospace always takes longer that you originally think," he said.

Scaled Composites, considered by many in the industry as the front-runner, has been conducting glide tests in the Mojave Desert since last year. The project suffered a setback in 2007 after a deadly explosion during testing to develop the propellant flow system for the hybrid rocket motor.

Virgin Galactic chief executive George Whitesides said he expected powered test flights to begin sometime next year. Commercial service will start up after the company gets a license from the Federal Aviation Administration, he said.

About 450 ticket-holders are in line to fly with Virgin Galactic. A small number of people — fewer than 10 — dropped out due to medical and other reasons, Whitesides said.

"Folks are tremendously loyal and excited," he said. "They want us to do it safely. They want us to take our time and make sure we got it right."
Even if space tourism takes off, it's unclear whether there's a strong market for joy rides to view the curvature of the Earth, said space policy expert John Logsdon of George Washington University.

"In the current economic climate, how many people have that level of discretionary money?" he said.

Space Tourism Society founder John Spencer said the industry has matured in recent years with some branching out beyond passenger flights and inking deals with universities and NASA to take scientists and experiments to space.

Later this month, Virgin Galactic executives and selected customers will gather at Spaceport America in New Mexico for a dedication ceremony. The company plans to launch from the spaceport once construction is complete.

One space tourist who will not be present is Walton, the British-born venture capitalist who lives in Connecticut. Walton booked with Virgin Galactic in 2004 and became a "founder" — a title given to the first 100 customers who paid in full. He got a refund earlier this year.

Walton is coping with the reality that he will never fly like an astronaut but believes he made the right decision.

He has moved on his latest adventure — investing in genome-mapping pioneer J. Craig Venter's quest to create artificial life.

[HenryTo]

NASA plans its next move--to Mars:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=22734

[HenryTo]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/08/space.flight/index.html?hpt=T1

[rffrydr]

Top Gear took their car; and it didn't cost anywhere near that:

http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/space-robin
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[HenryTo]

It is coming:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/10/15/space.tourism/index.html?hpt=C1

[rffrydr]

A new construction boom for a tenant that never complains:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/58266452-75ba-11df-86c4-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F58266452-75ba-11df-86c4-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=
_________________
Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

[HenryTo]

NASA officials and other experts on NASA/space discuss the future of America's space program:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/guest/25273/?nlid=3065