The new space race
The next space race is underway. The market for commercial space tourism is expected to generate more than $1 billion in annual revenues by 2020, according to a study released last month by Research Reports International, a market-research firm based in Evergreen, Colorado. Billionaire entrepreneurs like Branson and Microsoft's Paul Allen are looking to fill that demand, partnering with governments to build launching pads and training facilities around the globe, and thrill seekers are already lining up to buy tickets. While most of the world's 35 functioning spaceports are controlled by governments, at least eight private ones are in the planning or construction stages from Singapore to Sweden. "The market is wide open for private players," says Steven Morris, president of Research Reports International.
So far, the lack of launching pads hasn't been an issue because space trips are so few and far between. That's going to change. According to Futron, a Bethesda, Maryland-based consulting firm, 15,000 passengers will be willing to pay $700 million per year by 2021 merely for a white-knuckle ride and a few minutes of weightlessness. With entrepreneurs now planning on opening up a market for cheaper flightsand more of themthe demand for launchpads is expected to soar. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is currently reviewing proposals to build commercial spaceports in several states, including California, Wisconsin and Texas. In June it approved a license for a spaceport built on a former military base in Oklahoma that is expected to put passengers into space by 2008.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Virgin Galactic has chosen the New Mexico spaceport as its headquarters. The facility is going to be built partially underground with shops, restaurants and waiting areas. Virgin plans eventually to open new launchpads in other areas of the world. It is currently negotiating with the British Royal Air Force to use its Lossiemouth air base in northern Scotland, which has a long runway, low population and controlled air traffic. It's also looking into using a rocket range in Kiruna, Sweden, that could give passengers a "spectacular view of the Arctic Circle," says Virgin Galactic president William Whitehorn.
Other countries have also caught rocket fever. Developers in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are bent on adding spaceports to their existing economic hubs. Singapore is planning a $115 million facility funded by Space Adventures, a Richmond, Virginia-based space-travel company, and its partner, Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, as well as some private investors. The port, to be located next to Singapore's Changi airport, will function as a base for suborbital flights and as a private astronaut-training facility. It will offer zero-gravity flights, high-altitude jet rides, centrifuge rides and space simulations, along with a public education and interactive visitor center. "Singapore developed as a port country," says Michael Lyon, project manager of the Spaceport Singapore project. "Moving into space is a natural evolution for them."
The spaceport being planned for the United Arab Emirates, located in Ras al- Khaimah, less than an hour's drive from Dubai, will be smaller than the Singapore and New Mexico sites. Sheik Qasimi, the crown prince, has committed $30 million of the expected $100 million cost of the project. The deal is part of Ras al-Khaimah's development program to build hotels and shopping centers, improve the airport and attract industrial and commercial firms in the area.
Despite all the hype, the space-tourism business is no sure thing. The private-launch industry was booming in the 1990s, but collapsed because demand for satellite launchers never materialized. Until the $200,000 ticket prices are lowered, space tourism will be confined to the superrich. But "that's kind of like saying the computers that people bought in 1978 were only extravagant items for the rich," counters Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson. With luck, the new tourism boom will put space within reach of the ordinary millionaire.