Growing up, we watched the skies from our backyards hoping to see satellites or space capsules. We followed Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo liftoffs and landings. We watched the shuttles glide home from space. We were so used to NASA being the agency in charge of US spaceflight, no one thought about private sector companies being in the business. NASA crewed all manned US space missions and NASA set the agenda for what missions would be.
Not so in 2021. On the evening of May 6, 2021, Eureka Springs residents saw strange lights in the sky, and some folks were all over social media about UFOs. We learned later that we probably were seeing a string of billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites, deployed in an expanding “string,” reflecting sunlight while deploying in orbit.
Today it’s common to hear about Musk’s SpaceX launching supplies and astronauts from the US to the International Space Station. On May 30, 2020, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken rode to the ISS from Kennedy Space Center via the SpaceX Dragon capsule and returned 62 days later.
In November 2020 SpaceX lifted four astronauts to the ISS, three from NASA and another form JAXA, the Japanese space agency. The first fully commercial space mission launched September 15, 2021, from Kennedy Space Center via SpaceX with four private astronauts.
Kennedy Space Center Director Janet Petro, in a public announcement said that “with more than 90 private-sector partners and nearly 250 partnership agreements, the presence of commercial companies is larger than ever before.” It’s becoming a truly mixed affair at NASA and on the ISS.
But the real surprise to many isn’t just the joint missions to do regular space stuff like experiments and observations. It’s the rise of space tourism and the possibility of establishing permanent bases and businesses in orbit, on asteroids, and on the moon and Mars. With or without NASA.
Orbital Assembly Corporation plans to begin construction of its 400-guest Voyager Station in 2025. According to published statements by the company, it will be the first commercial space station with artificial gravity. There will be functioning toilets, a health spa, gyms, concert venues as well as themed restaurants and a jogging track (think back to 2001 A Space Odyssey and Star Wars.) The platform will be used by individuals interested in vacationing in space as well as educators and scientists.
NASA has contracts in place with Astrobotic, SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, Blue Origin, and Sierra Nevada Corporation to shuttle science experiments and supplies to the moon in anticipation of establishing a colony there, which would require mining of mineral resources from the lunar surface. Some of those companies are expected to be interested in commercially mining on the moon, according to NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, in a September 2020 press statement.
The element Helium 3, a rare but necessary ingredient for nuclear fusion, is more abundant on the moon than on Earth and may be cheaper to mine there. China, Russia, and India have expressed interest in potential lunar mining operations as a result. Various minerals may also be more readily available in extra-terrestrial venues.
Space Ventures Investors, a venture capital organization, is seeking investors interested in the mining of asteroids, according to their website. The company engages in Crowdfunding and advertises that Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch agree that space will be a $1+ trillion-dollar industry by 2040. The first step in the process, acquiring seed money, is underway. Investors can be stakeholders in future asteroid and near-earth object mining operations for investments as low as $100.
For the purely space-tourism crowd, there are already some notable headwinds. Billionaire Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, flew to the edge of outer space, 57 miles above sea level, July 11, 2021. While not technically past the official “boundary” of outer space, it was nevertheless an impressive achievement. The trip spanned an hour and allowed Branson and three passengers a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of Earth’s curvature. Branson reportedly plans to ferry another 600 passengers for $250,000 a ticket.
Not long afterward, another billionaire, Jeff Bezos, flew to outer space on his Blue Origin company’s New Shepard rocket 66 miles above Earth, past the 62-mile imaginary boundary of “true space.” Like Branson, Bezos and his three passengers enjoyed a few minutes of weightlessness. Unlike Branson, Bezos’s spaceship landed upright, on dry land, rather than in the ocean. Another difference is that Bezos’ rocket ship is fully automated and has no crew. Bezos plans to take more space tourists up for an undisclosed price.
Musk plans to take four non-astronauts to the ISS in 2022 for $55 million each. The cost includes training, mission planning, life support, medical support, provisions, and an 8-day stay onboard the ISS, according to published information by SpaceX.
While Musk, Bezos and Branson are also planning to provide services to NASA and possibly other space agencies, they are heavily invested in space tourism. But at such steep prices, it’s unlikely that many people will afford such a trip. That’s where Word View Enterprises may be a more realistic option. Word View’s Explorer capsule will carry passengers by balloon to an altitude of 100,000 feet, still in the stratosphere but high enough that riders will see the curvature of the Earth and the stars against a pitch black sky, something not possible from the ground.
Flights will last six to eight hours and include a full five days near natural sites on Earth like the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China, or the Giza Pyramids, depending on where the ride originates. All this for $50,000 per person.
William Shatner (AKA Capt. James Tiberius Kirk) is scheduled for his first real life space mission Wednesday, Oct. 13 on Blue Origin. At 90, Shatner will be the oldest person ever in space.