When will space tourism take off?

[YT2095]

I hope you touch wood when you say that! (

 

and anyway, why WOULD they attack it? it`s their path to a free meal ticket, that`s how half of them get into this country, they`re hardly likely to throw the baby out with the bath water or kill the goose that lays the golden eggs are they!?

[Dave]

Proper terrorists (i.e. al Qaeda etc) have many ways of getting into the country, and the money to purchase fake passports, etc. Illegal immegrants don't (for the most part).

[Sayonara]

Space elevators won't be used for planetary mass transit. Rather than a transport system in their own right, they will be used to support - and assist in the construction of - other systems.

[YT2095]

very true, but if it`s cheaper then they`de do it, not only that, but many of the ilegals are sucker to the recruitment programs/regimes set-up in waiting for them, whether it be terrorist training or organised crime

the chunnel is still a great way for them to get their potential manpower into this country.

[Sayonara]

When you said "there was also a comment about it being a prime target for terrorists ", I assumed you meant as the target of sabotage.

 

Are we talking about the same thing here?

[YT2095]

sabotage as well as exploitation (although I find the idea of someone carrying a "Pocket Nuke" a little bit unlikely) I still think `they` would somehow find a way to exploit this, take a Jumbo Jet for instance,,, WHO`DE have thought it before 9/11 ?

(if we ignore kamikazi that is).

never under esstimate the ba$ts!

[Dave]

Although a pocket nuke is pretty unlikely, the Russians have lost a load of briefcase nukes over the years; one's going to turn up sooner or later.

 

(just for the record)

[YT2095]

oh thnx a bunch Dave, I`ll sleep well tonight knowing that! LOL )

[Sayonara]

Let me refine further.

 

The discussions of terrorists and space elevators I have seen included concerns that referred specifically to attacks on the tether - damaging or destroying the expensive and critical support system, not using a lift car to attack something with.

[jordan]

So from the link a while back that Sayo gave, it would appear that the elevator would run around (on the outide) of a wire hung in space. How would the wire manage to stay up there? (I'd read the full link but I'm low on time right now).

[paganinio]

The human technology is growing very fast, much faster than we can imagine, so i think we can make it within 1 year

i will make effort to help human beings 'conquer' the space

[hagbard celine]

I say never.

 

We are reaching the end of human civilization.

[J'Dona]

I say never.

 

We are reaching the end of human civilization.

I guess I'll be the first to ask... why's that?

[hagbard celine]

why's that?

 

Climate change, peak oil, famine, drought, debt, wars, etc...

 

Modern civilization doesn't have too much time left, but this is my opinion. I'm a pessimist.

[J'Dona]

True, if all the things you've mentioned there did go through, the human race would be in a spot, but I doubt that it'll ever really end as such. It might get into a pit that takes centuries or even millenia to recover from, but not end.

 

Of course, the human race's sense of awareness regarding oil and climate change may be a road to self-doomnation, but if we get to that point there'll still be a room of oil businessmen in a compound somewhere underground, laughing and drinking beer...

[hagbard celine]

I visited this and it has some good info on space elevators. I would love to see humanity in space to the point where there is a tourism industry. I'm just very ominous of our future.

[admiral_ju00]

Climate change' date=' peak oil, famine, drought, debt, wars, etc...

 

Modern civilization doesn't have too much time left, but this is my opinion. I'm a pessimist.[/quote']

 

All of these things have been there since the onset of mankind. Why now do you see them as a prediction of our demise?

[Sayonara]

History shows that civilisations are always toppling over. Big deal.

[aeroguy]

I voted 50+ years, as we don't have the technology to go cheaply into orbit, which is what we're really talking about here. The difference in energy required and complexity between a short up-and-down flight to 100k and a true orbit is massive.

Energy-wise, it's something like 35:1...

 

A small number of wealthy individuals will no doubt go into space using a concept similar to that of the WK/SS1 combo. But I don't think well see more than a few hundred people going into space like that.

 

Any real space tourism will only take off once we have an established, safe and cheap ride into orbit. And by cheap, I mean for about the same cost as a luxury ocean cruise today.

[Edward]

on the topic of space elevatros

I think it is possible to build one. How it would work is you would launck a space craft up thct is carrying a shitload of 1 inch thick Carbon nano tube cable (A non existent material) ino space It would then enter a 62,000 mile geo stationary orbit above the Equator (Geostationary orbit is where the satlite stays above the same place on earth instead of circling around the earth.) It would then launch a missle towards earth which would carry the cable down to earth. the cable would then be attached to an ancor on the ocean floor then more length of cable would be added to make it ~2 or 3 feet thick. then you install a machine that caqn climb the cable and volia. The cable stays up becaus as the earth spins it pushes it out. the estimatesd cost is about 10 milion dollars

[mooeypoo]

We already had 2 tourist billionair cosmonauts (I think they were russians.. can't be sure) -- I believe making this a habbit (At least for millionairs) is coming within the next 2 or three years.

Openning it for the "public" might take more, and it would still for the next 10 to 20 years will be so damn expensive, people going out to space will have no life to come back to so I voted 6 to 10, but that means "general" extremely-rich-people tourism.

 

~moo

[J'Dona]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3693518.stm

 

Looks like the 6% or so of people who voted "1-5 years" might have been right after all, if you count a cost of £100000 for a few minutes in space. But if Virgin's on it it won't be long before that drops rather a lot, provided there's another competitor.

[5614]

yeah, heard bout this on the radio earlier... but:

The vehicle will have room for five passengers

A week's pre-flight training will be required

Three-hour trip; three minutes of weightlessness

Flights to leave from Mojave Desert' date=' initially

Tickets to cost about £100,000, perhaps less

[/quote']

all of this is only a 3 hour trip and only 3 minutes or weightlessness, they cant be going very far into space, sounds like a kinda dip into space.

[atinymonkey]

yeah' date=' heard bout this on the radio earlier... but:

 

all of this is [b']only[/b] a 3 hour trip and only 3 minutes or weightlessness, they cant be going very far into space, sounds like a kinda dip into space.

 

Well, it's only the first stage and it also includes 3 days of flight training. The next stage is to build a space station and a moon base.

 

Plus it's better than you can manage, and cheaper than the Russian trips.

[5605]

i heard that virgin are planing to make commertial flight to space by 2008 and apparently the trip will last for about 3 hours but the price is about

£100'000