Implications of private space flight

[Samus]

Assuming all goes well for SpaceShip One, we will have our first manned, private flight to the edge of space today. What implications does this have for future activity at or beyond the edge of space?

Besides the obvious (and awesome) prospect of space tourism, there are such things as private satellites, private trips to the moon, private space telescopes (maybe someone can buy Hubble from the DRMO!), etc.

If there is sufficient interest from private investors, do you think space tourism can be a profitable business? I would love to do it, and I know a lot of people would. But can they make it cost efficient for even those who are not independently wealthy?

Also, is it any business of any governing body (the U.S. government, an international organization, or otherwise) to regulate what goes in to space? I admit I still have mixed feelings on this.

Apologies if I'm re-hashing an old subject, I couldn't find any such discussion in my quick search.

 

[T'ai Chi]

I hope you're right. I have an uneasy feeling about all of this. Probably just irrational on my part.

 

[phildonnia]

I don't expect unrestricted private space-travel to last long. Once eccentric millionaires begin working on spy-satellites, ICBMs, etc., that will be the end.

I wish it weren't so.

 

[T'ai Chi]

I hope you're right. I have an uneasy feeling about all of this. Probably just irrational on my part.

Glad to see that it went OK!

 

[geni]

They are still along way from being bale to orbit and as a comercial venture I suspect spaceship one is questionable.

 

[Hellbound]

I don't expect unrestricted private space-travel to last long. Once eccentric millionaires begin working on spy-satellites, ICBMs, etc., that will be the end.

I wish it weren't so.

SHHH!!!!

You're giving away my plans for world domina...um....hmmm

I mean, my plans for world dominoes! Yeah, that's it...

Nothing to see here, move along...

 

[Samus]

geni: They are still along way from being bale to orbit and as a commercial venture I suspect spaceship one is questionable.

I heard on the news that this is about the equivalent of what Alan Shepard did in a Mercury capsule in the early 1960s. He was considered a national hero (for a little while, anyway). I suspect this will not get nearly the reception, as we're technically repeating something done 40 years ago. Except done in the private sector, using technology not available in the 60s.

phildonnia: I don't expect unrestricted private space-travel to last long. Once eccentric millionaires begin working on spy-satellites, ICBMs, etc., that will be the end.

Indeed. You allude to an interesting thought exercise...some crazy billionaire puts his own spy satellite in space, sells the data to al Qaeda... bleh, that's probably just paranoia.

I think space travel would be swell, but realistically, affordable "tours" are at least a decade or two away.

Still, is SpaceShip One an important step in the process, just a flagrant display of wealth, a little bit of both? I'd like to think it's both. It's flaunting one's wealth, but for a noble cause.

 

[Soapy Sam]

CC- Isn't that precisely the point? When Shepard flew, it took the government of the USA to fund it. Now it's some dude with a software company.

This just in...! Microsoft buys NASA. First security patch now available!

 

[Michael Redman]

Indeed. You allude to an interesting thought exercise...some crazy billionaire puts his own spy satellite in space, sells the data to al Qaeda... bleh, that's probably just paranoia.

More likely, AT&T shuttle collects all competing communication satellites and drops them onto microwave towers. Obviously, unregulated space would be a haven for some ugly behavior.

 

[Art Vandelay]

And think of the damage that a hijacked shuttle could do. There's not much one can do to shoot down one of those once it goes ballistic.

 

[LostAngeles]

About the year 2000, I was very sympathetic with Avery Brooks's anguished plight in an IBM commercial about the lack of flying cars. However my anguish was over the lack of space colonies.

Goddamn it, I wanted off this planet and away from Dubya!

There's been a good number of speculations about the negative impacts of this. Which is good. We should try and forsee the abuses and the negative impacts that might happen and find a way to prevent them.

I, however, remain optimistic that by the time I'm fifty I might have been into space and that we will eventually have space colonies.

Of course, I also like being a retarded idealist.

 

[kedo1981]

it will take "ugly" behavoir to get our asses in gear.
Where would the world be without the age of exploration; and that was some real uglyness.
Stap in and get ready for a bumpy ride!!!!

 

[Abdul Alhazred]

I don't expect unrestricted private space-travel to last long. Once eccentric millionaires begin working on spy-satellites, ICBMs, etc., that will be the end.

I wish it weren't so.

How "unrestricted" is unrestricted? This isn't Libertopia, this is rich people working within the existing system.

If it gets popular the price will come down, though I think it will never be cheap.

Private space flight will be heavily regulated by governments, even more so than private aviation.

Furthermore, spy satellite data is publicly available already.

An eccentric millionaire working on an ICBM would be immediately suppressed.

If "something bad" happens, it will be something else, perhaps social problems caused by space trillionaires migrating their capital off-world.

 

[Abdul Alhazred]

I heard on the news that this is about the equivalent of what Alan Shepard did in a Mercury capsule in the early 1960s. He was considered a national hero (for a little while, anyway). I suspect this will not get nearly the reception, as we're technically repeating something done 40 years ago.

Except for the landing, which is the real feat.

Shepard merely "splashed down" in the ocean.

This is a prototype reusable spacecraft.

 

[phildonnia]

An eccentric millionaire working on an ICBM would be immediately suppressed.

So, if say, Paul Allen were funding a sub-orbital space vehicle capable of carrying a hundred pound payload, that would be supressed, right?

 

[seayakin]

I saw one report that there was a potential greater payoff than ferrying rich people to the edge of the atmosphere. This could be a new means of travel such as flying from Tokyo to Paris in an hour. As for the payload, to win the X prize they need to fly 3 people twice. Space Craft 1 seats 3 but they wanted to do their first manned test with only 1 person.

Personally, I think the concept holds a lot of potential and if nothing else it forces NASA to think outside the box.

 

[Art Vandelay]

If an international corporation builds a launch platform in international waters, how would any country have jurisdiction? Or better yet, what if a nonmilitary craft is launched, and the crew converts it to a weapon?

 

[sorgoth]

If an international corporation builds a launch platform in international waters, how would any country have jurisdiction? Or better yet, what if a nonmilitary craft is launched, and the crew converts it to a weapon?

Moon-based lasers.

 

[StaticEngine]

Platforms in international waters must fly a flag for their country of origin, and they are governed under the laws of that country.

The only anarchy at 3 miles out on the high seas is called Piracy (yes, as in "ARRR!"), and most Coast Guards and Naval Forces actively subdue such forces.

 

[rockoon]

Microsoft Moon. Advertising Microsoft products year round.

You might say that we wouldnt let them get away with using the moon as a night-time billboard.. but once they do it, whos going to go up there and spend the money to take it down?