For my final blog in this Aviation Senior Seminar course, I want to expand on my past blog that was all for the push of commercial space travel, and really give out how beneficial it could be to mankind.
According to Forbes, the main objective of privatizing commercial space travel isn’t to just hand over space travel to the private sector, but expand upon the utilization of travel by space by finding different companies and opportunities where a private sector or sectors could benefit from (www.forbes.com, Who’s Winning In the Commercial Space Race?). The first main con that comes from this is that it allows smaller private companies to provide a business for the government in a way both can benefit from. For example, NASA really hasn’t launched its own rocket in years, along with shutting down its shuttle program back in 2011 due to government funding. This was the first major break in United States history allowing a privatized company to get the opportunity to compete in the space industry. These companies really began back in 2007 with the initial design and testing phase. In a matter of one decade, they surpassed the really the only company going to space which was NASA. Present day, a commercial space industry known as Space X is pushing the boundaries of space travel doing contract work for NASA, the Armed Forces, and other various government projects. They are also testing the reliability of their rockets to be able to perform space travel with humans going to space, landing on the moon, and even making it to mars by 2025 (www.cnn.com, Your Guide to Commercial Space Travel in 2018). This also allows thousands of more jobs to individuals that weren’t an option during the lone NASA era.
Another benefit is the fact that the public can invest in something, they may be able to use. A good example is back in the day, in order to even have a chance of going into space, majority of the individuals must have been enrolled in the service, and undergone extensive training that takes years being controlled under the government. If and when commercial travel is a thing, all types of individuals will be able to partake in the travel no matter what they are faced with including children, elderly, and even the handicap allowing it to be accessible by the public. To me, this is really comparable to the launch of the Hubble Telescope back in 1990, even though they aren’t really in the same category. America decided to charge $1.60 out of civilians taxes each year to provide funding for the mission, in return researchers around the world could use its images and data, at no cost to educate students and anyone interested in space. I could see that being a viable option to support and fund these private sectors and companies with the overall goal of educating people and allowing a travel experience that has never been done before.
As stated before, Space X is leading the way in the commercial space travel race. With the most successful launches to date, according to the Elon Musk (CEO of Space X), the number of launches continues to grow each and every year with a recorded 16 in 2017 costing roughly $36.4 million dollars per launch. They are projecting nearly doubling that amount in the year of 2018 (www.spacex.com, Launch Manifest). The goal of the company is to make every single part of the rocket, including capsule, reusable. This is a major piece that will help lower the launch cost which makes space travel even more possible and plausible. Space X has a large team of engineers and scientist that do research on how these parts could become even more cheaper for commercial use, leading to fuel being the most costly. At present time, they are confident that they are able to safely and efficiently launch humans to Mars within the next decade using the reusable fuselage technology.
To me, commercial space travel to other planets is a huge benefit to mankind, especially now it is a great way to educate people on what is really out there and to see if they can sustain life on another planet for a period of time. The most interesting piece of research I have found during this blog was a proposal introduced by Space X (can you tell I really, really, really like Space X?) In late 2017, the company introduced a plan to launch a rocket into the lower atmosphere from New York to Shanghai in about 39 minutes. NBC News painted a picture on how it may work. Passengers would board a vessel in New York and boat out to a launch pad of the coast of the city. There, they would be seated in a capsule on the top of the rocket booster and be launched into the atmosphere and could be anywhere in the world in just a matter of minutes (www.nbcnews.com, It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ... your morning rocket to Shanghai). The only downside that was noted would be the excessive G-force individuals would feel upon take off, something the human body would not be used to. Musk stated this would only be temporarily until they enter 0 gravity for the remainder of the trip until the descent. As the article didn’t give much detail, Musk stated that it would only cost as much as a commercial plane ticket. This caused some speculation among economist world wide, due to the fact that the total fuel load would be as much as 3 fully fueled Boeing 747’s. Environmentalist also stated that it wouldn't be the most Earth friendly option, as planes nowadays are more efficient. I feel like this would be the most likely option to to happen in the coming years, and would be the most beneficial to humans right now. If there was a way to improve the efficiency environmentally, this would create a huge positive impact on the way the industry operates right now.
Citations:
McCarthy, N. (2018, February 07). Who's Winning The Commercial Space Race? [Infographic]. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/02/07/whos-winning-the-commercial-space-race-infographic/#2a0f8586c4e8
Here's a look at what's on the calendar this year. Note that this industry is notoriously loose with deadlines. (n.d.). Your guide to commercial space travel in 2018. Retrieved from
http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/04/technology/future/space-lookahead-2018/index.html
SpaceX. (n.d.). Launch Manifest. Retrieved from http://www.spacex.com/missions
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ... your morning rocket to Shanghai. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/elon-musk-s-wild-idea-city-city-rockets-just-might-ncna812386
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