For more than a decade now, the space industry has not stopped to grow as researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs have become more ambitious and capable in the field. New planets are surveyed, updated rovers are sent out, new frontiers are reached, and we are continually discovering unknown elements that add up in our tremendous encyclopedia of human knowledge.
But what is even more exciting, is the progress made in the field of space tourism. One of the greatest challenges in the realm of space involves transporting everyday individuals, those who wish to travel for pleasure, rather than for research or because it’s a job they have been trained for. There are different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism.
For the moment, two notable entrepreneurs are the face of the space tourism industry. Elon Musk and Richard Branson, respectively known for the creation of Space X and Virgin Galactic companies, are both self-made men who are working to make human travel into space commercially available, among many other pursuits. The former is currently working on the Falcon Heavy, which will be the world’s most powerful rocket of the year in 2019, which could ultimately transport people to Mars, the moon or even to an asteroid. As for Richard Branson, a rocket plane is in the development process, which according to him, signals that we are at the beginning of a “new era of space exploration”. Passengers will take a 90-minute flight into the upper reaches of the atmosphere where they will experience 6 minutes of weightlessness at a distance of 62 miles above the Earth’s surface before returning back, at the hefty price of 250.000 USD.
His project is coming closer to being a reality: 700 tickets have already been sold to 60 different countries for space travel, and these trips will commence as soon as the technology is developed. Several celebrities have signed up, including Justin Bieber, Ashton Kuchter or Leonardo DiCaprio, and it is clear why one of the criticisms of space tourism is that it seems like a luxury for the wealthy elite. According to Musk, the main causes of the high costs of space exploration are representative of the energy to launch a rocket into space. Indeed, all the calculations have to be right given the low launch rate. However, he recognizes that rockets should be a lot cheaper as they presently face a lot of inefficiencies. Yet, it is fair to assume that space tourism has further to travel before it becomes an affordable domain for the middle class. For the moment, the quality and the length of your experience depends on how much money you have to spend. There are indeed several projects currently in the works to offer a spatial experience to paying customers, including a plan to open a very expensive luxury hotel - the Aurora Space Station, in orbit by 2021.
Branson’s example shows that there is potential to believe that this particular brand of tourism will eventually advance a new form of adventure, and perhaps act as a boost to the economy. Seeing as it is a high-technology sector offering future growth prospects, investing in this field would benefit continuing economic growth: at current levels of 20$ billion/year, over the coming 30 years, space agencies would use $750 billion, which would maintain employment in the space industry at its current scale of about ½ million people world-wide. More specifically, space tourism would generate more than “7.2 trillion and provided 284 million jobs”.
However, as innovative, exciting and lucrative as it may sound, commercial space travel by civilians is a dangerous dynamic, not only for humans but also for our planet. In approximately two years, the industry has experienced three catastrophic failure, and humans want to travel to space. Aside from danger to individuals, it would also enormously raise the carbon footprint of individuals. Claudio Magliulo of a climate change action group by the name of 350 believes space tourism is a “wholly unnecessary use of resources by a very small elite of people and organisations” . The effects of rocket launches on the environment have been researched only minimally, but we do know enough to be concerned about the impact. It is not just about carbon: an uptick in launches can also cause long-term damage to the ozone layer. The chemicals burned by rockets work together in the upper atmosphere, and experts say they could eventually deplete portions of the ozone layer keeping us safe from the sun’s radiation. The SpaceX Falcon 9 spacecraft for example, releases about 150 metric tons of carbon during each attempt to achieve orbit.
For sure, space tourism remains at risk of becoming the most anti-sustainable tourism sector, having negative impacts on the global scale. As we all call the planet home, promoting this new sector would result in, I believe, many negative side-effects if the correct precautions are not taken. However, developing this field may still reveal in a near future, benefits for humans on earth: one woman’s experience floating in zero gravity offered her a glimpse into how space travel might reshape society socially, culturally, and emotionally, immensely expanding one’s life perspective. According to her: “every molecule of my body unfurled into a state of relaxation I’ve never reached before. The pressure applied by gravity felt ‘stress-less’. I’m falling through unknown territory”. Testimonies like this one might further enhance continual improvement in the field, as it continues to nurture humankind’s desire to go beyond their current capacities and present resources in order to transform what at some point seemed impossible and inaccessible.
