Pirates Selling Flights to Mars - mhb https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/science/space-flights-alien-martian.html ====== moh_maya > “The real appeal of space is that no one can reach you. Only other criminals > with an interest in drug smuggling, arms or human trafficking are going to > follow you and try to find you,” says Arianespace CEO Jacques Breton. “It’s > a different type of risk compared to the drug, arms or human trafficking > business.” This is sad and depressing, and I'm not even a space geek. I wonder if there are other non-criminal uses of space that will find traction in the near future. ~~~ fermienrico Yes. Private citizens have already been renting out their space in low earth orbit on CubeSats [0]. "Low earth orbit is a neighborhood of the space in the low gravity layer around the Earth. The boundaries of this layer are the Kármán line, at 100 km (62 mi) above sea level, and the geosynchronous orbital zone at geostationary orbit. NASA and other international space agencies consider LEO, at an altitude of 160-2000 km (99-1250 mi), to be a middle atmosphere." [1] I am not sure why people want to do space tourism. I assume most people have read that in the next 10-20 years space tourism will become economically feasible. Is that really true? This space tourism stuff is a bit ridiculous to me. Would anyone rent their private bedroom to any Tom, Dick and Harry? [0] [http://www.nicholasbresnan.com/f5-constellation- launch/](http://www.nicholasbresnan.com/f5-constellation-launch/) [1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit) [2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubeSail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CubeSail) ~~~ JshWright > I am not sure why people want to do space tourism. I assume most people have > read that in the next 10-20 years space tourism will become economically > feasible. Is that really true? This space tourism stuff is a bit ridiculous > to me. Would anyone rent their private bedroom to any Tom, Dick and Harry? I think there's a pretty obvious benefit to the whole "putting money in my pocket" thing. It's basically a "sneak in and see the world" experience. I've heard quite a bit of anecdotal evidence for it being popular with couples in the past. I think that's less of an issue now than it was a decade or two ago, but I still think it's going to be an attractive option for some (although that's definitely in the minority of reasons I can see people wanting to do it (from a marketing perspective)) ------ xvector I would argue that space tourism is going to be an incredible boost for the human race on Earth. People who have had no opportunity to venture out into the universe are going to suddenly see possibilities open up to them. They’ll start to realize that the Earth can be beautiful from another perspective. They’ll realize that everything that exists on Earth is not necessarily magical, and that we really are just one small speck of rock in a universe of stars. All that being said, I still think the most “extreme” way to get to Mars is to grow a clone of yourself, put it in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, send it to Mars, and then die. If you want an extreme experience, this is how you should go about it. ~~~ mav3rick You might be on to something. People who have had no opportunity to venture out into the universe start realizing there is a huge possibility to make money without leaving their families behind. ~~~ xvector I think I’ve seen this myself, but only anecdotally. There is an immense group of people who want to be away from their families and enjoy the money they get while doing it, such as traveling to see family who live a lot further away or maybe being more open about spending money on frivolous things (clothing, etc) to spend time with family and friends. And that is without even getting into people who aren’t as financially successful as others but want to “compete” with the lives of others in a game. These are the kinds of people who have really been helped by space travel - now, not later. But perhaps they would have gotten those opportunities no matter what. ~~~ mav3rick I would think it would be a lot more. People who could have had more children and now think they can't. What a cruel deception they made up for themselves. ~~~ xvector I have no idea if anyone in this thread has gotten married, had children, or has ever wanted to. It’s hard to say. The point is the space trip isn’t what’s keeping them away, it’s the job/family/etc. There are many reasons why people can’t do something, and space travel is simply one of them. It’s never a given that one day, SpaceX will send a craft to Mars that is able to return. In fact, it may very well never happen. I’ve also worked with several people who came to America because they couldn’t find work at home. And they didn’t care to make money here - they wanted a “risky” job because it would be nice to have a new experience and a chance to live in the big city. ~~~ mav3rick I wouldn't want to live in big city but not have to move out of my hometown that I spent 25 years living in. I wouldn't want to leave my career either which I worked 25 years for. I would want to still work at the company I love. I don't want to move to the city to work for another company and be away from my wife and kids. ------ DannyB2 At one time it would have been the only answer for what to do with a space trip. You could sit back and enjoy the view or you could do something constructive on it. Now? You can get just about anything you want, and that is a large part of the problem. We have far too many options. It's become just about entertainment and ego. ~~~ njarboe Well, at least there is plenty of business, science, and political work to be done on earth. If we don't have the resources to do the science we need to survive on Mars, humanity is already a failure. ~~~ james-skemp I wouldn't say humanity failed though. Instead I'd say space programs in the 80's/90's were a part of that humanity failing. Humanity doesn't need the people who did it to stay on earth. It's kind of like arguing that we need more astronauts at the moment. ------ deepsun > “The reason why space tourism is important is to democratize access to space. > We’re not the only people who can go to space,” he says. “And it brings a > sense of humanity to space.” It's already so popular. My friends and relatives visit SpaceX and NASA web portals every day, buy everything in their range, and plan voyages in space. At least some of them would gladly do space flights with their own money. The people are there, just we don't do tourism often. ------ taneq I can see this being popular with people who don't take their jobs or careers too seriously but who aren't too risk-averse. It's a "safe space" which is a lot easier for a bunch of non-technical people to access than more extreme trips like long-term space habitation or inter-stellar travel. ------ tathougies The key to human sustainability on earth is for people to have a better work environment. This is one of the reasons we should not focus on space and instead focus on automation and making work more productive for the average person. ------ james-skemp I'd like to know what the business plans are for these companies? My guess is they're going to be able to capture a lot of demand, but I'd guess that most space tourists have a budget of around $200k to $1M. It seems like if you can make your ticket cost as low as possible you're going to be competitive, but what happens once it goes above $100k (not including costs to get there)? If this catches on and becomes too cheap they may need