News Space tourism coming soon!!!

[Orbinaut Pete]

[POST MOVED TO DEDICATED THREAD BY AUTHOR.]

 

[docabn]

Ok that is officially awesome!:thumbup:
Has anyone made an Addon request for this?

 

[abninf]

Well according to the Armadillo forum, they aren't using that design anymore. I couldn't find any pictures of it online, but it's the one in this video:

(Towards the beginning of the video. Don't know why they show the old design at the end)

http://www.spaceadventures.com/videos/SA_Armadillo-4.mov

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

[POST MOVED TO DEDICATED THREAD BY AUTHOR.]

 

[Kendo]

This VSS Enterprise thing would make a very exciting mod... Also the chase plane is awesome (seen on another vid somewhere ). Obviously we need more details to make it possible. Maybe we will get a mod of this sometime.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Space News: "Suborbital Price Drop Foreseen by 2014".

 

[Iberville]

Space News: "Suborbital Price Drop Foreseen by 2014".

If this is true, imagine in 2020 and after!? At less than 50 000$ I'll start to hope for the future!

It won't happen with orbital tourism though. It will be in the low millions again at best for a long time. Goin in space is not hard... but staying there is something else.

 

[Unstung]

If this is true, imagine in 2020 and after!? At less than 50 000$ I'll start to hope for the future!

It won't happen with orbital tourism though. It will be in the low millions again at best for a long time. Goin in space is not hard... but staying there is something else.

Competition would drop the price, and these are private companies. They need business.
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipThree"]SpaceShipThree - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
It doesn't have to be orbital anyways:

SpaceShipThree will be used for transportation through point-to-point suborbital spaceflight. This service could provide, for example, a two-hour trip from London to Sydney.

There's no need for an orbital flight, the most it would have to go is halfway around the world.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Some news from the NewSpace 2010 Conference.

NASA Watch: "Newspace 2010".

Alas, these panels are almost exclusively composed of white males in their late 40s/early 50s. No females and rarely a darker shade of skin are to be found. I know these folks, so this is most certainly not a matter of discrimination by any means. Rather, it is evidence of a total lack of imagination in terms of outreach, mentoring, and trying to embrace the real world within which space commerce is but a miniscule part. I have watched/attended these Space Frontier Foundation things year after year. Without fail, its always the same people talking about the same stuff. Lots of arm waving - but rarely any concrete solutions.

NASA is always cast as simultaneously being the enemy and the source of funds for everyone's pet project. Same thing goes for Congress. No attempt is made to get outside the box and try and be relevant to the real world and the economic, societal, and political forces that make things work. The Space Frontier Foundation used to have some radical thinking. Now it has all evaporated away. All that's left is what you see on these panels - old thinking.

If your new business idea depends on government handouts and/or favoritism then you don't have the right product or the right business plan. You are just chasing after a new flavor of pork.

NewSpace Journal: "Space Adventures suborbital and orbital update".

NewSpace Journal: "A brief Virgin (and TSC) update".

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

SPACE.com: "Scientists Learning What to Expect in Space".

 

[HAL9001]

Here is a project from the european "EADS":

And from the American Boeing:

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Discovery News: "How High Will Virgin Galactic Fly?".

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Popular Mechanics: "How to Run an Efficient, Inflatable Space Station".

Tip 1: Ensure no leaks! :lol:

 

[Andy44]

Tip 2: Build an Orbiter add-on for it to test-fly it:

http://www.orbithangar.com/addonpics/Lorbs_postLOI.JPG

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Florida Today: "Boeing plans commercial space taxis by '15".

The Orange County Register: "Boeing 'cutting metal' on new spaceship".

Orlando Sentinel's "The Write Stuff" Blog: "Florida could benefit from planned Boeing spacecraft".

Aviation Week: "Boeing Looking For Commercial Space Success".

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

NewsOK: "Rocketplane lands in bankruptcy".

NMPolitics: "Guv candidates talk about Spaceport America".

 

[jedidia]

that rocketplane doesn't look very hypersonic capable, I wonder how the wings would hold up on re-entry, even suborbital one.

 

[Andy44]

Re: Boeing's CST-100 vehicle, that's what I'm talking about! It's about time that the Boeing's and Lockheed Martin's start getting with the program and just do what they do best: build airplanes and spacecraft. NASA's not going to be their sugardaddy forever, they need to take a page from SpaceX, pay attention to the headlines, and just do it.

Good for Boeing. Now, when do I get to see those cool lifting body designs that Lockheed's been toying with since the 60's? Come on', show us what you got!

 

[anemazoso]

Re: Boeing's CST-100 vehicle, that's what I'm talking about! It's about time that the Boeing's and Lockheed Martin's start getting with the program and just do what they do best: build airplanes and spacecraft. NASA's not going to be their sugardaddy forever, they need to take a page from SpaceX, pay attention to the headlines, and just do it.

Good for Boeing. Now, when do I get to see those cool lifting body designs that Lockheed's been toying with since the 60's? Come on', show us what you got!

I agree. It would be great to see some real commercial competition between Dragon and CST-100 too. I think such competition would be one of the healthiest things to do with all this. Imagine NASA's ISS crew transport budget at $300-400 million a year. That would leave a heck of a lot for BO exploration and development while also spurring tourism and small country HSF services. It may not be the second comming of the internet but it would certainly help US industry and the jobs picture in the long run.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Now, when do I get to see those cool lifting body designs that Lockheed's been toying with since the 60's? Come on', show us what you got!

I really want to see SpaceDev's Dream Chaser (based on the HL-20) fly.