Requirements and design for space tourist transportation

Author

Penn, Jay P. ; Lindley, Charles A.

Author_Institution

Aerosp. Corp., El Segundo, CA, USA

Volume

3

fYear

1997

fDate

1-8 Feb 1997

Firstpage

359

Abstract

Market surveys suggest that a viable space tourism industry will require flight rates about two orders of magnitude higher than those required for conventional spacelift. Although enabling round-trip cost goals for a viable space tourism business are about $240 per pound ($529/kg), or $72,000 per passenger round-trip, goals should be about $50 per pound ($110/kg) or approximately $15,000 for a typical passenger and baggage. The lower price will probably open space tourism to the general population. Vehicle reliabilities must approach those of commercial aircraft as closely as possible

Keywords

aerospace industry; commerce; costing; economics; investment; marketing; reliability; research and development management; space vehicles; travel industry; RDT&E; Space Shuttle; air transportation industry; economic analysis; financial feasibility; investment return; launch system requirements; market analysis; operations concept; propellant selection; reusable space booster; round-trip cost goals; space tourist transportation; tourism requirements; transportation design; vehicle reliabilities; viable space tourism industry; Aerospace industry; Aircraft; Business; Costs; Design optimization; Fuels; Insurance; Space missions; Transportation; Vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference, 1997. Proceedings., IEEE

Conference_Location

Snowmass at Aspen, CO

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3741-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.1997.574891

Filename

574891