Space Colonization - Will Space Tourism drive Space

Title: Space Colonization - Will Space Tourism drive Space
Colonization? What's the timeline?

Author: Space Viz

Article:
Space Colonization

Will Space Tourism drive Space Colonization? What's the timeline?

By Space Viz

NASA is going back to the Moon and eventually to Mars. At least
that's the plan. The steps are to try to live off-world at the
International Space Station (as we are currently doing); then to
go back to the Moon sometime in the next 12 years and set up a
small lunar base; then off to our next destination, Mars. What
is the timeline of these events and what will be the driving
forces behind Space Colonization?

Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"
vision of a beautiful spinning International Space Station
clearly has not come to pass by that year. That vision is a
roadmap to what we as a human race will undoubtedly accomplish,
potentially in the near future, with the right incentives. The
questions are 'when' and 'what incentives'?

If you build it they will come!

To get there they need an affordable way. The X-Prize
competition, a $10 million prize won by Space Ship One, was
designed to get people to space and back, safely and affordably.
Space Ship One was designed by Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites
and funded by Virgin Galactic, owned by Sir Richard Branson. But
where would we go to?

Space Tourism

Space is very close, only 62 miles, up. Imagine flying 62 miles
and actually leaving Earth. Space Tourists need a place to go,
but where? A Space Cruise Ship, complete with a casino and a
zero-g pool? A Space Hotel is another obvious choice. If you are
rich, well connected and have the intestinal fortitude, the
Russian's are always willing to add a few Space Tourists to the
list of visitors to the International Space Station.

In April of 2001, Dennis Tito, an American, became the first
fare-paying Space Tourist at a cost of $20 million. He flew to
the International Space Station and remained for 7 days. His
visit was followed by four others; the first African in Space,
Mark Shuttleworth (South African/British) in April and May of
2002; Gregory Olsen (American) in October 2005; Anousheh Ansari
(Iranian/American) in September 2006; and Charles Simonyi
(Hungarian/American) in April 2007. Other scheduled Space
Tourists: Francisco Navarro-Grau (Peru) is expected to fly in
August 2008. Richard Garriott (American) is expected to fly on
Soyuz TMA-2 in October 2008. Vladimir Gruzdev (Russian) is
expected to fly in 2009. In the vision of Space Travel we get
from the film "2001: A Space Odyssey", the orbiting, glistening,
white Space Station is used as a launch site to a Moon colony.
When will we have a Moon Colony?

Driving Forces
In late 2009, Virgin Galactic hopes to start daily trips for
paying customers, into Space aboard their Space Ship Two. The
return flights into low Earth orbit will last just over two
hours at a cost of $100 000 per traveler; five minutes of
weightlessness included. They hope to have four flights a day.
As of November 2007, the company had already pre-sold nearly 200
seats.

In September 2007, the Japanese launched the Kaguya spacecraft
which is mapping the Moon in great detail. Both the Chinese and
Indian governments, in an attempt to demonstrate their
space-faring capabilities have publicly announced that they have
their eyes set on the Moon. This in turn has prompted a little
Space Race. Not wanting to have another country gain the
high-ground, President Bush announced in 2004, that US probes to
the Moon will once again commence in 2008; the International
Space Station will be finished in 2010; that Americans will be
returning to the Moon by 2020 and intends on establishing a
basic colony on the Moon by 2024. Ultimately, he spoke of going
to Mars.

Regardless what drives us, Space Tourism or a Space Race, it
does seem that a reasonable first place to set up camp would be
on the Moon. It's relatively close, it's stable and could be
useful for scientific research, and can be mined for fuels,
oxygen and hydrogen, which can be used as water and life support
and to be used as fuels to launch us further afield. Mars is the
likely next destination.

Mars poses different challenges however. It's further away which
in case of emergency means greater autonomy must be achieved.
That autonomy will be gained from lessons learned by our
experiences on the International Space Station and on our future
Lunar base. Unlike the Moon whose day lasts two weeks in the Sun
and two weeks in the Dark, Mars has a similar day to that of
Earth's twenty four hours. Unlike the Moon, Mars also has
weather which means everybody can have a very pleasant or a very
bad Martian day. Some targets for colonizing Mars have been set
as early as 2037 to 2057.

From there, the solar system and the galaxy as a whole will be
eventually colonized if we can survive long enough to get all
our eggs off of this one basket, Earth! Survival refers to both
terrestrial threats, ourselves, catastrophes and extra
terrestrial events such as comet or asteroid impacts.

Our civilization needs to live long enough to develop the
technologies to be self sustaining and self sufficient if we are
to become, as Arthur C. Clarke said, "Guardians of the Galaxy".

Learn More

Video

For a glimpse into the future, our roadmap to the Moon and Mars,
watch the film "Odyssey of Survival". It features Sir Arthur C.
Clarke (author of "2001: A Space Odyssey"); Buzz Aldrin (Apollo
11 astronaut); Gerald Soffen (who headed the NASA Viking
Missions to Mars in the 1970's); and Tobias Owen (a renowned
Space Researcher, Scientist and Professor at the University of
Hawaii). The film is narrated by Mark Moidel in English and by
Robert Lepage in French. Odyssey of Survival" runs 48 minutes,
has great music and is thoroughly enjoyable as it reviews where
we've been, when we were there and how we got there.
Find out more about the films Odyssey of Survival and l'Odyssée
de la survie (the French version).

Online

The X-Prize http://www.xprize.org

Space Tourism Society http://www.spacetourismsociety.org/

The National Space Society http://www.nss.org/tourism.html



About the author:
Space Viz is a film maker, musician, editor, interviewer and
author, based on Earth, with a planet to save. His special
interests and expertise also include dogs (and pets in general);
music composition and publishing; and independent film
production and distribution.

Find out more about this and more at http://www.SpaceViz.com

Odyssey of Survival
http://spaceviz.com/documentaries/odysseyofsurvival/odysseyofsurv
ival.html