Mission to Mars (8 page)

What comes after the moon? I think you can guess: Mars. Now this is a much longer trip. The first Mars cycler will probably carry only scientists—mission specialists—on its six-month Earth-to-Mars journey. But when that ship slingshots back to Earth for its maintenance cycle, the interest will be intense. Can you imagine taking a cruise on the very ship that carried the first human beings to Mars? Call me an optimist, but I have a strong intuition that people will line up for that possibility.

Space tourism on the rise: the Virgin Galactic suborbital system

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Illustration Credit 3.1
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My enthusiasm for these viewpoints has been bolstered by market surveys and space tourism forecast studies conducted by Futron Corporation and notables such as Geoffrey Crouch, professor of tourism policy and marketing at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. The outlook for public interest and participation in space travel is potentially substantial.

Several years ago, a Futron Corporation study examined American interest in space travel. Undertaken for NASA, the study forecast that suborbital space travel could reach 15,000 passengers annually by 2021. Professor Crouch’s survey of the Australian public in 2004 found that a majority (58 percent) of respondents would like to travel into space if they could. Of course, cost, safety, and product design factor into the equation, which is why the focus at this phase of development of the space tourism industry is on the technical design and development of the spacecraft and spaceports.

Buzz and friends experience zero gravity
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Illustration Credit 3.2
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Today the public can experience brief stints of weightlessness without going into space and at relatively reasonable costs, either by high-altitude jet fighter flights or on plane rides such as those offered by the Zero Gravity Corporation.

In 1998 I formally organized the ShareSpace Foundation, asking my good friends and fellow space supporters actor Tom Hanks
and Peter Diamandis, Chairman of X Prize Foundation, to serve on an advisory board for the group. The foundation’s mission is to open the space frontier to all by educating new generations, fostering affordable spaceflight experiences, and advocating the quest for exploration. I’m now looking for a future home for ShareSpace as it aims to create a threefold approach to invite the public and our youth to learn about and participate in space via three E’s: experiences, education, and exploration.

The “experiences” goal of ShareSpace is to create a prize mechanism (such as a sweepstakes, raffle, or television game show) that will offer people who win actual trips into space, along with other space-related awards. There’s need to establish the legal framework for a prize-based program for zero gravity flights, suborbital flights, and a flight to the International Space Station. In conjunction with such efforts, the experiences part of ShareSpace is to share information and resources to prepare and educate the public about travel and tourism in space.

Education of America’s youth in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is critical to our future. The “education” goal of ShareSpace is to share the wonders of space with students in kindergarten through 12th grade in ways that will motivate their interest in STEM subjects. In this regard ShareSpace welcomes partnering with the educational arms of organizations such as the National Science Teachers Association, NASA, and other education organizations. Ideally, these relationships can develop programs that will fortify and advance space-inspired studies. In addition to specific program initiatives, the Education section of the ShareSpace website will provide a
useful clearinghouse of space and science educational resources for teachers and students.

I truly believe that, by popularizing the experiences available in the emerging space travel and tourism industry as part of a program to award actual suborbital and orbital trips into space as prizes, ShareSpace can broaden involvement in spaceflights. Obviously, when you jump from suborbital to orbital, you would increase the cost of the share.

More to the point: It would be the ultimate “outreach” program. It would spread enthusiasm to the general public, and inspire a whole new generation with the opportunity to reach for new destinations in space.

Some of those taking part will become the scientists, engineers, and industrialists who build the rockets and spacecraft of the future; some will develop into professional astronauts and colonizers of other worlds; and many will turn into citizen explorers—young global space travelers—who venture into Earth orbit, holiday at space hotels, and, not too far in the future, take even longer journeys.

Since the 1980s I have envisioned space travel by ordinary citizens and developing space schematics, Mars transportation systems, and more—all linked to one objective: to accelerate public access into space. ShareSpace is meant to pull in public support for space by holding drawings for thousands of awards, including trips into space.

This idea became more crystallized a decade later, first coming to life fictionally as “ShareSpace Global” in my novel
Encounter with Tiber
(Warner Books, 1996). Quoting the book’s character Sig Jarlsbourg:
“If you want that better world, we need to see
space tourism take off right away, and it can’t be as a plaything of a tiny group of super-rich people. It’s got to have broad-based public support and enthusiasm right from the start.
”

ShareSpace could take shape in a number of forms, from small-scale raffles to multimillion-dollar sweepstakes, or even to contestant-driven TV game shows. The prizes would range from trips to space launches and space camps, to high-altitude zero gravity flights, to suborbital ballistic flights above the atmosphere, to orbital flights that circle planet Earth every 90 minutes, and eventually adventure trips to luxury orbital hotels. In the very long term, prizes could include a circumnavigation trip in low altitude around the moon, or even extended cycler journeys to Mars.

A highly participatory citizen’s space program would facilitate a more egalitarian way for those who do not have the financial wherewithal to afford the high-priced tickets for commercial space travel. For a nominal amount, say $100, citizens will gain access to a chance to win the adventure of a lifetime—a trip into space.

Human space travel is poised to go from the few to the many, and the ShareSpace endeavor is devoted to sharing the inspiration of space. I’m a firm believer in the motto “Everyone needs space!”

The International Space University (ISU) is a private, nonprofit institution that specializes in providing graduate-level training to the future leaders of the emerging global space community
at its Central Campus in Strasbourg, France, and at locations around the world.

In summer 2012, the ISU held its Space Studies Program on the campus of the Florida Institute of Technology, involving 134 participants from 31 countries. During an intensive nine-week course, a number of team projects were undertaken. One of those 2012 projects focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). More specifically, team participants considered the question What can space contribute to global STEM education?

Several of their observations and findings are essential to carrying the torch of space exploration to far-off destinations. First of all, space has a wide appeal, the power to inspire, and a collaborative international background that can encourage students to engage with their studies and pursue higher education in STEM fields. Every country needs a strong STEM workforce tailored to its specific economic, social, and cultural situation, the report explains.

The challenge of space can help attract and motivate students, with space-related content aiding students to recognize the relevance of STEM in their lives and studies. Space activities, the ISU report notes, provide “a shared experience” for people of different countries and can promote cultural acceptance, expand international cooperation, and reduce social gaps.

There are several reasons space is a powerful tool to make STEM education more global, equitable, affordable, creative, attractive, and adaptable, the study team sensed, among them that space is inherently borderless, belongs to everyone, and is a fast–growing and promising industry.

Additionally, the study group observed that space-related content is believed to be an excellent motivator for STEM education because it

The most basic questions of humanity can attract many people of all ages to space.

Nonetheless, there is more work to do. A major problem identified in the study is that most 21st-century educational systems are in essence the same as those developed for the industrial revolution that took place well over 200 years ago. Old teaching methods die hard, and are no longer suitable for modern students who were born into a technology-driven world. Lastly, art can be used to connect space and STEM in a more attractive way, to help change the common perception of STEM as elitist, hard, and boring. This adds up to science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics, or STEAM for short.

The “STEAM power” that space provides, therefore, is a new perspective and collaborative environment that can help challenge stereotypes as well as lead to national, cultural, and gender equality. Using space to promote STEM education helps develop open-minded and creative future leaders, the report concluded.

A limited handful of individuals have paid the $20 million to $35 million ticket price to train and fly on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station—trips facilitated by Space Adventures. Founded in 1998, Space Adventures continues to be the leading private space exploration company and the premier group to have sent self-funded individuals to space. Company chairman Eric Anderson and his team are also orchestrating the first private mission to circumnavigate the moon.

Suborbital space tourism opportunities are being developed by a number of companies. Within the next few years, the public
will have the option to fly on suborbital flights, such as those being developed by Virgin Galactic, and later on orbital flights offered by private companies to space hotels.

For a sky-high business plan, look no further than the private American company Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, Nevada. Since 1999 the firm has been engaged in fabricating affordable inflatable space habitats. Bigelow Aerospace’s founder and president is Robert Bigelow, a general contractor, real estate tycoon, hotel businessman, and developer. He has invested several hundred million dollars of his own money to bring the promise of expandable habitats to fruition.

Bigelow’s visionary zeal is more than just mental pictures. Two prototype space modules built by his company are now
circuiting Earth. Lofted by Russian rockets in July 2006 and in June 2007, respectively, the company’s Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 expandable modules served as forerunners to ever larger and human-rated space structures: A three-person Sundancer module and the larger BA-330, a unit that offers 330 cubic meters of leasable internal volume for a crew of six.