With a fleet
of rocketships and two spaceports on the way, a high-flying tourism firm is
taking passenger spaceflight to the next level.
In the last
week, the Arlington, Virginia-based firm Space Adventures has announced plans for
a new suborbital spacecraft and spaceports near major airports in the United
Arab Emirates and Singapore that, it hopes, will draw eager customers seeking
the space experience.
"These
sites in the United Arab Emirates and in Singapore are just the initial steps
[for private spaceflight]," Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson told SPACE.com.
"They are essentially the stead to rally around."
At the heart
of Space Adventures' plan is the Explorer spacecraft, a vehicle to be developed
under a partnership with the Texas-based Prodea - a firm founded by the Ansari
family, which put up the $10 million prize money and their namesake for the suborbital
X Prize competition.
"We are absolutely
building a global market," Anderson said. "I think it's a huge milestone in
private spaceflight."
Space
Adventures has been a staple of sorts for orbital space tourism,
helping millionaires reach the International Space Station (ISS) on 10-day
trips with announced costs of about $20 million each. U.S. scientist and CEO Gregory
Olsen - who reached
the ISS in October 2005 - was the third and most recent space tourist.
Building
on Cosmopolis
In addition
to brokering deals for ISS-bound millionaires, Space Adventures has also
supported a pair of spacecraft development efforts: the Xerus vehicle
with XCOR Aerospace and Cosmopolis
XXI (C-21), a multi-passenger space plane designed by Russia's Myasishchev
Design Bureau (MDB).
It is
Cosmopolis from which Space Adventures' Explorer series is derived. Both
vehicles are designed to be launched via a parent aircraft - in this case, the M-55X
aircraft - much like the SpaceShipOne
craft that won
the Ansari X Prize.
But while
Cosmopolis was designed to carry two passengers and one pilot, Explorer
vehicles will haul up to five people to suborbital space.
"It's
actually much more advanced than [Cosmopolis]," Anderson said of the Explorer
system. "We haven't disclosed the design, but that doesn't mean that we don't
have one. We're announcing things one at a time."
MDB is also
designing the Explorer spacecraft for Space Adventures and Prodea. The Russian
firm assured that the vehicle will come equipped with "several exciting
features" to enhance a space tourist's flight experience.
"Additionally,
the safety of the passengers is our chief aim, and the Explorer will make use
of several safety systems that we have unique experience in designing and
implementing for the last 40 years," explained MDB chief designer Valery
Novikov in a written statement.
Anderson
said Explorer vehicle's development is being supervised by Russia's Federal
Space Agency.
Deriving
details
While Space
Adventures has not yet released specific details about its Explorer vehicles
aside from their intended occupancy and maximum altitude, the fact that they
will launch from the same M-55X parent craft hints that they may be similar to
Cosmopolis, though the addition of two seats aboard Explorer suggests a larger
cabin.
For Cosmopolis flights, the 55,115-pound (25,000-kilogram)
M-55X aircraft was slated to launch the 4,409-pound (2,000-kilogram) suborbital
craft from an altitude of about 16.7 miles (27 kilometers). The entire flight,
from takeoff up to 62 miles (100 kilometers) and landing, was expected to last about
6.5 hours.
Whether
those details will hold for Explorer flights - which are expected to offer up
to five minutes of weightlessness at a time - remains to be seen.
"More
information will be announced in the future," Space Adventures spokesperson Erin
Lundberg told SPACE.com.
Space
Adventures officials did say that it intends to sell Explorer vehicles to operator
companies to conduct the actual spaceflights.
At least
two passengers are apparently already set to ride aboard a Space Adventures-related
suborbital flight.
According
to an October 2005 report by China Daily, Chinese businessman Jian Fang
reportedly paid $100,000 for a 90-minute suborbital spaceflight with Space
Adventures. In September 2005, the space tourism firm itself announced that Brian
Emmett of Mountain View, California had won a seat aboard a future suborbital
vehicle.
Both
flights were reportedly set for 2007 at the time. Space Adventures officials said they have received about 200 reservations for future suborbital flights from individuals representing 18 different countries.
Spaceport
Shuffle
Deals are also
in place to construct a $265 million spaceport at the Ras Al-Khaimah International
Airport in Ras Al-Khaimah - the northernmost of seven emirates the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) - with a $115 million facility to be built near Singapore's Changi
International Airport, Space Adventures officials said.
"After we
initiate operations here, we look forward to expanding operations outside of
the United Arab Emirates," Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, crown prince of Ras
Al-Khaimah, in a statement.
Anderson
said Al Qasimi has been extremely supportive and invested $30 million into the
spaceport project.
Space
Adventures is also working with a consortium of investors in Singapore to
develop Spaceport Singapore, a facility that will offer not only suborbital
spaceflights, but also astronaut training, parabolic flights to simulate
weightlessness, and other high-altitude attractions.
"With the
proposed Spaceport Singapore, we now stand at the threshold of an unprecedented
opportunity to launch into space practically from our own backyard," said Lim
Neo Chian, chief of the Singapore Tourism Board, in a statement.
The
announcement of both spaceports does not rule out American spaceport in Space
Adventures' future, though several unrelated
projects are already underway in the U.S.
"We're
still analyzing potential locations," Anderson said. "We'd love to be opening a
spaceport in the United States."
In the
meantime, the space tourism firm is pressing ahead with its orbital program.
Japanese
entrepreneur Daisuke
"Dice-K" Enomoto is set to be the firm's next paying passenger to the ISS
in October. His flight will follow those of Olsen,
South Africa's Mark
Shuttleworth in 2002 and U.S. businessman Dennis Tito in 2001.
"There is
still a market for orbital spaceflight and I certainly hope it will continue,"
Anderson said.
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