The
European Space Agency is ready to partner with private firms to help grow the
passenger space travel industry.
The
new initiative is named "Feasibility of European Privately-funded Vehicles for
Commercial Human Space Flight"--an outreach idea kick started last July whereby
private companies from across Europe were invited to submit to the European
Space Agency (ESA) their space tourism plans.
After
it has looked over proposals received, ESA could award up to three contracts to
three European firms to further refine their prospective space tourism plans.
Closing date for proposal submission is September 22, Virginie Schmit, an ESA
Contracts Officer, advised SPACE.com.
The
hope is that this recent call for proposals has triggered private companies
keen on public space travel to contact ESA with their plans, said David
Vivanco, a technical assistant working on the initiative within the Directorate
of Launchers' Future Programs and Strategy Office at ESA Headquarters in Paris, France.
Evaluate the economics
The
awarding of several contracts allows ESA to survey European companies involved
in space tourism--from vehicle design to building the business case.
Selected
companies will perform a mission definition study based on a credible design
for a crew space vehicle, and a business case and financial plan whose
objective is to evaluate the economic feasibility of the commercial venture.
Each
selected company will receive 150,000 Euros (roughly $190,000) to develop their
plans further. A team of experts from ESA's Launchers Directorate, who are
involved in the development of the technologies for the next generation
launcher, will manage the studies, sharing their own expertise with the
companies.
Vivanco
said this activity is funded by ESA's General Studies Program and managed by a
group of experts from ESA's Launchers Directorate. "I am looking forward to
seeing the results," he told SPACE.com.
A
major motivation for the ESA space tourism study is to identify potential
synergies in terms of technologies between the space tourism vehicle
development industry and ESA's technology programs, Vivanco said.
Space tourism studies
In
the past, ESA has performed studies on space tourism and reusable vehicles. It
is also foreseeable that ESA will perform other studies on the subject in the
future.
On
one hand, this is the first time an ESA study is targeted at the companies that
are involved in the development of crew space vehicles for the space tourism
market, Vivanco said. However, he added that ESA has undertaken several studies
regarding space tourism:
- In 2004 there was the assessment of space adventure
evolution--a space tourism market appraisal funded by the General Studies
Program;
- In 2005 an assessment of emerging private space
ventures was carried out by the ESA Advanced Concept Team;
- In 2006 there is a study dubbed "Future High-Altitude
Flight--An Attractive Commercial Niche?" that is sponsored by the European
Commission to identify potential show stoppers--technical, legal and other
policy-related issues to help plot out a strategy for commercial
suborbital flight in Europe.
Potential spaceports
"In
some ways, Europe is way ahead of the United States in space tourism
potential," said Derek Webber, Washington, D.C. Director of Spaceport
Associates, based in Bethesda, Maryland.
For
example, Webber said, now being built at the European spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana is a pad for Russian Soyuz boosters. Soyuz is the only craft now in use for
hauling a paying customer into Earth orbit. Furthermore, the Russians have also
toyed with their Kliper spacecraft design as an upgrade to the Soyuz for
getting folks into low Earth orbit.
Meanwhile,
there are British entrepreneurs that have pursued the dream of space tourism
and reusable launch vehicle's for a long time.
"Sir
Richard Branson is leading the charge with his Virgin Galactic business, with
potential spaceports all over the place, starting with Mojave, California," Webber noted. Within Europe, spaceport proponents are looking at northern Scotland and Kiruna in Sweden, as well as Australian and Asian launch sites, he added.
Doing their homework
"The
Europeans now have a pretty good capability for long term planning for space.
It does not all happen in ESA...some takes place in the European Commission,
too," Webber said.
At
present, for instance, there are concurrent space tourism initiatives taking
place. ESA is exploring mission definition and business case and financial
planning activities. Also, the European Commission is conducting a project, through
European aerospace firms--EADS/Dassault--that is looking at potential road blocks to European space tourism operations.
"I
think the Europeans have accepted the argument that there is a significant new
market opportunity to pursue," Webber said, "that uses the high tech resources
that they have at their disposal, and which represents a non-military growth
market."
Europe is "doing their
own homework," Webber concluded, to decide where they need to put their
resources. "It may not necessarily be financial, but maybe regulatory areas
that will get attention," he said.
American push
Given
that both Europe and the U.S. have surveyed the space tourism marketplace, how
well to do those studies match up?
"I
think the conclusions are shared by all the space community [that] space
tourism has a great potential to become a very successful business and a major
driver for space technology development," Vivanco explained. "If this
materializes, the future of human spaceflight might even be exclusively
commercial, potentially having a great impact on the scope of the activities
carried out by space agencies."
Vivanco
added, however, that today "we have to be cautious and let this market evolve
and prove that it can be self-sustained in a commercial basis," he said.
Europe's
ramp up to better survey space tourism prospects has been sparked by U.S. activity in the public space travel field.
"The
flight of SpaceShipOne resolved all doubts regarding whether small private
companies could perform human suborbital spaceflight safely and inexpensively,"
Vivanco said. "It also showed that there is a worldwide interest in space
tourism. It certainly opened the door to human suborbital spaceflight to become
a commercial business soon."
For
ESA, Vivanco concluded, it is now important to better appreciate the current
space tourism scene in Europe, and to gauge the credibility of work underway.
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