Space entrepreneurs that envision a flourishing public space
travel market want to create an industry association to ensure that public
treks into space are not only safe, but also help grow the personal spaceflight
industry.
This new "Personal Spaceflight Federation" would help shape
and uphold standards and processes. As a first action item, the group would set
up a "Voluntary Personal Spaceflight Industry Consensus Standards Organization"
-- an effort to establish Industry Consensus Standards to implement the
Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004.
That bill authorizes the Department of Transportation's
(DOT) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to grant permits to private
spaceship operators to fly customers into space.
Passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in December
2004, the Act empowers the government to provide for the safety of the
uninvolved public through launch licensing, as well as establish Industry
Consensus Standards to provide for the safety of passengers and crew that
travel on commercial spaceships.
Public
belief
Market studies focused on personal space travel have found a
strong and consistent demand for commercial space travel - when such treks
become publicly available.
Indeed, several new U.S. companies are developing the
passenger-carrying spaceships to meet the expected demand for human suborbital
travel. In addition, British airline mogul, Richard Branson, has created Virgin
Galactic - a business venture to sell suborbital space rides on a fleet of
private spaceships in just a few years.
General public belief that such flights are feasible was
heightened last year by the repeated runs of SpaceShipOne
in the Mojave, California
desert. Those suborbital trips included back-to-back missions to the edge of
space to snag the coveted $10 million Ansari X Prize.
The group of space entrepreneurs believe that adherence to
new and rigorous safety standards that go beyond the letter of the law will be
essential to promote the safety and growth of the industry. At the top of the
federation's to do list is focusing on standards and procedures in areas
critical to vehicle safety, medical requirements, and training for passengers
and crew.
Short duration spaceflight
"Just as the personal computer revolution dramatically
increased performance
and lowered the cost of computing, the market for Personal Spaceflight promises
to transform the economics of space operations," said Gregg Maryniak,
Executive Director of the X Prize Foundation in St. Louis, Missouri
and spokesperson for the new Personal Spaceflight Federation.
"I
believe that commercial suborbital flight is an arena in which the government
has little experience. Most of the expertise resides in the private sector
and I hope that the Department of Transportation/FAA will allow the industry to
establish a set of proposed standards that can be voluntary submitted,"
explained Peter Diamandis, Chairman of the X Prize
Foundation.
Diamandis
told SPACE.com that the risk for the
medical aspects of personal spaceflight must be transferred to the passenger
and the spaceflight operator.
"I would be
against a set of medical requirements which were overly strict. The reason we
have focused on creating commercial suborbital flight is because it is a type
of spaceflight that everyone who desires should be able to enjoy," Diamandis advised.
"Suborbital
flight is short in duration making it relatively resistant to space motion
sickness, allows for simplified robust life support systems, and relatively
benign acceleration environments," Diamandis
concluded.
Who's
who?
The space entrepreneurs working to create the new federation
already includes a virtual "who's who" of private rocketeers,
Membership includes: John Carmack,
Armadillo Aerospace; Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites; Elon Musk, SpaceX; Alex Tai,
Virgin Galactic; Jeff Greason, XCOR; Peter Diamandis, X Prize Foundation; Gary Hudson, t/Space/HMX;
George French, Pioneer Rocketplane; Stuart Witt,
Mojave Spaceport, Eric Anderson, Space Adventures, and Michael Kelly, Chairman
of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Working Group of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC), established in 1984
within the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Membership in the proposed federation would be open to all U.S. non-profit
and commercial entities developing suborbital commercial passenger travel,
according to a Federation press release issued today.
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