Private Company Plans $100 Million Tour Around the Moon
FYI,
"Private Company Plans $100 Million Tour Around the Moon"
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/science/space/10private.html?ei=5090&en=bb93a572dea5211b&ex=1281326400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
: One day after NASA brought the shuttle Discovery back from low
: Earth orbit, a private company plans to announce a more audacious
: venture, a tourist trip around the Moon.
: Space Adventures, a company based in Arlington, Va., has already
: sent two tourists into orbit. Today, it is to unveil an agreement
: with Russian space officials to send two passengers on a voyage
: lasting 10 to 21 days, depending partly on its itinerary and
: whether it includes the International Space Station.
: A roundtrip ticket will cost $100 million.
: The space-faring tourists will travel with a Russian pilot. They
: will steer clear of the greater technical challenge of landing on
: the Moon, instead circling it and returning to Earth.
: Eric Anderson, the chief executive of Space Adventures, said he
: believed the trip could be accomplished as early as 2008. Mr.
: Anderson said he had already received expressions of interest from
: a few potential clients.
: The Soyuz vehicle to be used does not have the power to reach the
: Moon on its own, so the Russians have devised a plan to send up a
: booster. The Soyuz would dock with the booster, either in low Earth
: orbit or at the International Space Station.
: The booster would take the passengers the rest of the way. The
: price of the two tickets, Mr. Anderson said, would pay for the
: costs of the Moon shot. His company's demographic research, he
: said, suggests that 500 to 1,000 people in the world can afford to
: do this.
: "It's the same number of people who could afford to buy a
: $100 million yacht," Mr. Anderson added. Two people who have
: already paid Space Adventures to go into orbit, at a reported
: $20 million apiece, applauded the new initiative though they said
: they were not sure they would try the Moon orbit.
: Another Space Adventures client, Greg Olsen, who made millions in
: the sale of his camera technology company, Sensors Unlimited, is
: preparing to visit the space station for several days in October.
: Of the Moon trip, he said, "It's certainly intriguing, and it's
: something I'd like to do."
: Will he buy a ticket, then? "One trip at a time," he replied.
: Mr. Anderson said the timing of the announcement was not meant to
: tweak the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "We
: believe private space flight and space exploration can go hand in
: hand, and can coexist and benefit each other," he said. Government,
: he said, should focus "on things that private companies cannot do,"
: like exploring other planets. His company's system, he said, could
: eventually be a subcontractor, offering transportation services to
: a government Moon base.
: "I just love the idea of demonstrating that things can be done for
: less money than people thought, and paradigms can be shifted," he
: said. "Space flight can be opened up."
---
Space Adventure is a little late to this party.
GSC's Commercial Lunar Mission Rendering
http://home.earthlink.net/~markreiff/gsc/pics/inflt_st.gif
: Lunar Fly-by Mission Scenario
http://home.earthlink.net/~markreiff/gsc/projects/flyby_scenario.html
: This mission will expand the commercial space market established by the LEO test
: mission to truly significant scientific research funded by commercial interest
: sponsorships.
: A Proton rocket and upper-stage booster will be used to propel the
: Soyuz-Inflatable vehicle around the Moon similarly to the Apollo 8 mission.
: If proven possible and safe to send the vehicle in a trajectory that passes over
: the lunar poles, illumination techniques could allow visual evidence of the
: existence of water ice in the permanently shadowed craters near the poles. This
: would be an historical find that makes future manned lunar settlement less
: costly than currently planned.
: Although the Zond spacecraft (a close derivative of the Soyuz) successfully flew
: a similar mission back in the late Sixties, the Soyuz will need some slight
: modifications to withstand the temperatures associated with the higher re-entry
: speed.
: Cost of the mission will be approximately $150 million, which includes the total
: package of launch vehicle, spacecraft, inflatable structure, mission control and
: crew training.
: The mission will last approximately one week.
: Lunar Polar Flyby Mission Project Charter
http://home.earthlink.net/~markreiff/gsc/projects/flyby_chart.html
: Soyuz/Inflatable Lunar Polar Flyby Mission
: Project Mission Statement
: The purpose of this project is to spectacularly return to manned space
: exploration using commercial funding. The other purpose is to obtain evidence of
: lunar water ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the Moon's polar regions
: using illuminated visual and other remote methods.
: Project Long Term Goals
: Project long term goals are:
: 1. Identify and recruit customers interested in space-based product/service
: advertising or entertainment.
: 2. Obtain necessary capital to finance all phases of mission.
: 3. Coordinate mission operations with Russian manufacturers, American
: inflatable manufacturer and operations contractor.
: 4. Identify and recruit science customers interested in flying remote sensing
: hardware.
: Project Groundrules
: Project groundrules are:
: 1. Mission must fly within 24 months of customer contract signing.
: 2. Crew will remain suited for 1 day while testing the inflatable structure.
: 3. Pilot is an experienced former Cosmonaut with extra-vehiclular activity
: experience.
: 4. Second crewmember is a GSC employee tasked with payload and life science
: operations.
: 5. Third crewmember is an employee of the principal customer and is tasked
: with performing the customer's mission.
: Copyright © 1998 by General Space Corporation
Actually this project was proposed back in 1994, but the web site was redone in
1998.
--
Mark Reiff <markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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