Dude, where's my spaceship?

Des Emery, St. Thomas, ON, Canada — Thu, 24 May 2007 03:23:14 GMT

Hi, Alan -- It's good to read of all the companies that are involved in the current "space race," but I have to hope that they are not aiming just to be the first to produce the highest, longest, noisiest and most expensive roller-coaster ride in history.

I hope the juvenile attitude of going for the "thrill" is just the baby-steps we must take before we actually lift-off for the final frontier waiting in front of us.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Bruno Berger, Switzerland — Thu, 24 May 2007 05:30:24 GMT

There is also life outside the USA: Project Enterprise! http://www.talisinstitut.de/project_enterprise_engl_ie.htm

Dude, where's my spaceship?

werner schäppi horgen switzerland — Thu, 24 May 2007 06:28:59 GMT

Very accurate and interesting article. I am in training since 1999 and still wait for my flight.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

steve smyth lynn ma — Thu, 24 May 2007 09:14:42 GMT

Hey Alan, You forgot one...SmythSpace...Fall into Space with Gaia Two...Earth's first Personal Spacecraft...you fly it...I've been at this longer than any of those mentioned, and I still have the chance to be first with a paying customer...with no incessant speculation, which does nothing but put the public off...ready when you are...Folks!

http://smythspace.blogspot.com/2007/01/smythspace.html

Oh, yeah...no agenda other than Human Expansion...check out the wheeling and dealing among those mentioned in your piece...TIN MEN...as in the Danny Devito/Aluminum siding salesmen flic...peddle anything...the product may show up...or not...but, we'll get tons of press for our other ventures...BOGUS!

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Wade Whitlock, Aberdeen, MD — Thu, 24 May 2007 11:51:27 GMT

Starting to sound like the dot bomb era! Promises, promises.

Someone needs to explain oribital mechanics to Kathuria. Launching from NS loses a great deal of rotational velocity (That's why everyone else wants to launch from as far South as possible.) and gets you a heck of an oribital inclination to change later. Otherwise you get an interception, not a rendezvous! If they are going to use V-2 technology, they have a heck of a way to go to catch up with even the Soyuz.

By the by, anybody looked at the age of our launch technology? Anybody seen anything other than minor incremental improvements in the last 25 years?

Dude, where's my spaceship?

James Stepp, Orlando Florida — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:14:04 GMT

This is the beginning of a new chapter of history, one day to be looked upon with as much awe. To finally be able to bypass the government and making space profitable is going to change our whole world in a profound sense.

When we have affordable commercial access to space we will go from being energy and resource poor to having unlimited access. To see what I mean take a look at www.permanent.com .

We will finally be able to move our nasty industrial processes out into space where they cannot damage the world we live on any more. Space is where everything will be produced because there is no EPA in space. Kick all the garbage towards the sun.

Wheel habitats, spinning circular tubes about 1-2 kilometers across. One of our biggest problems in space is that lack of gravity will kill us after a while. We cannot control gravity but we can create centrifugal gravity, which functions just as well.

The possibilities are endless, exciting it will be companies like these that pull it all together, making themselves incredibly rich(er) in the process.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Guy S. Newell — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:46:24 GMT

Is all of this because the Air Force won't sell anyone a Delta-4? I tell you, when Bill Gates decides to get into space, THEN I'll belive that it will happen.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Jon,Ygn., OH — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:00:47 GMT

I agree Alan, where indeed?

I suspect they are in that other universe. You know, where there exist fusion power, nuclear energy so cheap we won't even need to meter it. Low cost supersonic flight.Oh let's see, solar power stations in orbit, space travel so cheap and routine, that your average Joe six-pack can go for a ride into orbit.

All of these things were promised decades ago.

So where are they? Simple, they live only in the minds of starry-eyed dreamers. People who have fallen in love with romantic visions. Techno-geeks who believe anything is possible, if we only try hard enough.

Remember that most visionaries get it wrong.

Just because something is possible in principle does not mean it is going to happen. The future most conform to economic as well as physical law.

These private space efforts are going to fail, because they do not have the capital to make them work. Without massive government support they are doomed to wither on the vine. And sadly there will be some loss of human life. And then, perhaps the spaceniks will grow-up and quit this foolish quest.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Dennis McClain-Furmanski, Dalworthington Gardens, Texas — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:38:11 GMT

At least the amount of time they're quoting for their first flights is consistently less than the time passing. We;ll catch up sooner or later. It's not like sustained fusion, which has consistently been 40 years away for 60 years now. Also, the prices aren't changing much from the original quotes, whereas sustained fusion research has so far cost 100 times more.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

steve smyth lynn ma — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:58:10 GMT

One more thing to keep in mind...after reading the info from Virgin Galactic...Whitehorn spouts excitedly about having 200 'paying customers'

Society Expeditions ( via Collette Bevis ) informed me, while touting their program...in 1985, that they had collected 5000 $5000 deposits based on a few cartoon images used as promo in major newspapers, and one little pic of a Gary Hudson fantasy in Esquire...where are they now?...where's the $25mil?
Virgin has re-created the entire Society Expeditions format...sell...sell...sell.
I truly hope they fare better.

I don't know how I'd go on if any of the celebs due to fly were to suffer a bad end via Virgin Galactic...what would life be without Sigourney Weaver, et al?

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Wayne, Alamogordo, NM — Thu, 24 May 2007 18:00:06 GMT

Alan, I recently read a link from your website that talked about mining the Asteroid Belt. I liked the article and I'm convinced that the only thing that will truly revolutionize the space industry is "profit" (so we can leave NASA out). I don't see where there will be much profit from space tourism, as least not enough to generate breakthrough technology. However, if there are asteroids made up of mostly heavy metals (gold especially), then it might be worth a company's investment of time and money to develop new technology.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think space tourism is a great idea. But when the first space tourist gets killed, it will be difficult for the small niche industry of space tourism to survive.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Jim Busby, Los Angeles, CAlif. — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:48:34 GMT

Hi, Alan- I wish I were with you and the others in Dallas.

I believe that many of the others mentioned may never get off the ground. If they do it will only be after Rutan and Branson prove their vehicles and fly passengers.

Last year, Mr. Rutan at ISDC warned that some of these concepts were bound to fail- especially if hurried. After seeing some of these close up- I believe he could be correct.

I pray he is not.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Frank Glover — Thu, 24 May 2007 21:02:57 GMT

Benson seems to be taking a different design approach now:

http://www.hobbyspace.com/
nucleus/index.php?itemid=3900

http://www.space.com/
adastra/070524_dreamchaser.html

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Tater Schuld, Medford Wisconsin — Fri, 25 May 2007 03:03:37 GMT

bah!

over half the X-prize entries were nothing more than wishfull thinking, and the list above even looks worse. the comment about tin men is a good one.

now, I am working on a space project, and as far as i can tell i've gone further than 80% of the yahoos listed. I've done test flights with scaled down prototypes, have full data and test records of test flights of the same system that NASA used over 30 years ago. And I just might be able to bring the price down to under 200k per SHIP, maybe under 10k per flight.

I've got plenty of rants about how all the above engineering firms are doing things wrong, but i'll leave that up to people who rant on the net, i've got spaceships to fly

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Chris Dubbs, Erie, PA — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:53:59 GMT

I think Wayne is right on the money (excuse the pun) about profit being the primary motivator. I’m in Dallas at the conference and yesterday attended the opening day Space Venture Finance Symposium. It was interesting to see VPs from Microsoft and Cisco making presentations, disecting the space market into the hundreds of profit-making sectors. Richard Sanford, Dirctor of Space Initiatives at Cisco Systems mentioned that Cisco is only interested in developing those space-related commercial ventures where there is potential in the “multiples of billions of dollars.” I think that’s a motivator. Not sure how that translates into getting people into space, but it certainly pushes the whole industry.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

Monte Davis — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:49:27 GMT

The "NASA is the problem, unleash private enterprise!" meme has a while to run yet: see the current WIRED cover (although the article itself is somewhat more realistic). For those who are impatient and frustrated, it's tempting to believe that space doesn't have to be hard and expensive -- we've just been going at it wrong! But sooner or later it will sink in that most of the challenges are the same whether the effort is public or private. Neither the rocket equation nor the balance sheet cares whether you're a NASA fan or a steely-eyed libertarian entrepreneur.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

steve smyth lynn ma — Fri, 25 May 2007 15:51:04 GMT

Monte...just can the rocket equation part...see Alan's post RE Elon Musk, and my comment...rockets were what they had...we're still at 'finish the stuff from drawing boards of the fifties'...not in spirit...that's what's actually happening...the investors must be paid long term...the only reason Nuclear Power Plants ever got built is because the investments were so huge, and were made by Rockefellers, and the like...same ol', same ol'...trow da bums out! love it, or leave it...but, we can't...Space is closed...all the weaponry points back this way.

Dude, where's my spaceship?

the inventor — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 13:50:07 GMT

Nice article but you don't talk about near light speed travel so here is one.

Near Light Speed Space Ship is Man's Future

google the title above an see the article.

NLS Propulsion is the company