Space Tourism Project

SPACE TOURISM- THE SURPRISING NEW INDUSTRY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

RESEARCH CONDUCTED FOR

Space Tourism- The Surprising New Industry

OBJECTIVE

Major objectives

To understand how marketing is done for such an expensive space

trip.

To ascertain the demand for space tourism in India.

To also come out with some innovative promotion methods

Minor objectives

To satisfy the curiosity of understanding the space tourism industry

(Aerospace industry).

Further after understanding the Aerospace industry and thereby

prepare Marketing mix for it.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The aim of the research was to collect quantitative data only as this

sector is comparatively unknown and would result into superficial responses

if qualitative responses are asked. It was conducted during the period of 19

and 20, October 2006.

Chetana’s H.S College Of Commerce And Economics & Smt. K.C College Of Arts. -1-


Collection of data

As space trip is a costly activity so it is for High profile people who

have high disposable income, that is why instead of taking any other method

like field survey, E-mails were collected and questionnaire were send to high

profile people so that they could reply in their leisure time.

The research was primary in nature and structured questionnaire was

used as a tool to collect information.

Sample Design

Respondents were carefully selected and only the people who can

afford space trip were asked to fill the questionnaire

Sample Area : India

Sample Size : 50 (Respondents)

Sample Universe : People from different age group

RESEARCH FINDING

Over 64% of all respondents rated space development as between '4'

and 5' to mankind.

Over two thirds (76%) of all respondents had some knowledge

regarding the potential for space tourism, prior to the questionnaire

being send to them.

The most preferred activity in space is to View Earth and Walk in

Space.

Most respondents preferred to go for a space trip for about a week

and not just for few hours or days.

If they get a chance they would like to take more then two trips in

their life time.



In spite of the craze most people were willing to pay just Rs.16-30

Lakhs for a suborbital space flight which is 35% less than the actual

amount for space trip.

Price is the most important consideration even more than risk for the

respondents.

16% of the respondents were not willing to go to space the main

reason being the risk involved in the space trip.

SUGGESTIONS

If the space line wants to introduce their services in India then they

will have to adopt distinct marketing strategies. I have suggested two

innovative marketing strategies which will be helpful in marketing

their space trip packages in India: -

Step to Space

Lottery Style Contest

Indian market has huge potential but the space lines would be able to

tap the potential only if they provide their service after the launch of

RLV’s

The tourists of the space lines are their ambassadors so space lines

should be careful in selecting their tourists.

The training centers should be developed as tourist spot so that the

people who come there will be stimulated to go for the space trip.

‘Step to Space’ method of marketing should be extensively used as it

gets larger portion of population interested in your product.

According to my research the preferred activity in space is view earth

and walk in space so while designing the space flight the space lines



should ensure that tourists get lot of opportunities for their preferred

activity.

LIMITATIONS FO RESEARCH

The sample size is of 50 respondents only which is too low to

represent Indian’s demand.

The respondents are high profile people but there is no proof of them

having high disposable income.

Since the results have been drawn on the basis of the information

provided by the respondents, chances of response error may have

crept.

The sample size is taken on judgment basis and is not based on any

scientific formulae

.there might have been the tendency among the respondents to

amplify or filter their response in the testing condition.




In this chapter I have explained how Space Tourism Industry has evolved,

some explanation on private space tourist we have till now, the phases through

which it will go and current status of this industry.


INTRODUCTION

Space tourism has been envisioned since the '60s when Ehricke and

Hilton published the idea of traveling to space for no other reason than

having fun. Although millions of people worldwide would see a trip into

space as the fulfillment of their lifetimes' dreams and would therefore

subscribe to such an idea instantly, no action was taken by space agencies to

set up adequate opportunities. On the contrary, the men in charge of crewed

space programs frequently see space tourism as "only a flight of fantasy".

The first terrestrial vehicle penetrated the orbit surrounding Earth over

three decades ago, yet since this time space has remained strictly within the

domain of national governments and professional Astronauts. As

government agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have

traditionally been the only customers for space flight development, research

into other areas has been limited.

However, over the past ten years the concept of the general public

gaining access to space for personal and recreational purposes has

heightened. It is now popular belief that this proposal has left the realms of

science fiction and is rapidly becoming a serious contender for research and

industry resources.

Space tourism encapsulates the notion that paying passengers will

have the opportunity to travel beyond Earth's atmosphere and experience

orbital flights, prolonged stays in rotating space hotels and participate in

research, entertainment and even sport. However, it is important to


http://www.esrin.esa.it/

http://www.esrin.esa.it/

http://www.nasa.gov/

http://www.hilton.com/


emphasize that this concept will necessitate a paradigm shift in how space is

perceived, constituting not only the journey but also forming the destination.

A growth in terrestrial based ancillary services is also anticipated.

These will provide the necessary pre-trip training facilities (including

parabolic and vertical sub-orbit flights), launch sites, space theme parks and

possibly even Virtual Reality simulations. The focus is on opening space to

the public, because it is consider that, more than anything else, space is a

place to go to. It so happens that space is an extremely entertaining place to

go to - as everyone who has been there says. Ultimately space is also the

future of the human race.

Once fully established it has been projected that space tourism will

have an aggregated revenue of between US$ 10 to 20 billion, significant

enough to form a large proportion of the total terrestrial travel and tourism

revenue, which in 1996 amounted to US$ 3.5 trillion. Therefore, it is not

inconceivable that it is which constitutes the driving force behind the

dedication and expectations of those researching and developing space

tourism. Many people find this idea futuristic. But over the past few years a

growing volume of professional work has been done on the subject, and it's

now clear that setting up commercial space tourism services is a realistic

target for business today.

The first steps will just be short sub-orbital flights, like Alan Shepard

made in 1961, since these are easier than getting to orbit. But the technical

know-how to make passenger launch vehicles and orbiting hotel

accommodation is available, and there is enormous unsatisfied demand -

market research analysis (chapter no. 3 page no. 28) has revealed that most


http://www.spacefuture.com/habitat/zerog.shtml#fun


people would like to take a trip to space if it was possible. This gives huge

scope for reducing the cost of space travel by large-scale operation like

airlines. The main obstacle is simply the conservatism of the space industry

as it is today.

PRIVATE SPACE TOURISTS (The first few)


In April 2001, Dennis Tito became the first space

tourist, spending more than a week watching the Earth

pass below him while living aboard the International

Space Station. Floating in zero gravity, listening to

opera, Tito knew that his life's passion was fulfilled.

Born in Queens, New York, Dennis Tito founded

Wilshire Associates, an investment management-

consulting firm. The company integrated computers

with engineering and investment concepts and

developed portfolio management tools. By 1998,

Wilshire Associates was the third largest investment

management-consulting firm in U.S.A.

He was followed in 2002 by South African

computer millionaire Mark Shuttleworth. Mark

Richard Shuttleworth is a South African

entrepreneur. As an early space tourist, he was the

first African national in space. He currently lives in

London. Shuttleworth gained worldwide fame on 25

April 2002 as a civilian cosmonaut aboard the

Russian Soyuz TM-34 mission, paying

approximately US$ 20 million.


Two days later, the Soyuz spacecraft arrived at the International Space

Station, where he spent eight days participating in experiments related to

AIDS and genome research.


U.S. scientist and entrepreneur Gregory

Olsen became the world's third space tourist on

Sept. 30, 2005 when he successfully launched

into space aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on a 10-day

trip to the International Space Station (ISS) and

back. The flight capped a long road to space for

Olsen, who joins the ranks of Mark Shuttleworth

and Dennis Tito as a fare-paying visitor to the ISS

and hopes to boost public interest in human

spaceflight.

Anousheh Ansari became the world’s fourth

space tourist brings more than two decades as a

successful serial entrepreneur to Prodea Systems,

where she serves as chairman. Anousheh is

capturing headlines around the world as the first

female private space explorer. On Sept. 18, 2006

she blasted off for an eight-day expedition aboard

the International Space Station. Anousheh earned a

place in history as the fourth private explorer to

visit space, and the first astronaut of Iranian

descent. While in space, she is conducting tests of

Prodea Systems digital home technology.


On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito became the first "fee-paying" space

tourist when he After the Columbia disaster, space tourism on the Russian

Soyuz program was temporarily put on hold, because Soyuz vehicles

became the only available transport to the ISS.

In conjunction with the Federal Space Agency of the Russian

Federation and Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, Space Adventures

facilitated the flights for the world's first private space explorers: Dennis

Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari and the future

missions of Daisuke Enomoto and Charles Simonyi. The first four

participants paid $20 million (Rs. 90 cr.) each for their 10-day visit to the

ISS.

However, with the retirement of the Shuttle in 2010, the ISS

expedition crew should be transferred exclusively by the Soyuz till the CEV

is available in 2014 or later, leading to an interruption of the availability of

tourist seats on board Soyuz for a few years.

PHASES OF SPACE TOURISM

Like any other business, as space tourism has started now it will

develop progressively. It can be helpful to think of it as going through

several phases. Starting with a relatively small-scale and relatively high-

priced "pioneering phase", the scale of activity will grow and prices will fall

as it matures. Finally it will become a mass-market business, like aviation

today.



Pioneering Phase

The phrase "space adventure travel" has been suggested by Gordon

Woodcock of Boeing, and is a convenient one to describe the first

phase. Customers will be relatively few and prices will be high, Rs.

46, 00, 000 and up; and the service will be nearer to "adventure travel"

than to luxury hotel-style. Orbital accommodation will be safe. Space

tourism industry is actually at this stage now.

Mature Phase

This will see demand growing from few passengers per year to

thousands per year. Tickets to orbit will cost less and flights will

depart from many different airports. Orbital facilities will grow from

being just clusters of pre-fabricated modules to large structures

constructed in orbit for hundreds of guests, permitting a range of

orbital entertainments.

Mass Phase

Ticket prices will fall to the equivalent of a few lakhs of rupees, and

customers will from thousands to lakhs of passengers per year.

Apparently unthinkable to most people in the space industry, even 1

million passengers per year is just 8 hours of aviation. And aviation is

still growing fast at today's level of 1 billion passengers per year. So

there's no reason to suppose that space travel will ever stop growing.

There's certainly no limit to the possible destinations. And the access

to space resources that low cost launch will bring about will ensure

that economic growth needn't end for a few more decades at least.



WHERE IS "SPACE TOURISM" NOW

As of 2006, space tourism is only affordable to wealthy individuals

and corporations, with the Russian space program providing transport. Some

are beginning to favor the term "personal spaceflight" instead, as in the case

of the Personal Spaceflight Federation. Among the primary attractions of

space tourism are the uniqueness of the experience, the thrill and awe of

looking at Earth from space (described by astronauts as extremely intense

and mind-boggling), the experience's notion as an exclusivist status symbol,

and various advantages of weightlessness. The space tourism industry is

being targeted by spaceports in numerous locations, including California,

Oklahoma, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, Alaska and Wisconsin, as well

as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

The Space Transportation Association has formed a Space Travel and

Tourism Division. The first international "space tourism" meeting was held

in Bremen, Germany, in 1997. A continuing series of such meetings will be

conducted by the STA Space Travel and Tourism Division. The first was

held in 1999. The second was held in Washington. D.C., on June 26, 2000,

under the direction of the Head of the Division, Robert L. Haltermann.

More than a half dozen small entrepreneurial companies are working

on obtaining private sector financing for the development of fully reusable

space transportation vehicles.

U.S.A. and Russian companies are offering the opportunity to people

to fly in a high performance aircraft well up into the Earth's atmosphere

where, with appropriate maneuvering, they can experience zero-g.



The U.S.A. "X-Prize Foundation" would not be surprised to see the

first test trips of a new space transportation vehicle, designed to carry two

people to the edge of space, take place within 2-3 years.

U.S.A. Company has joined with a Russian and a German company in

announcing that they intend to design fabricates and installs a 4,000 cubic

foot habitable volume on the International Space Station (ISS). It will be

installed on the Russian section of the ISS, and will be tended by a

cosmonaut.

Another U.S.A. company, with a Russian company, has started an

effort to keep the Russian Mir space station in orbit, and to modify it so that

it can be used as a hotel and research laboratory.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPACE TOURISM INDUSTRY

The overall space tourism market is very promising, and could

generate revenues in excess of $1 billion per year by 2021;

Suborbital space tourism will generate the largest demand, with the

potential for 15,000 passengers and $700 million in revenues per year by

2021;

Orbital space tourism, while growing more slowly than its suborbital

counterpart, will still have up to 60 passengers and $300 million in revenues

per year by 2021;




In this chapter I have explained all the 7 P’s of marketing namely

Product, Price, Place, People, Physical Evidence, Promotion and Process.

I have also tried to come up with some new promotion methods. I

have developed 2 methods of promotion namely “Step to Space” and

“Lottery Style Contest”.


MARKETING MIX OF SPACE TOURISM

The combination of sub-mixes chosen by a firm is usually called the

marketing mix. The Tourist marketing mix includes different types of sub-

mixes like product, price, promotion and distribution mix. The designing of

sub-mixes is significant as it helps the marketer in conceiving the right

ideas, particularly to raise the acceptability of the tourist product by

stimulating and penetrating the demand. Framing of a proper marketing mix

is significant because it helps the tourist organization in accomplishing the

objective and projecting a fair image.

PRODUCT

The product here is the space tour package which includes training

program, actual space trip, accommodation during the trip and during the

training program since the program’s can stretch from two days to up to six

months depending upon the package, and all meals during the trip and the

training program. The package also includes personalized space suit which a

tourist can keep for himself after the space trip, status in space club and

status as an astronaut.

As of now there are no space hotels so a tourist stays in the

International Space Station* if he goes for an orbital space flight. The stay in

ISS is the part of the package.

There are two packages available for space trip

i) Sub- Orbital Space Flight and;

ii) Orbital Space Flight



Sub- Orbital Space Flight

Spaceflight is defined as travel through outer space, which is usually

defined as anything higher than 100 km above sea level to coincide with the

Karman line. 100 km was chosen because that is roughly the point where a

vehicle would have to fly faster than orbital speed (which is a function of

altitude) in order to derive sufficient aerodynamic lift from the atmosphere

to support itself. So any vehicle that travels higher than 100 km yet slower

than orbital speed is said to be in Sub-orbital spaceflight.

There are no space lines in the world that are providing Sub-Orbital

Space Flight but research is still going on and space lines are busy

developing RLV. Sub-Orbital Space Flight is a four days package. On the

first day orientation program is conducted which includes formal

introduction of the tourist with all the members he will interact with during

the trip. Second and third day he spends at the company’s training centre

where he undergoes rigorous training. And the final days is where he

actually goes for a space trip.

In Sub-Orbital Space Flight a tourist actually spends only five minutes

in space where he experiences weightlessness and can see the curvature of

earth. These are the core benefits for which he goes to the space but this

experience comes at a premium price. The actual price of Sub- Orbital Space

Flight is mentioned in the “Price” marketing mix of space tourism.

Sub- Orbital Space Flight takes only 90 minutes out of which a tourist

spends only 5 minutes in space. But the training program which lasts for 2

days enhances the overall experience. The company makes arrangement for

taking photographs and videos of those special moments which are then

burned into the CD/DVD and given to him at the end of the trip when he

returns to the earth. This kind of arrangement is also a part of package.



In Sub- Orbital Space Flight the major cost is that of training and the

fuel of the jet plane by which he is taken. The company also incurs a heavy

fixed cost in running and maintaining the training facilities, jet plan and the

launch site which adds up to the total cost. A tourist spends major time in the

training program. I have attached the brochure of Sub-Orbital Space Flight

in the annexure.

Orbital Space Flight

An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) is a spaceflight where the

spacecraft enters into orbit, usually meaning Low Earth Orbit. To do this, it

must have an altitude higher than 100 km (that is to say, has entered space),

and a speed higher than orbital speed, which is usually about 7-8 km/s

depending on the altitude.

The expression "orbital spaceflight" is mostly used to distinguish from sub-

orbital spaceflights, which are flights where the spacecraft reaches space but

does not reach speeds fast enough to enter into orbit. The required speed to

"go orbital" (to achieve orbit with known methods) requires at least 9.3 km/s

(18,000 mph), while sub-orbital spacecraft may only fly at about 1.1 km/s to

1.3 km/s (2,500 mph to 3,000 mph).

Orbital Spaceflight is a ten days trip out of which a tourist spends

eight days in the International Space Station and the other two days are

spend in getting there and returning to earth. For the Orbital Spaceflight a

tourist has to undergo rigorous six months training where he is taught about

every important aspect he needs to know before going to the trip. Training is

given at the training centre situated as per the convenience of the space line.

A tourist has to bear the cost of transportation while getting to the training

centre. Accommodation facility, all the meals during the training and the trip



and transportation from the training facility to the launch site are borne by

the space line. During the Orbital Spaceflight communication facility is also

provided so that the tourist can communicate with his family and friends

while on the International Space Station.

PRICEWhen a tourist proposes a space trip, the total cost on his traveling

includes the expenses incurred on transportation, accommodation and

communication.


The International Space Station (ISS) is a manned research space facility

that is being assembled in orbit around the Earth. It is a joint project

between five space agencies: the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA, United States), the Russian Federal Space Agency

(RKA, Russian Federation), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

(JAXA, Japan), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA, Canada) and the

European Space Agency (ESA).


As of now Space Tourism is a wealthy people’s affair because the

price of the space trip is very high. Such high cost is because the concept of

space tourism is new; huge investments are taking place and Economical

Launch Vehicle are still at its development stage. The tourist is taken to the

space by Jet planes in case of Sub- Orbital Space Flight and Space shuttles

in case of Orbital Space Flight which are not reusable. The fuel requirement

for these vehicles is very high moreover the fuel is also costly and the

maintenance cost of these vehicles is very also very high. Setting up the

infrastructure for the launch site is a complex and costly activity which adds

up to the cost.

During the training program the tourist stays at the training centre for

two days or six months depending upon the package. These training centers

are equipped with high tech modern machines which are very costly and its

maintenance cost is also very high. During this training program various

facilities are also provided to the tourist that adds up to the total cost. In

short training program constitutes major cost in the total cost of package.



At present the cost of space trip package is Rs. 46, 00,000 for Sub-

Orbital Flight and Rs. 90, 00, 00,000 for an Orbital Space Flight. This cost is

justified because of the reasons mentioned in the above paragraph. The

prices are of Space Adventures Ltd., there are some other companies which

are coming up with similar packages but there prices are not available as

they are still developing the packages.

The companies are working hard and investing a huge amount of

money in developing Reusable Launch Vehicle which will considerably

reduce the cost of sub-orbital space flight. A reusable launch system (or

RLV: reusable launch vehicle) is a launch vehicle which is capable of

launching into space more than once. This contrasts with expendable launch

systems, where each launch vehicle is launched once and then discarded.

No true orbital reusable launch system is in use as of August, 2006.

The closest example is the partially reusable Space Shuttle. The orbiter,

which includes the main engines, and the two solid rocket boosters, are

reused after several months of refitting work for each launch. The external

fuel drop tank is discarded.



Orbital RLV’s are thought to provide the possibility of low cost and

highly reliable access to space. However, reusability implies weight

penalties such as reentry shielding and possibly a stronger structure to

survive multiple uses, and given the lack of experience with these vehicles,

the actual costs and reliability are yet to be seen. The current progress in the

field of RLV is given in the chapter no. 5 page no. 46

After the innovation and introduction of the Reusable Launch Vehicle

the cost of Sub-Orbital Space Flight will come down by 30% which will

lead to increase in demand for this service thus space line’s achieving

economies of scale thereby making space flight economically viable for

every person.

PLACE

In many cases the travel agencies have the choice of selection of place

but in case of space tourism the place is out of the world that is the orbit of

the earth. Depending upon the package the tourist is taken to the altitude of

100 Km or 400 Km. Since there is no choice of selection of place the orbit or

sub- orbit is the only choice a tourist has.

In case of sub orbital space flight the tourist spends five minute in

space during which he experiences weightlessness. During the trip all time

he is in the jet plane only which climbs up to the maximum height of 100

km.

The experience of orbital flight is different from that of the sub orbital

space flight. Here the place he visits is the International Space Station (ISS)

which is a kind of achievement for a tourist. He spends entire 8 days on the

ISS which is situated at the altitude of 400 km. above earth’s surface.



The place also includes the training centre where he spends most of

the time during the entire tour. For a person living outside the place of the

training centre that centre will be a tourist destination for him. In short place

includes the training centre, launch area, orbit of the earth and the touch

down area which usually different from the launch area.

PEOPLE

The person who attends to the needs of the tourist forms an essential

element in the tourism marketing. The people involved here in providing

these kinds of services are highly qualified, most of them having a degree in

engineering or aeronautical science.

The tourist normally encounters interaction with the people of the

space line at three times in the entire package. First while seeking the

information on the tour and while booking the ticket a lot of interaction is

done between both the parties. Second time is during the training program

which last for two days or six months depending upon the package. And

third time is during the flight with the pilot.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE


Tourism Product by itself is tangible in nature

therefore some tangible elements are added to enhance

the experience of the trip. The physical evidence in

Case of a space tour include state of the art

technological equipment used for training the tourist,

CD/DVD’s of photos and Video taken during the trip,

Status in space club as astronaut, personalized space

suite, personalized travel bag, Gold embossed

astronaut lapel and Medal.


PROMOTION

Promotion is the fun part; anything you can do to interest people and

generate a “buzz” around your product is promotion. Normally companies

promote their products by giving advertisements in Newspaper, Television

or put up hoardings. But in case of promoting space trip those methods will

not be viable options as normal public cannot afford space tourism. Space

Adventures is the only operational space line in the world, has adopted

different strategy for promoting their products. They have teamed with

companies which have wealthy clients and organizations which have

wealthy clients to spread the word. The advantage of this kind of promotion

is they have concentration of target audience at one place which makes it

easy to do promotion activity. As of now only rich people can afford space

tourism so it is useless doing promotion activity in public.

I have also tried to come out with innovative idea to promote space

tourism products. I have developed two new methods of promotion. First is

what I call “STEP TO SPACE” and second is “LOTTERY STYLE

CONTEST”.

STEP TO SPACE

When a tourist goes to space he experiences weightlessness, high

gravitational force while lift-Off (which can go up to 7 G). A tourist can

have this experience only when he goes to space but here in this method of

promotion space lines can also sell individual experience package which

comes at a lesser price that will attract more population and ultimately

stimulate them for the actual space trip. As mentioned earlier there are many

experiences during the space flight so by individual space package I mean a

customer has only Zero-G experience or high gravitational force experience



or space walk experience or see earth curvature from a high altitude. For

example: - In film industry when music of a film releases music companies

show one or two tracks on the television which stimulates public to buy the

cassette or CD.

Similarly in case of space tourism space lines can sell individual

experience packages to stimulate the tourist to go for actual space trip. I

have developed some individual packages for better understanding on this

concept. Some of them are as follows: -

1) Zero- G experience

This package emphasizes on having the experience of weightlessness.

Currently National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have

these kinds of programs but only for their astronauts for training purpose. It

briefly provides a nearly weightless environment in which to train

astronauts, conduct research, and film motion pictures. Versions of this

airplane have been operated by NASA's Reduced Gravity Research Program

since 1973. The airplane makes parabolic flight paths, thus allowing the

occupants to experience weightlessness during the parabola. In general it is

used to train astronauts in zero-g maneuvers, giving them about 25 seconds

of weightlessness out of 65 seconds of flight.


My idea is if space

lines can come up with this

kind of service they will be

able to do two things first

attract large portion of

population for this kind of

service and second stimulate

them for actual space trip.


2) Spacewalk experience

Here virtual space walk experience is created in a swimming pool.

The technical term for this kind of experience is Neutral Buoyancy. NASA

has this kind of facilities also for training their astronauts. Neutral

Buoyancy is a condition in which a physical body's mass equals the mass it

displaces in a surrounding medium. This negates the effect of gravity that

would otherwise cause the object to sink. An object that has neutral

buoyancy will neither sink nor float. Instead it will remain at its current level

in the medium that surrounds it. The principle of neutral buoyancy is used to

simulate the weightless environment of space. Suited astronauts are

weighted in the water by support divers so that they experience no buoyant

force and no rotational moment about their center of mass. The neutral

buoyancy’s tank itself is 202 ft. in length, 102 ft. wide and 40 ft. deep, and

contains 6.2 million gallons of water.

Space line’s can provide this kind of services to give their customer

the experience of spacewalk. And as mentioned earlier this kind of service

will stimulate the customers for actual space trip.



Zero- G and Space walk are some of the individual experience

packages which I have mentioned but there are many more services which

space line’s can develop like for example Edge of the space flight or High-G

program.

LOTTERY STYLE CONTEST

In India there is lot of craze for lotteries. They can be used very well

as a method of promotion. So I have developed a promotion strategy which

uses lottery as a tool for promotion. I call it as “Lottery Style Contest”.

Under this method of promotion space lines outsource the work of selling

lottery ticket to the public to outside agencies. In normal lottery tickets prize

in given in monetary terms but here the prize will be space trip. Lottery Style

Contest will do two things

i) It will give people who don’t have the financial mean to look at the

product like this as a chance to go to space and;

ii) It gets larger portion of population interested in your product.

Here what exactly happens is you sell lottery ticket for Rs. 200,

Rs.500 or Rs. 1000 customers have to select numbers from 1 to 50 (like

what we have in super lotto) and then at the end of the week a draw will be

conducted those whose all the six numbers match win a bumper prize of

Sub- Orbital space flight. Others also stand a chance to win weekly prize of

individual experience package like zero- G flight, spacewalk experience,

Edge of the space flight or High-G program.

One of the most important advantage of this method of promotion is it

will help space lines collecting database of the interested customers. The

database can be easily collected while issuing lottery ticket. When customers

come to buy the lottery tickets you know that they are interested in space



tourism so you can request them to fill up a form asking for their profile.

This profile can be profitably used by the space lines later on for the follow

up purpose. In this method instead of space lines searching for interested

customers the customers themselves will be automatically attracted toward

Lottery Contest.

PROCESS

The process is a bit lengthy one since space tour is a complex service.

A tourist has to go through many processes which are as follows: -

1. Tourist needs to have the finances in order.

2. they need to have an idea of what are the objectives of their

flight (activities are very precisely scheduled/arranged)

3. They need to have any equipment they are taking certified for

spaceflight (some people have done scientific experiments,

photography, etc.)

4. They need to have made the personal arrangements to dedicate

the time for training ( roughly 6 months or 2 days depending

upon the package)

5. They need to be prepared to accept the training initiatives

(billionaires are usually not accustomed to taking

orders/instruction)

6. They need to be in good physical shape

7. They need to learn Russian (as the mission control of the only

operational space line “Space Adventure” is in Russia).




It is very important to conduct a survey before launching a new product to

ascertain it demand. As it is within the scope of my project, I took the

opportunity to conduct a research to ascertain the demand and to find out

some other important variables.


MARKET SURVEY ON DEMAND FOR SPACE

TOURISM

Before launching any product or service it is very important to

ascertain demand for that product or service, for which a proper market

study has to be done. There are many researches conducted world wide but

none of them have been done in India, as it is within the scope of my project

and very important part of my project, I took the opportunity to conduct a

market study on a very small scale (due to lack of time and finance) to

ascertain the demand for this kind of service in India.

While it can be assumed that demand for space tourism will

undoubtedly exist, the astronomical research and development costs

necessitate this assumption to be unequivocally substantiated. In an attempt

to satisfy this requirement, a forecast of the potential demand for space

tourism on a national scale has to be done.

1) METHODOLOGY

The primary task of this research is to quantify, in real terms, the

potential demand for space tourism within the India.

1.1) Primary research methodology

To satisfy the requirements of this investigation, primary research in

the form of a survey was undertaken. The purpose of the research was to

collect quantitative data (numerical) only, with the intentional desire not to

obtain qualitative information (opinions and perceptions). The rationale

behind this decision was that space tourism as a concept is highly



contemporary and comparatively unknown. Therefore, I concluded that

questions requesting qualitative information would return in the majority,

negative or superficial responses.

1.2) Survey Methodology

The survey was done on a national scale and people from different

states of India were asked a set of questions (see the questionnaire below)

though the numbers of participant were very less. This is due two reasons

first high profile of people were required as participants for this survey

which were difficult to find second reason was lack of time.

As space tour is costly affair the kind of participants required for this

survey will be people with high profile people i.e. people with high

disposable income (at least more than 1 crore). I had 50 participants for the

survey from across the India.

As internet is the cheapest and the fastest mode of communication I

used E-mail to send the questionnaire to the participants to get it filled. With

the use of E-mail my survey was completed within two weeks.

1.3) Potential Area of Sampling Error

Though the survey was conducted properly there can be some

potential sampling errors. As mentioned earlier I had 50 high profile

participants for collecting the sample but there is no proof stating their

disposable income and it is not right to ask any one his disposable income

for the purpose of filling up a questionnaire. But their status was judged on

the basis of their business, life style and the properties acquired.



2) RESULT ANALYSIS

2.1) SPACE TOURISM INTEREST AND AWARENESS

The prevalent market interest towards space and the extent to which it

is held with esteem could be perceived as a major ancillary factor affecting

the potential demand for space tourism. Therefore, it was deemed essential

to gain an awareness of the importance the respondents placed on space

development. Survey question 1 (See Questionnaire) requested respondents

to rank on the scale of 1 to 5 the importance of development of space

Over 64% of all respondents rated space development as between '4'

and 5' to mankind. This clearly demonstrates a significant interest in the

phenomenon of space development.

Following on from survey question 1, where space development

has been shown to be of importance to a significant proportion of the

participants. Survey question 2 (See Questionnaire) demonstrates the extent


http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/Survey.htm



to which the population is aware of the possibility that space could become a

potential holiday destination. Over two thirds (76%) of all respondents had

some knowledge regarding the potential for space tourism, prior to the

questionnaire being send to them.

No surprise as 70% of the respondents said yes for question 3

(See Questionnaire), but 16% were not interested and 24% could be the

potential tourist to space.

2.2) THE 'MOTIVATORS' OF SPACE TOURISM

The figure below shows the activities the respondents would prefer

during a space trip. It is notable that all market surveys done in other

countries also came to the same result; the simplest thing to do in space is

also the most preferred one - looking at earth. The other activities like, have

fun in zero-G, could be realized without great expense as well.




Sufficient opportunities for each space tourist to look at earth will be

more essential. That is, an adequate number of windows and an attractive

flight profile (e.g. highly inclined orbit) to see as much as possible of the

earth would be highly recommended.

Despite of cultural differences between Asian, European, American and now

Indian people, the similarity of the four survey results is striking. This will

be favorable for space tourism's operation, because no specific offers have to

be taken into account concerning the origin of passengers.

2.3) TIME

The Figure below shows the length of a space trip as preferred by the

respondents. Obviously a substantial majority would prefer to go to space

for several days, one week or more. No greater variety between the markets



surveys exist as well. So it is reasonable to conclude that, as long as no

orbital hotel exists enabling people to stay a few days in space, the demand

for space tourism will not reach its full potential. This could become one of

the most serious problems for the initial phase of space tourism's operation.

As far as I can imagine, the first years of space tourism service will be

dominated by short trips into low earth orbit.

2.4) NUMBER OF TRIPS

Survey Question 6 (See Questionnaire) seeks to attain the number of

trips people would like to take irrespective of current or future price. The

people who can afford space tourism are few so if they would like to go for

more than one time this would be an advantage for the space lines as they

can have more trips for few people and concentrate easily on target

audience. The diagram below shows the required information.




2.5) COST

Survey question 7a, 7b and 8 (See Questionnaire) attempted to identify

an amount which the respondents would be prepared to forfeit in return for

the opportunity to travel into space.

Question 7a. Asks respondents for their willingness to go for an orbital

space flight at current price of Rs. 90 crores, but none of the respondents

were willing to pay that price.

Similarly question 7b. Asks respondents for their willingness to go for a

Sub- orbital space flight at current price of Rs. 46 lakhs, only 4% of the

respondents were willing to pay that price for a Sub- orbital space flight.

Survey Question 8 (See Questionnaire) asked respondents to mention a

price they would be willing to pay for a Sub- orbital space flight.





Survey Question 9 (See Questionnaire) is to depict whether chances of

number of trips of the respondents increases with decrease in price. 50% of

the respondents were willing to go for more then one time with the decrease

in price.

2.6) RANKING IMPORTANT FACTORS

Survey Question 10 (See Questionnaire) aims at discovering factors

which are given importance by the tourist for the space tour. There are four

important factors identified by me namely price, risk, space line (Travel

Agency) and amenities provided. Respondents were asked to arrange these

factors in the order of their importance.

For 38% of the respondents price is the most important factor to be

considers for space trip. Whereas risk is the second most important factor as





it was considered by 32% of the respondents. Amenities provided and space

lines were important for 26% and 4% of the respondents respectively.

2.7 ) RESPONDENT REASONS FOR NOT WANTING TO

UNDERTAKE SPACE TOUR

16% of all respondents stated that if space tourism became a reality

they would not wish to experience it. Survey question 11 (See

Questionnaire) aimed at discovering the reasons why these respondents

would not wish to undertake space tourism. The results from this are

illustrated in Figure below.

The primary reason (50%) which respondents stated for not wanting to travel

to space was 'risk'. Safety is an issue which is at the core of space tourism

and only once reliability has been improved to similar standards as provided




by general aviation will it be possible for mass space tourism to develop. If

this does occur, then it is possible that those respondents, who stated that

they would not want to undertake space due to the perceived risk, will do so

and increase the overall demand.

The other reasons stated were 'not interested' (12.5%), ‘too expensive' (25

%) and ‘health problems’ (12.5%)




Space is not a natural habitat of human being, therefore health and

human factors has to be considered during a space trip. In this chapter I have

covered the principle health requirements of a space tourist and the health risk

associated with a space trip.


HUMAN FACTORS AND HEALTH IN SPACE TOURISM

The potential market for space tourism and its development depends

not only on the number of people who are willing to travel to space and who

have also the money to do so but also on the physical and mental ability for

space travel of the interested people.

Thus, human health with respect to space tourism and human factors

influencing the number of people interested in space travel will be

addressed. Starting with the principle health requirements for space tourists

in terms of fitness and age, the potential health risks will be described and

evaluated.

The analysis and discussion shows that the majority of the people who

are interested in space travel will be able to enjoy their trip providing that

the whole space tourism infrastructure (transportation system and space

hotels) is designed properly. Potential health risks associated with space

tourism are not more severe as for comparable tourist activities.

6.1) Principle Health Requirements for Space Tourists

When the first humans traveled into space in the early sixties, these

men and women were carefully selected on their resistance to extreme

physical and mental strain. This selection process was necessary because the

first rockets carrying humans to space where not designed specifically for

this purpose but derived from ballistic missiles developed for a quite

different purpose. Maximum acceleration, for example, was the military

requirement not its limitation to protect the humans on board from excessive

G-loads. In addition, nobody knew about the real strain an astronaut or



cosmonaut had to take before the first human flights had been conducted.

Furthermore, the humans on board the first capsules had to be able to pilot

their "spaceship" back to Earth, at least in case of emergencies. In the result,

astronauts and cosmonauts were selected from the best air force pilots who

had the manual skills, physical constitution, stress tolerance and health

needed for the job.

With the advent of the space shuttle, the physical requirements for

human space flight dropped with the reduction of G-loads but the

psychological and educational requirements remained on a high level or

even increased. The latter is connected to the longer stay times in orbit and

the introduction of the "mission specialist" who not longer had to be able to

pilot the spacecraft but to conduct complex research work on board the

shuttle.

Even if the necessary level of skills and stress tolerance are lower then

the actual performance of the astronauts and mission specialists, it is clear,

that it still makes sense to select the most capable humans for the tasks in

order to obtain a maximum probability of mission success. This is especially

true with respect to the still tremendous cost of human space flight.

With the introduction of space tourism the described picture will

change. Space tourists can be compared to flight passengers regarding the

minimum requirements for safe transportation. They don't have to be able to

pilot the vehicle or to perform complex tasks on board. This means, that any

human may go to space providing that he/she is physically and mentally

healthy enough to go and come back with a minimum risk to be hurt. A large

percentage of the terrestrial population fulfils these minimum criteria,



because a spaceship specifically designed for tourists can be limited to less

than 3G's maximum acceleration and by thoroughly preparation of the

tourists other physiological or psychological problems can be avoided.

6.2) Space Tourism and Age

As already stated, there is no principle reason which prevents any

healthy human from going to space as a tourist. Thus, there is also not

general upper limit for the age. As the astronaut John Glenn recently has

proven, even an age in the late seventies may not cause a problem if the

person has sufficient physical fitness.

On the lower end of the age scale the limit will be oriented at the

ability of the persons to follow strict safety rules and to use the technology

associated with space flight, e.g. using a space suit in case of emergencies.

This will prevent children below a certain age and body size to go to orbit.

6.3) Preparation for Space Travel

Since space is a totally unusual environment for humans, it is clear,

that space tourists have to be prepared for their journey. The tourists must

become familiar with the technical equipment on board the transportation

systems and the orbital hotel. They also must be prepared for the experience

of micro-gravity in terms of motion, perception and three-dimensional

orientation. Most of this preparation should be aimed to avoid unnecessary

stress as well as potentially risky situations imposed by unsafe behavior. For

this proper training program should be conducted.



6.4) Health Risks of Space Travel

Even the best training for the space tourists can not avoid health risks

which are associated to the nature of space and which are therefore

inherently present.

The inherent risks are associated with three characteristics of the

space environment:

o Vacuum

o Micro-gravity

o High energy radiation

6.4.1) Risks Associated With the Space Vacuum

Since a spacecraft, a space hotel or a space suit will be designed for

operation in vacuum, the remaining risk is that of an accidental major

structural damage in the outer shell of the spacecraft space hotel or space

suit. The possibility for such damage comes from micro meteorites and

space debris. Since all larger pieces of space debris are tracked and the

smaller ones are unlikely to cause a damage, which can't be controlled, the

associated risk can be compared with that in other human activities

performed in a hostile environment such as diving.

6.4.2) Radiation Imposed Risks

A major health risk for space tourists as for every human going to

orbit is the exposure to high-energy radiation. To evaluate this risk the types



of radiation have to be discussed, which are explained in detail in the

following paragraph.

6.4.3) Existing Radiation

For the radiation load in orbit the following types of hard radiation are

of importance:

Solar Cosmic Radiation - (SCR)

Solar Flares

Galactic Cosmic Radiation - (GCR)

SCR consists to 99% of protons and 1% a-particles. The particle

energies are in the order of 1 keV, the flux density in the vicinity of Earth

amounts between 0.09 and 2.0¥109/cm2s depending on solar activity.

Solar Flares happen statistically and last between one and five days.

The particle flux from a solar flare consists to 89% of fast protons with

energies of >30 MeV. 10% are a-particles and 1% is particles with high

charge numbers and high energies (HZE-particles) of 10 to 100 MeV, partly

up to 1 GeV. At solar maximum, which occurs every 11 years, the

probability of solar flares increases significantly.

GCR consists of high-energy particles from outside our solar system.

The flux density of about 10 particles/cm2s is much lower than that of the

SCR but it is almost impossible to shield these particles. 85% of the GCR

are protons, 14% are a-particles and the remaining are HZE-particles,

positrons and electrons which are traveling almost with the speed of light.

The energies are about 10 GeV average, but a spectrum of 0.1 GeV to 1011



GeV has been measured. In the space station orbit about 5 to 10% of the

radiation is GCR. This portion of the radiation is called "background

radiation".

6.5) Radiation Protection Requirements

Personnel and guests of a space hotel must be protected from the

background radiation as well as from short duration radiation events of high

intensity like solar flares.

The radiation shielding of the outer skin of the hotel depends strongly

on the kind of material and the mass per area of the skin. An outer surface of

material with a low nucleon number such as hydrogen combined with an

inner layer of a high nucleon number material (e.g. lead) represents a

favorable design. Current spacecraft and space stations (Space Shuttle, MIR)

provide a shield of 30g/cm2. A state of the art space suit provides only

3g/cm2. Therefore, EVA activities of space tourists should be very limited

and only conducted during phases of low radiation intensity.

6.6) Risk from Space Debris

Space debris or orbital debris, also called space junk and space waste,

are the objects in orbit around Earth created by humans that no longer serve

any useful purpose. They consist of everything from entire spent rocket

stages and defunct satellites to explosion fragments, paint flakes, dust and

slag from solid rocket motors, coolant released by RORSAT nuclear

powered satellites, even deliberate insertion of small needles, and other

small particles.



Space lines are aware of the devastating effect of the space debris and

therefore they are designing their vehicles such that they can take the impact

of the debris and keep the tourist safe.




In this chapter I have explained what factors determine the future of

space tourism and the developments that are taking place to make it

affordable more interesting


FUTURE OF SPACE TOURISM

What I mean by Future of space tourism is that what factors will

determine the success of this industry and how much time it will take.

Success cannot be achieved overnight various factors contribute over a

period of time to attain success. For better understanding we can take the

best example of Aviation Industry. In aviation industry few factors

contributed a lot in its success over a period of time same is in the case of

Aerospace Industry. Therefore in this chapter I will concentrate on four

factors which I think are important in determining the future of space

tourism. Those Four factors are as follows.

i) Demand;

ii) Cost;

iii) Safety;

iv) Development of infrastructure.

5.1) FUTURE DEMAND

Demand is the most important factor for any industry; same is in the

case of aerospace industry. It is useless proving service to the public if there

is no enthusiasm and interest among them. Demand for space tourism

undoubtedly exists as we have seen in the earlier chapter where I did a

market survey and analyzed the result. Well my market survey was limited

to India only but market surveys are done in other country also namely

Japan, Germany, Canada and U.S.A. below is a chart which shows demand

for space tourism in various countries



As we can see from the above chart large portion of respondents from

four different countries are interested in space tourism. But the above

demand is irrespective of the price. Actually demand largely dependents on

two factors cost and safety. At present cost is very high and safety is also a

concern, therefore actual customers are very less. If safety can be improved

and cost can be reduced then there is lot of potential among the population

around the world.

5.2) FUTURE COST

Cost is the major determinant of demand. My research shows that

demand can increase up to 94% if the cost decreases. Initial progress is

going on and huge investments are taking place therefore cost is very high

and is affordable by super rich peoples only. As the cost is very high middle

income and high income people from where major demand comes from are



not able to afford it. So if the cost could come down aerospace industry will

flourish. One of the major reason of the high cost is the launch vehicle.

Many companies in this industry are working hard and investing a lot of

money to develop a vehicle which can bring down the cost. The technical

name for that vehicle is REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE. Development of

Reusable Launch Vehicle is very important as it will decide the future of this

industry.

5.2.1) REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE

A reusable launch system (or RLV: reusable launch vehicle) is a

launch vehicle which is capable of launching into space more than once.

This contrasts with expendable launch systems, where each launch vehicle is

launched once and then discarded.

No true orbital reusable launch system is in use as of August, 2006.

The closest example is the partially reusable Space Shuttle. The orbiter,

which includes the main engines, and the two solid rocket boosters, are

reused after several months of refitting work for each launch. The external

fuel drop tank is discarded.

Orbital RLVs are thought to provide the possibility of low cost and

highly reliable access to space. However, reusability implies weight

penalties such as reentry shielding and possibly a stronger structure to

survive multiple uses, and given the lack of experience with these vehicles,

the actual costs and reliability are yet to be seen.



5.2.1.1) HISTORY

As usual, science fiction preceded science fact in this area. In the early

1950s popular science fiction often depicted space launch vehicles as either

single-stage reusable rocket ships which could launch and land vertically, or

single-stage reusable rocket planes which could launch and land

horizontally.

The realities of early engine technology with low specific impulse or

insufficient thrust-to-weight ratio to escape our gravity well, compounded by

construction materials without adequate performance and low weight

seemingly rendered that original single-stage reusable vehicle vision

impossible.

The late 1960s saw the start of the Space Shuttle design process. From

an initial multitude of ideas a two-stage reusable VTHL design was pushed

forward. That eventually ended up as a reusable orbiter with an expendable

drop tank and reusable solid rocket boosters to reduce design expenses.

Eventually the Shuttle was found to be expensive to maintain, even

more expensive than an expendable launch system would have been. The

cancellation of a Shuttle-Centaur rocket after the loss of Challenger also

caused a hiatus that would make it necessary for the United States military

to scramble back towards expendables to launch their payloads. Many

commercial satellite customers had switched to expendables even before

that, due to unresponsiveness to customer concerns by the Shuttle launch

system.

Against the dire backdrop came the Ansari X Prize contest, inspired

by the aviation contests made in the early 20th century. Many private

competitors disputed the Ansari X Prize, the winner being Scaled

Composites with their reusable HTHL Spaceship One. It won the ten million



dollars, by reaching 100 kilometers in altitude twice in a two week period

with the equivalent of three people on board, with no more than ten percent

of the non-fuel weight of the spacecraft replaced between flights. While

Spaceship One is suborbital like the X-15, some hope the private sector can

eventually develop reusable orbital vehicles given enough incentive. SpaceX

is a recent player in the private launch market which has partially reusable

vehicles.

5.2.1.2) REUSABILITY CONCEPTS

Single Stage

Single stage to orbit requires very lightweight structures, high efficiency

engines and usually implies small margins.

Two or more stages to orbit

Two stages to orbit require designing and building two independent

vehicles and dealing with the interactions between them at launch. Usually

the second stage in launch vehicle is 5-10 times smaller than the first stage,

although in bimese and trimese approaches each vehicle is the same size.

In addition, the first stage needs to be returned to the launch site for it

to be reused. This is usually proposed to be done by flying a compromise

trajectory that keeps the first stage above or close to the launch site at all

times, or by using small air breathing engines to fly the vehicle back, or by

recovering the first stage downrange and returning it some other way (often

landing in the Sea, and returning it by ship.) Most techniques involve some

performance penalty; these can require the first stage to be several times



larger for the same payload, although for recovery from downrange these

penalties may be small.

Horizontal landing

In this case the vehicle requires wings and undercarriage (unless

landing at sea). This typically requires about 9-12% of the vehicle to be

wings.

Hydrogen fuel

Hydrogen is often proposed since it has the highest exhaust velocity.

However tankage and pump weights are high due to insulation and low

propellant density; and this wipes out much of the advantage. Still, the 'wet

mass' of a hydrogen fuelled stage is lighter than an equivalent dense stage

with the same payload and this can permit usage of wings, and is good for

second stages.

5.2.1.3) DEVELOPMENT OF RLV’S

There are many space lines which are developing RLVs. I have two

agencies which are developing RLVs and have given some description on

their vehicles.

Hopper (spacecraft)

Hopper was a proposed European Space Agency orbital craft

advanced concept. The advanced studies were somewhat supported by the

EADS Phoenix flight test project.

Hopper was advertised to be more economical than today's space

vehicles and even reliable for manned space operations. In the first few



decades of the 21st century, it might have been the first independent manned

European non-military attempt at space operations and could have been an

important part of the ISS project. At the time it was studied, it was

anticipated that the production craft would enter use between 2015 and

2020. Hopper was to be launched on a futuristic 4 km magnetic track which

would have accelerated it to launch speed, providing far cheaper access to

space than the current launcher.

C-21 Spacecraft

The C-21 (Cosmopolis XXI) Aerospace System consists of a carrier

aircraft, the M-55X, and a manned rocket module. This spacecraft is being

developed by Space Adventures Ltd. the C-21. The module is a lifting body

Reusable Launch Vehicle built around a 3-seat passenger capsule. It also

includes an engine unit and an equipment compartment with rescue and

environmental control / life support systems.

The rocket module is mounted on top of the M-55 "Geophysika"

carrier aircraft. A connection between the carrier and the rocket module

provides information on status and efficiency control of all rocket module

systems before take off and separation.

The carrier aircraft with the C-21 attached will reach an altitude of 17

kilometers (10.5 miles), and then gather speed to perform a vertical climb

maneuver. Once the altitude reaches 20 kilometers, and the trajectory angle

reaches 40-60 degrees to the horizon, the locks are disengaged and the

rocket module begins to separate from the M-55X. As soon as a safe

distance from the carrier aircraft is reached, the C-21's rocket engine is

ignited automatically. The rocket module then climbs steadily under rocket



power, on a gradual trajectory up to maximum altitude, around 100

kilometers (62 miles). Once the rocket engine burns out, it separates from

the crew compartment. The C-21 then continues to gain altitude as it passes

through Suborbital space.

During the descent phase back to Earth, control surfaces are extended

for optimal aerodynamic performance. The landing is divided into the glide-

phase and the final parachute-assisted touch down.

5.3) SAFETY

There is one very important provision to all the foregoing, namely that

the demand for space tourism services will be critically dependent on one

particular factor: The entire service will clearly have to be demonstrably safe

both in the perception of potential customers, and in order for insurance

companies to be prepared to underwrite the risk of accidents. Such safety

requires assurance on three different aspects of the operation:

1. The vehicle and facilities will have to be safe;

2. There will have to be no significant health risks; and

3. The probability of damage from collisions with other spacecraft or

debris will have to be insignificant.

This will require the vehicles and facilities to be inherently safe

against mechanical failures, as proven by the prior performance of a very

extensive flight test program to civil aviation standards. In addition, the

achievement of adequate safety levels will require the permanent availability

of comprehensive safety and rescue facilities and vehicles. This will require

further research on the biological effects of space flight, both short-term and



long-term, and the provision of storm-shelters against solar flare particles.

This will require further research in quantifying the risks of collisions with

orbital debris, and the use of appropriate levels of design safety. It is also

possible that international legal agreements concerning orbital traffic

systems may become desirable in order to reduce the risk of collisions

between spacecraft to an acceptable level.

Due to privacy reasons I could not get the information on safety

measures that will be adopted in future by the space lines and changes that

are been made on the design of the vehicle to take the impact of the debris.

5.4) DEVELOPMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE

Many space lines are developing infrastructure for their training

centre. These spaceports will do two things, Firstly it will be used for

training purpose; secondly it will be a major tourist attraction. Space

Adventures Ltd which is the only operational space line in the world is

developing a spaceport in Singapore.

5.4.1) Singapore Spaceport

Space Adventures has proposed a USD$115 million spaceport to be

located in Singapore, near Singapore Changi Airport. This spaceport will

service the Space Adventures Explorer suborbital tourist rocket plane. It will

also provide astronaut training facilities and a public education and

interactive visitor centre. The spaceport is licensed by the Civil Aviation

Authority of Singapore (CAAS). The estimated completion date of the

spaceport is 2009. Sites in Australia, the Bahamas, Florida, Japan, Malaysia,

Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Singapore and Dubai in the United Arab

Emirates were considered. After a year-long selection process, the sites in



Singapore and Dubai were chosen. One key difference between the two

proposed spaceports is that while the Dubai spaceport will be mainly a

launch pad for sub-orbital space flights, the Singapore spaceport will have

much more facilities.

Planned facilities

The planned attractions in the Singapore Spaceport are far more numerous.

They include:

o Sub-orbital Space Flights that will blast passengers out of Earth's

atmosphere to an altitude of 100 km so they can enjoy about five

minutes of weightlessness. An entire flight will take about 90 minutes.

There will be a four-day training programmed before the flight. The

entire experience is estimated to cost US$102, 00.



o Parabolic Flights. These flights at an estimated US$10,000 produce

the experience of weightlessness in an aircraft without going into

space.

o Flights in the Aero L-39 Albatros, a high-performance jet trainer

aircraft.

o A four-day space camp for children.

o For adults, a full-day astronaut experience that will include a spin in

a centrifuge to simulate a high-gravity environment, astronaut meals

and a stint in a hypobaric (low-pressure) chamber to simulate

performing repairs on damaged spacecraft in orbit.

The entire complex will be spread over 17,000 m² of floor area on a

1.8 ha site. It is expected to generate about $3 billion in economic benefits

over 10 years. It hopes to attract more than half-a-million visitors a year

from the region within two-and-a-half years of opening. he estimated

minimum cost of US$115 million will be partially funded by the private

sector, undisclosed Singapore sources, as well Space Adventures’ global

spaceport development partner, His Highness Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al

Qasimi, Crown Prince of Ras Al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. The

consortium supporting Spaceport Singapore includes Octtane Pte, Batey Pte

Ltd., Lyon Capital Inc., DP Architects, ST Medical and KPMG Corporate

Finance.

5.4.2) Space Hotels

American motel tycoon Robert Bigelow has acquired the designs for

inflatable space habitats from the Transhab program abandoned by NASA.



His company, Bigelow Aerospace already launched the first inflatable

habitat module named Genesis I in 2006 and is currently planning to launch

a prototype space station module by late 2008, and plans to officially launch

the first commercial space station by 2010 (tagged Nautilus) which will have

330 cubic meters (almost as big as the ISS's 425 cubic meters of usable

volume).

Bigelow Aerospace is currently offering the America's Space Prize, a

$50 million prize to the first US Company to create a reusable spacecraft

capable of carrying passengers to a Nautilus space station.

Other companies have also expressed interest in constructing "space

hotels". For example, Virgin's Richard Branson has expressed his hope for

the construction of a space hotel within his lifetime. Hilton International

announced the Space Islands Project, a plan to connect together used Space

Shuttle fuel tanks, each the diameter of a Boeing 747 aircraft; British

Airways has expressed interest in the venture.




There are some half a dozen space lines in this Industry but some

space lines have contributed a lot in development of space tourism so I

thought it is important to mention their contribution in my project.


SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS TOWARDS SPACE TOURISM

DEVELOPMENT

There are many private companies and non-profit organizations which

have made special contribution towards space tourism developments. To

name a few Space Adventures Ltd, Rocketplane Kistler, Planet Space, X-

Price Foundation (a non- profit organization) and many others. But for my

project I have selected Two companies to give details on, as I don’t want to

make my project too lengthy for the hake of it and the companies which I

have selected have made special contribution toward development of space

tourism. The two companies are Space Adventures Ltd. and X- Prize

Foundation.

SPACE ADVENTURES

Space Adventures Ltd. is an Arlington, Virginia, USA-based space tourism

company founded in 1998, best known for sending paying tourists to the

International Space Station (ISS). Space Adventures is currently the only

operating spaceline in the world delivering the public opportunities to

experience space today. The President and CEO of Space Adventures, Ltd.

is Eric Anderson,

Programs They Offer

1. Orbital Flights — Space Adventures is the only company to have

launched clients to the International Space Station, and has the only

commercial orbital space flight opportunities available today



2. Suborbital Flights — Space Adventures is developing a passenger

suborbital space program, with licensed passenger flights to launch in

the 2007-2008 time frames.

3. Spaceflight Training — Space Adventures offers a variety of

training experiences that can either be booked together as part of a

qualification program.

Background

In May 2001, it sent American businessman Dennis Tito to the ISS

aboard a Russian Aviation and Space Agency Soyuz spacecraft for a

reported $20 million payment, making him the first space tourist in history.

South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth did the same in April 2002.

On December 16, 2003, the company announced a contract with two

unnamed American individuals, who agreed to pay $20 million each to make

similar trips in 2004 and 2005. In fact, the third flight only took place on

October 1, 2005, with the launch of Gregory Olsen, and it is assumed that

Olsen was one of these two individuals. A flight is on offer with two tourists

and one pilot, the SA-1, also to the ISS.

On November 3, 2005, Space Adventures announced that their next

client would be Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke "Dice-K" Enomoto.

However, on 21 August 2006, a Russian Federal Space Agency spokesman

announced that Enomoto was "deemed not ready to fly for exclusively

medical reasons"; although he hinted that Enomoto might recover and join a

later mission. His replacement on this particular flight was Iranian-American

businesswoman Anousheh Ansari.



Circumlunar Flights

On August 10, 2005, the company announced a project named Deep

Space Expeditions Alpha to send people around the Moon. A 5 1/2 day lunar

flight could happen in 2008 or 2009, and cost about $100 million per person.

Additional Development

Space Adventures has entered into an agreement with the Russian

Federal Space Agency to further develop the C-21 design into the Explorer.

It has also entered into an agreement with Prodea, backers of the Ansari X-

Prize to develop spaceports in the United Arab Emirates (Ras Al Khaimah

spaceport) and Singapore (Singapore spaceport). On April 3, 2006, it was

reported that a UAE entrepreneur is paying more than $100,000 to go on the

first suborbital flight.

X-PRIZE FOUNDATION

The X PRIZE Foundation is a not-for-profit education organization

using competitions to create innovative breakthroughs in space and related

technologies for the benefit of mankind. On October 4, 2004, the X PRIZE

captured world headlines when Mojave Aerospace led by Burt Rutan and

Paul Allen built and flew the world’s first private spacecraft to the edge of

space winning the $10 million ANSARI X PRIZE and jump-starting the

personal spaceflight industry. Following in the footsteps of over 100

aviation prizes offered between 1905 and 1935 that created today’s

multibillion dollar aerospace industry, the ANSARI X PRIZE was awarded

to the team that designed the first private spaceship that successfully



launched its vehicle to a sub-orbital altitude of 100 km on two consecutive

flights.

Funding:

The X PRIZE Foundation is funded through private donations.

Funding for the ANSARI X PRIZE purse was secured from multiple sources

including: The Ansari family, The New Spirit of St. Louis Organization,

leading St. Louis corporations, FirstUSA (BankOne) and major donors.

X- PRIZE Cup 2006

Welcome to the official website for the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup, Earth's

great space exposition. This year's Cup features three spectacular

competitions with over $2.5 million in prize purses, multiple high-powered

sounding rocket launches, the unveiling of the Rocket Racing League's

development X-Racer, multiple static engine test firings live on the field,

fly-overs by the T-38 astronaut trainer, and a variety of other rocket

surprises in the air and on the ground.

Building on the legendary prize methodology that the Ansari X

PRIZE used to catalyze SpaceShipOne into history, this year's Cup see's the

launch of three important competitions. The Northrop Grumman Lunar

Lander Challenge (a NASA-supported prize effort to demonstrate the ability

of private companies to develop next-generation lunar landers), the Vertical

Rocket Challenge (another lunar-landing-technology-focused competition),

and the The Spaceward Foundation's Space Elevator Games (a test of over

20 teams to use light to power a vehicle along a tether, this year up about 50

meters, but eventually hundreds and thousands of miles).



1) Innovative Marketing Strategies

After my study I have come out with two new and innovative methods of

marketing these are: -

Step to Space;

Lottery Style Contest.

Step to Space

Space lines can sell individual experience packages to stimulate the

tourist to go for actual space trip. These are cheaper and stimulate customers

to go to space.

Lottery Style Contest

Lottery Style Contest will do two things: -

i) It will give people who don’t have the financial mean to look at the

product like this as a chance to go to space and;

ii) It gets larger portion of population interested in your product.



2) Careful Selection of Tourists

The tourists are their brand ambassadors so the tourist should be

carefully selected. This is because a lot of publicity is given by the media to

these tourists, so if the tourist has a criminal background he will get negative

publicity which in turn will spoil the image of the space lines.

3) Developing training centers as Tourist spots

Space lines spend huge amount of money in setting up state of the art

facilities at their training centers, so this centers can be developed ad tourist

spot. This will do two things: -

i) Raise additional revenue

ii) Will stimulate the people to go for a space trip.

4) Design of the space craft

According to my research the preferred activity in space is view earth and

walk in space so while designing the space flight the space lines should

ensure that tourists get lot of opportunities for their preferred activity.



After my research I can conclude that India has huge potential for

space tourism but they will have to make it more affordable to tap the full

potential in India. This can be done by launching Reusable Launch Vehicle.

These vehicles will make the trip more economical and hence affordable to

Indian market.

There are many adventurous people in India who can afford space trip

but would not like to spend such a huge amount. This is due to conservative

nature of Indians. According to my research more then 85% of the

respondents were willing to pay only 65% of the actual amount.



Book

Marketing Management ----- Philip Kotler

Newspapers

Hindustan Times

Daily News Analysis

Websites

www.spceadventures.com

www.xprize.org

www.spacefuture.com

www.hobbyspace.com



QUESTIONNAIREQuestion 1)

On the scale of 1 to 5, how important is the development of space?

least 1 2 3 4 5 most

Answer

Question 2)

Are you aware of the idea of the space tourism?

a) Yes

b) No

Answer

Question 3)

Would you ever like to go to space in your life time?

a) Yes

b) No

c) May be

(If no see question no. 11)

Answer



Question 4)

Why would you like to go to space? / What motivates you for the trip?

a) View earth

b) Walk in space

c) Be weightless/ have fun in zero gravity

d) Look deeper into space

e) Scientific experimentations

f) Re- entry.

Answer

Question 5)

Once there how long would you like to stay there?

a) Few hours

b) 2-3 days

c) One week

d) Several weeks.

Answer

Question 6)

In your life time how many trips would you like to take?

a) One

b) Two

c) More then two

Answer



Question 7 a.)

At present, would you be willing to pay $20 million (Rs. 90 cr.) for 10 days

trip in space?

a) Yes

b) No

Answer

Question 7 b.)

At present, would you be willing to pay $ 1 lakh (Rs. 46 lakh) for 1 day trip

in space?

a) Yes

b) No

Answer

Question 8)

What price according to you would be worth for a one day space trip?

(Current price is Rs. 46 lakh for 1day trip)

Answer

Question 9)

If the cost of the trip decreases does the chances of the number your trips to

space increases?

a) Yes

b) No

Answer



Question 10)

Rank the factors according to their priority in your trip in the Column

below?

Price Risk Space Line Amenities

provided

Question 11)

Why would you not like to go to space?

a) Too expensive

b) Risk

c) Health problems

d) Not interested

Answer


Space Tourism Project

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