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Recent developments in the Space Tourism market could mean that your annual trip to Skegness might be put on hiatus. Let the Leicester University Physics undergraduates give the low-down on this most epic of excursions

The year is 2044. You’re one of the passengers on the first tourist trip to Mars. Four decades earlier, President

George W. Bush laid out a national goal to venture to the Red Planet. This feat had been accomplished only 11 short years ago, and already the next step had been taken – Space Tourism. So now you’re living with ten other tourists, along with a small crew, in the cabin of a spacecraft that left Earth orbit 3 months ago. Your home planet is no more than a tiny pinpoint of light in Space, millions of miles behind you, and Mars is still a long 3 months ahead.

“A recent poll in Japan showed that 80% of thepopulation under the age of 40 would like to take a trip into space”

The scenario above is one that many believe can be achieved in the near future – the use of Space for pleasure, not scientific understanding. But how would Space Tourism happen? What dangers would first have to be overcome? And how would we reach a planet such as Mars? These are just some of the questions that need to be answered before Space Tourism can ever be feasible.

History of Space Travel

The first issue that must be addressed is how humans have made the leap

into Space up to the present day. Human Spaceflight initially started on 12 April 1961 when Vostok 1 sent the Russian Yuri Gagarin in to orbit for 108 minutes in space.

Project Mercury sent the first American, Alan Shepard. Jr, into space on the May 5 of the same year. The President of the USA at the time, John F Kennedy, made a speech to congress that captured the Americans and the world imagination on putting humans onto space, later that same month.

Just as President Kennedy had envisaged on 21 July 1969 a Lunar Module camera provided live television coverage to the rest of the world of Neil Armstrong setting foot on the lunar surface at 10:56 p.m. EDT. Stepping off the Lunar Module Armstrong proclaimed, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" - moving and now landmark words. Forty-seven pounds of lunar surface material were collected, to be returned to Earth for analysis. The surface exploration was concluded in 2½ hours, when the crew re-entered the lunar module.

All the successes of the manned spaceflights people began to forget about dangers involved in human spaceflight and these dangers where highlighted with Apollo 13. Originally planed to land on the lunar surface the mission had to be abandoned when a Service Module oxygen tank blew up aboard. The Command Module of Apollo 13’s lost its normal supply of electricity, light and water, all this happen when they were approximately 321,869 kilometres (200,000 miles) from Earth. The crew had to navigate by using the sun, as after the explosion the onboard navigation system was rendered unusable. Having to swing around the moon to be able to return to earth the crew spent a nerve racking 4 days before in the module before they eventually landed in the Pacific Ocean back on earth. The crew of the Apollo 13 were very lucky as at times Mission control was convinced that they would not make it back alive. This was one of the first highlights of how dangerous manned spaceflight can be.

There are many cost considerations in all spaceflights and manned missions especially are expensive. For example, after the last lunar landing the total funding for the Apollo program was about $19,408,134,000. As a result, NASA’s shuttle was designed and built to try and reduce the cost of missions. This was achieved by using a re-useable shuttle as up to that point the rockets used where only designed to last for one mission such as the Soyuz rocket, which is still in operation today. 20 years to the day after Yuri Gagarin was sent into space by the Russians the first American shuttle, Columbia, lifted off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Since its first launch, the Space Shuttle became a viable part of space exploration history. Standing as one of NASA's foremost projects, the shuttle made manned space flight easier and therefore the ability for many scientific tasks to be accomplished. These tasks and experiments have in turn enhanced the quality of life on Earth for the American and

World population. The shuttle play’s a vital role in most American space missions and joint missions. For example the International Space Station, ISS, has been mainly constructed using the shuttle in a vital role as the main ‘work horse’ as it is the only way large segments of the station can be transported into space.

Highlighting again the risks of man space flight the same space shuttle that took the historic first shuttle fight in 1981, Columbia, broke up upon re-entry to the Earths atmosphere on 1 February 2003 killing instantly the six crew that where on onboard. This disaster no only put a stop to the building of the ISS it raised serious questions about the future of any manned missions and there safety. This incident is probably the greatest reason to cause doubt in the minds of anyone considering the possibility of commercial spaceflight, due to the very high risks that are involved that this disaster highlights. This disaster grounded the shuttle fleet and stopped most American manned space fights although other countries have continued with there manned space programs.

Lt. Col. Yang Liwei became the first Chinese Taikonaut on 15 October 2003. He orbited the Earth 14 times within a 21 hour period before re-entering the Earths atmosphere and touching down on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia in northern China. His spaceflight was the starting point of a new era in manned spaceflight as the Chinese government are very serious about their space program and are considering manned missions to the Moon and Mars. Due to this they are widely though of as the most likely space agency to land the next human on the surface of the moon.

Trying to rekindle the Americans imaginationin manned spaceflight and reproduce the same effect that JFK had with his speech to congress in 1961, the American President George W Bush announced plans, on 14 January 2004, to send manned missions back to the Moon and to Mars. Along with the extra money (over a five year period) being made available, this represents a large leap forward for human spaceflight, which can only be beneficial to Space Tourism.

A recent poll in Japan showed that 80% of the population under the age of 40 would like to take a trip into space and other studies for western societies have shown that at least 6 out of ten people would like to have the opportunity to take a flight into space. This percentage of western civilianisation accounts for a huge number of people and therefore a great deal of money that could be put into the space industry if the opportunity arises. This money in turn could be used of the scientific and technical exploration, which at present is totally government funded. For example the first space tourist supplied the Russian space program with £16 million, 15% of the yearly budget for Russia’s space program hence having more tourist could significantly help fund the scientific space programs.

However, on the current timeline, any thoughts of commercial space travel will be along time in the future as development of scientific manned missions are at the forefront of governments’ manned space missions. It is conceivable that the future lies with none governmental funded project like the ones that are being developed to win the X-Prize.

The X Prize

The X PRIZE is a $10,000,000 prize to jumpstart the space tourism industry through competition between the most talented entrepreneurs and rocket experts in the world. The $10 Million cash prize will be awarded to the first team that: Privately finances, builds & launches a spaceship, able to carry three people to 100 kilometres (62.5 miles), Returns safely to Earth and repeats the launch with the same ship within 2 weeks.

The X Prize Foundation mission is to create a future in which the general public will personally participate in space travel, in order to do this they have 3 aims: Organizing and implementing competitions

to accelerate the development of low-cost spaceships for travel, tourism and commerce.

Creating programs that allow the public to understand the benefits of low-cost space travel.

Providing the public with the opportunity to directly experience the adventure of space travel.

So far 25 teams from 7 different countries have entered this 21st century space race, the well published Starchaser Industries and the not so well known Bristol Spaceplanes from the UK. Within the 25 teams entering this competition there is a large number of different ideas, from balloon take off to helicopter landing. A company tipped to take the $ten million price is Burt Rutan’s Scaled composite, who’s plane Spaceship One `piggybacked` on the back of the drop ship White Knight travelled at over the speed of sound on 17th December 2003 (100 years after the Wright brother’s first flight). Other companies taking the lead are, UK based Starchaser Industries (vertical take-off), Pan Aero (horizontal take-off and landing) and IL Aerospace Technologies.

Many believe Pan Aero will be the first to enter Space, as most of the technology already exists due to the use of a conventional plane with rockets attached to it. However IL Aerospace Technologies have recently announced plans to perform their second manned test flight and possible their first official attempt to win the X-Prize. Furthermore the X-PRIZE Foundation believe there will be a winner within the next 6-9 months, so could space tourism really be just a round the corner.

Health & Safety

One of the main difficulties of any Space mission, not just Space Tourism, is the environment itself. As humans, we are used to living under a protective blanket that surrounds the planet that shields us from the dangers of Space. However, for any tourism exercise to take place, a large number of people will have to be removed from this safety, and left at the mercy of the cosmos.

The most obvious danger is the radiation in Space, in particular the Sun which releases many thousands of hazardous high-energy

particles every second, such as 10 MeV electrons and protons. Many of these are trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field in the Van Allen belts, which would have to be passed through for any trip to the Moon and beyond. When particles such as these enter the body, they act as a tiny bullet that can seriously damage DNA strands, increasing the long-term risk of cancer. Heavy ions can also have a more short-term effect, damaging cells in the brain and central nervous system, affecting the performance of tasks. By one estimate, between 13% and 46% of cells in certain areas of a person’s brain will be penetrated in a possible trip to Mars.

To counter these effects, antioxidants and chemical agents could be given to the passengers, although the most obvious measure is shielding. Surprisingly, one of the better ways to stop radiation is with lightweight materials such as Hydrogen, Boron and Lithium. As well as having added benefits in spacecraft design, the nuclei of heavy elements (which would cause the most damage) can be shattered by lightweight atoms without producing additional hazardous recoil products like neutrons. When combined with a

conventional spacecraft wall, which would stop low-energy particles, a formidable barrier for radiation would be created. Also, Martian or Lunar soil could be used in conjunction with conventional materials to create shields ‘in situ’, which would provide a cheap means of repairing the spacecraft for the journey back to Earth.

Another solution would be a ‘safe room’, possibly surrounded by water – an excellent radiation shield – where the passengers could go in particularly violent radiation storms, such as Coronal Mass Ejections on the surface of the Sun, having be pre-warned by a Earth-orbiting satellite.

Other types of Space Tourism, such as Low Earth Orbit flight, would have to be shielded against space debris, which on account of its large speed (~ 36000 km/h) could cause a great deal of damage. One possible way to combat this is to have a gap between the outer walls of the spacecraft, which would allow the scattered particles from the initial impact to be stopped quite easily.

Another important effect of being in Space for any length of time is weightlessness. In such an environment, blood plasma drops by about 20% and the red blood cell count falls similarly, causing temporary anaemia. Since it no longer has to pump against gravity, the heart doesn’t need to work so hard causing the heartbeat to slow down and heart tissue to shrink. Indeed,

muscle all around the body starts to decay for the similar reasons. Exercise programs, which are the mainstay of every Space Mission around the world, are unable to reverse the process although it does help a great deal.

However, the most dangerous effect of zero gravity is bone loss. The body has no need to maintain the skeletal structure to Earth standards, and hence the bone mass can drop by as much as 1.5% each month. This would have serious effects on arrival on a body such as Mars, since many passengers could be too weak to walk, even under Martian gravity. Also, spinal columns expand in the absence of gravity, which can potentially lead to back ache and nerve problems. Exercise can do little to combat this, although it could be possible to rotate a spacecraft in such a way as to induce gravity.

It would be very likely that there would be a serious medical emergency during a prolonged space flight, be it through natural causes, such a heart attack, or an accident involving some part of the spacecraft – even in Space, objects still have mass and inertia so if you slam into one, you will suffer blunt trauma just as surely as on Earth. Communication to Earth with be pointless given the signal time delay, and thus crew doctors or medical technicians on board will have to depend on robotic aids and ‘smart’ software programs to guide them.

There is the psychological risk to health, partially true on long Space trips, where by the passengers may feel the pressure of confinement, causing them to become hypersensitive, nervous and irritable. Communication with loved ones is often an important morale booster, although this could prove impractical on long trips where there would be a large time delay. One way to combat this is to encourage family holidays, as well as large, comfortable spacecraft with plenty to do. Another possible solution, although the technology does not yet exist, is to put the passengers in suspended animation, which would make the journey feel like it had never happened.

In spite of the hazards above, however, the most hazardous part of any Space trip would not be the journey but the launch. It is a well-known fact that many more rockets have been lost on the launch pad than in Space, and with the additional needs of a tourist as opposed to an astronaut, the payload, and hence amount of fuel necessary to lift it, would be much greater. As a result, the risk would be increased, although it could be possible to minimise this by using an orbiting platform to launch a secondary, but more comfortable spacecraft, and using a much smaller craft to escape the Earth’s gravity.

Launch Vehicles

In order to enter orbit around the Earth a spacecraft has to accelerate from 0 to 8 km per second using a variety of poisonous, explosive fuels to do so! This provides a number of obstacles to overcome, the first of which is obviously the acceleration required to reach orbit. Here on Earth we experience a constant one “g” pulling us towards the earth, while a jumbo jet taking off provides an acceleration of one-quarter ‘g’. The acceleration of most manned rockets is a steady 3 to 4 g’s – more then three times the acceleration due to gravity! Due to this high acceleration, all people who

"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal,

before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him

safely to Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more

important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive

to accomplish."

John F. KennedySpecial Joint Session of Congress

May 25, 1961.

www.newscientists.com 27 January 2004 | NewScientists | 04

travel into space must be both physically and mentally fit. They must also undergo a rigorous training programme before their launch to fully prepare them for the experience. This can involve runs on centrifuge devices – which simulate the tremendous stresses of launch, being left in the arctic wilderness for survival training, or being thrown into the black sea for emergency landing techniques. As well as the large amount of training needed for a spaceflight the other hurdle at the current time is the cost, which, according to Space Adventures – a company specialising in organising space tourism holidays – is around $15Million. This price is obviously not reasonable for theaverage holiday accessible to most people, but there are some that are willing to pay this price for a weeklong mission.

Using current technology it can easily be seen that it will never be possible to go on a “space holiday” – after all, no-one wants to spend months training for a weeklong holiday. So what are the prospects for the space tourism industry? Are there any new techniques that could be used to reduce the amount of training needed? And, will new launch technologies be able to reduce the substantial costs of space tourism?

Luckily the prospects look good. More and more people are becoming interested in the idea of taking a holiday in space – the Russian Energia Corporation which operates all missions from the Baikonur cosmodrome has around 100 people who have expressed a serious interest in a flight to the International Space Station. In addition to this there are several new concept vehicles that may, in ten to fifteen years, be able to propel tourists into space.

These concepts include the space elevator – a giant cable stretching from the Earth’s surface to a point 36000km away known as a geostationary orbit. This cable can be used to transport goods and humans into orbit without having to spend vast amounts on dangerous rockets. The cost of building such a construction would be enormous – but the savings in fuel and engineering once it was completed would be greater than this initial price tag by a factor of several hundred. Another advantage of this elevator is the fact that objects can be moved up and down it with a minimum of acceleration –meaning people would no longer have to endure 3g’s while reaching space.

Another future concept is the nuclear powered spacecraft that would cut the cost of reaching orbit in half. This spacecraft would work by pushing the by-products of nuclear reactions out the back, propelling the spacecraft forward. Of course the major disadvantage of this system is the amount of radioactive material that would be deposited upon the Earth – and the fact that the g-loads will, while being lower than those in a conventional rocket, still be fairly high.

A final cost-reducing concept is the Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) design. This utilises advanced construction techniques to minimise the weight of the spacecraft while maximising its power – meaning no complex “multistage” rockets that shed their weight while travelling into space will be needed. This decrease in complexity will bring increases in cost effectiveness and also in safety – since the less complex a system the less there is that can go wrong. However, as with nuclear propulsion the g-loads placed upon any space tourists who are aboard will remain fairly high.

Cost

One of the main downsides of any Space Mission is the cost. However, growing work on the possibility of developing a passenger travel industry shows that it potentially has great economic value than might be expected. It would be a very popular service, requires far less of an investment than space agencies receive, and vast funding for work on this is highly desirable, economically, socially and politically.

An activity, which has the potential to become the largest commercial activity in space, is economically more valuable than space activities that are not expected to ever be profitable. Surveys taken in Japan, Canada, USA, Germany and England show most people are keen to visit space. The scale of potential demand shows that space tourism could become available to the general public.

The investment required to startpassenger space travel operations is of the order of billions of dollars. Since US taxpayers alone pay $14 billion/year for the government’s space program, and taxpayers in other countries $11 billion per year, it would be no strain to make this investment. The realisation of passenger space travel services that would be affordable by the majority of the middle classes requires the investment of a small fraction of what space agencies receive from taxpayers every year.

If 10% of the rich countries population took a single space flight at $20 000, this would create a market of $2 trillion. However, more than 50% say they would like a flight and most would possibly make several trips. The middle class population of the world is rapidly increasing, which makes this a serious under-estimate of the potential market.

Studies performed by the Japanese Rocket Society state orbital services could start within 10 years, with an income that could reach $100 billion in 2030. They estimated, with an investment of $12 billion, it would be possible to carry passengers to orbit for about $25 000 per passenger. This is compared with the larger and more complex `Venture-Star` in the USA, with an estimated $6 billion development cost. It is notable that even $12 billion is less than 6 months of space agency spending worldwide.

It would be greatly in the economic interest of taxpayers for governments to restructure their space activities to follow the model of aviation. So, given that Space Tourism is affordable, if only to a select band of people, it is important to consider what they would get for their money.

Entertainment In Space

Currently, people go on holiday for a variety of different reasons; some people go for a long relaxing trip where they do nothing except read books and sit in the Sun, others go for a week of drinking and hectic activities to an 18 to 30’s resort. You may think that going to space limits the activities available. What kind of entertainment has space got to offer to the tourist and what can make it a really enjoyable experience? The scenery and being weightless, provide the main two attractions to being in space. Recently people have started going on safaris in Africa, exploring the jungles of South America, and generally started travelling more exotic countries. Most satellites orbit the Earth once every ninety minutes. For here you can view the great wall of China, appreciate the polar caps, sight entire oceans, witness thousands of lights at night time, see forest fires, observe the aurora, volcanoes and many more. The views will not just wear off within minutes. It is not just the Earth that you can look at too, without the atmosphere distorting any views, the stars and other planets become clearer.

Being weightless is an experience comparable to none other with the potential to have a lot of fun with. It changes everything, from sleeping to eating. As we progress into the future, when space tourism becomes a more realistic prospect for everyone, this will be the main feature, as most forms of entertainment will be based upon weightlessness.

So how do astronauts fill the spare time they get in space at the moment? Alexander Volkov, who has spent a total of 13 months in space, said “We play the guitar and sing songs, make telephone calls to our families, read books and watch videos.” These seem like the activities carried out on a relaxing holiday on the beach or maybe a cruise ship. Perhaps space tourism could be seen as an expensive, once in a lifetime, cruise around Earth. It has certainly got the amazing views that cruise ships have and better, however it does not have the luxury cabins, massive banquet halls, and the rich entertainers in the evening. As space tourism progresses, this does not necessarily have to be the case. For example if a hotel is made in space, then luxury cabins, banquet halls, and entertainers could all exist. There could be games rooms that manipulate weightlessness. For example, a large room could be made where the walls are padded with bouncy castle walls all around. People can simply bounce around all day. Sports halls could be created too. These ideas propose problems. As Newton showed, each force has an equal and opposite force. Therefore when someone kicks off a wall, both the person and the wall move away. This could change the orbit of the hotel creating devastating results. If there were 22 people in a space sports hall, all of 80kg, and they all pushed off the same wall at the same time; with an acceleration of 5ms-2 they would create a force of 8800N. This is at one extreme, however if this happened repeatedly, then counteracting forces would be required. This problem could be minimised by using shock absorbers, but it is just one of the many problems that need to be overcome. Swimming pools could be made in space hotels. If the swimming room were rotated, then the water would feel a centrifugal force and move to the outside of the room. In the centre of the room there would still be no gravity and so lots of fun could be had. It would be possible to dive out of the pool and float in the centre of the room. Unfortunately, a modest

swimming pool contains about 1000 tons of water, at $100,000 / ton launch costs, it is going to cost a lot of money When space tourism moves to the Moon, there will be unlimited forms of entertainment. As soon as buildings and accommodation are created, almost anything that can be done on Earth will be done on the Moon. Golf could become a very popular sport, it has already been demonstrated by Alan Shepard on Apollo 14. Heavier golf balls may be required, to cut down distances, and perhaps making the golf balls luminous so they can be seen in the dark. Even transport on the Moon could be good fun. Due to the gravity on the Moon being one sixth that of Earth’s, it means you can jump a lot higher, and hence further too. One form of transport could be the pole volt. It requires no power source other than human energy. A 4m pole volt on the Moon, travelling at 3ms-1 will get you 10.6m in 2.7 seconds, and its entertaining; maybe not so practical though. Also, there is no reason why pubs and clubs could not be opened. Basically, while some activities could be more difficult than others, it is quite clear that entertainment can be easily incorporated into any trip to Space.

“We play the guitar and sing songs, make telephone calls to our families, read books and watch videos”- A. Volkov

Accommodation

Most people still think living in space will mean keeping residence in grey metal boxes. In fact living in space will be just as convenient as living on Earth, or even more. Otherwise only very few people will be willing to really stay there. A residence in space will therefore appear very similar the ones here on Earth. They will look exactly like the average houses we're so used to. They will have a garden, and if desired by the owner, will still be able have to put in a pond. There will be different plants and animals, and looking up into the sky you would see the sun shining through the clouds!

Dr O'Neill, of the University of Texas, sees the concept of a space habitat is an air-tight bottle with a length of 30 kilometres and a radius of 3 kilometres. This bottle will look like a cylinder with two spherical end caps. The outer skin of the bottle will be build of alternating rectangles of land-area and transparent window rectangles. The last will permit sunlight reflected by the mirrors to illuminate the opposing land areas. The bottle will rotate around its cylindrical axis once every two minutes. This rotation will generate a centripetal acceleration equivalent to the gravity at the Earth's surface (just like an ordinary centrifuge). Air can be pumped in, until at the surface level an air pressure of one bar is reached. (However, at the axis in the middle of the cylinder the air pressure will be considerably less.) At a height of approximately 500 meters above the interior, clouds will form automatically from the excessive water vapour present in the air (dependent on the temperature and humidity). This phenomenon has been sighted in very large buildings on the Earth such as the Apollo rocket assembly hall at Cape Canaveral, where clouds are known to form during special circumstances. The rectangular land areas will be covered with a layer of dirt. In this a layer of park-like flora will be planted, as well as constructing ordinary houses, which look very similar to the ones on Earth.

The amount of habitable surface area inside such a space habitat will be approximately 270 km2 (counting only the areas with 1G gravity). There has been calculated that this surface area should be sufficient to accommodate six million people. Note that this area is not including the surface required for agriculture, industry and transport facilities. The production of food (agriculture) will take place in smaller separate cylinders. The industry will also be placed outside the living habitat. The gravity generated in the living habitat can be a disadvantage for industrial processes. Also high transportation costs, possible pollution, etc. are reasons not to place the industry inside the living habitat. The public service companies and institutes (shops, town hall, library, etc.) can be placed beneath ground level, and therefore do not take up any precious surface area. Also situated beneath ground level will be several metro lines (probably using magnetic levitation as means of propulsion). The train stations will be located to render the shortest distance from any point in the living areas less than 500 meters (i.e. walking distance), therefore only pedestal and bicycle paths are required for transport of the residents.

We have not considered the living area in the spherical end caps of the cylinder. Here the effective gravity will decrease from Earth gravity to 0.5G at a location at a 60 degrees angle. This decrease in gravity can be a considerable advantage for the elderly and the handicapped. Probably this will be an ideal place for elderly houses and hospitals. Also it could be a fun place for many of the activities mentioned previously.

The important issue of food for Space Tourists could be solved by the placement of agriculture in separate smaller cylinders. Such a method has several advantages: Plant-life is more resistant to mutations

caused by harmful radiation than humans. Therefore the agriculture cylinders will require less shielding against radiation than the living habitat. They can have a lighter construction and thus be cheaper.

For plant-life the gravity will not have to be 1G. This also results in a lighter construction.

The appearance and position of the solar disc is of no concern to plant-life. Therefore the mirrors required for the reflection of sunlight can have a less complex thus cheaper construction.

Atmospheric constitution (proportion of the gases oxygen, carbon-dioxide and nitrogen) can optimized for plant life. The same can be done for temperature, the amount and type of sunlight, length of days and seasons, etc.

Because of the total separation from the living habitat the probability of contamination by humans is extremely low. Think of insects, bacteria and viruses carried along by humansand animals. In the rare case of contamination the complete agricultural cylinder can be decontaminated by increasing the temperature for an extensive period (to about 200 degrees Centigrade). Because of the exactly controlled climate in the agricultural cylinders the yield is much more reliable and greater than rendered by the same amount of surface area on Earth. Using materials produced by conventional technology, a living habitat with the geometry of a cylinder and a diameter of 6 kilometres can be realized (using steal or aluminium). The feasibility can be easily calculated using the same methods as are applied today for designing ships or bridges. It would also be possible to use Space materials for construction, such as Martian soil or asteroid rock. This would have the added benefits of radiation shielding and the reduction in cost of a launch. In the future when new materials will become available with a strength equivalent to diamond (or even better) it will be possible to construct much larger and more complex space.

The Future

The future of Space Tourism is a bright and excitingly realistic one. The technology to achieve commercial space flights is mostly already in existence, although in some aspects advances will have to be made. Essentially, it is only the initial funding that is hindering the industry. MirCorp, a company part-owned by Russia's space corporation Energia, says it has signed an agreement with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency to build the new outpost, called Mini Station 1. Mini Station 1 would host three cosmonauts for up to 20 days at a time, says Manber. It would cost around $100 million to build and would last for 15 years. MirCorp expects trips to Mini Station 1 to cost less than

$20 million. Meanwhile NASA has done a U-turn on its space tourism policy and is considering taking paying passengers into space.

So with things looking promising for Space Tourism in Earth orbit, what of the possibilities of going further a field? Can future space tourists expect more fun and greater freedom? Russian Cosmonaut Alexander Volkov thinks this is a real possibility – ‘I think it is a very good idea, to build bigger ships so that normal people too can fly, we need to design a better space craft, very simple construction and easy to put together. Then we could send them for a week to the moon, and they could stay there like tourists. And why the moon? Why not on a space ship? Because there is gravity on the moon. The Russian Space Agency is looking at the possibility of designing a completely separate module for tourists and we can then bring people for a week on board the module, and the module will be able to dock with other modules, and the space station. I think this could happen in about ten to fifteen years.’Hans-Jurgen Rombaut of the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture in the Netherlands hopes that millionaire Dennis Tito's recent tourist flight to the International Space Station will kick off the era of space tourism. But even half a century from now, visitors will still need deep pockets, Rombaut says, as a two-week stay in his low-gravity leisure centre will probably cost as much as a mortgage on a house!

And finally…

In conclusion, looking into the past we can see that man has achieved many great things in space – ranging from visiting the moon to people living in an orbital station for over a year. The future of manned spaceflight look no less

exciting: members of the public will be able to take the place of highly trained specialists as the dangers of living in space are reduced, the fitness requirements for spaceflight will be lowered due to our use of new launch technologies meaning that spaceflight will no longer be the domain of fighter pilots with exemplary medical records. In addition to this the attitude of organisations such as NASA coupled with the creation of incentives such as the X-Prize will encourage development of facilities for “space holidays” such as small orbital stations, not unlike the ISS. The increasing level of familiarity with spaceflight activities coupled with new technologies will also help lower the cost and risk of reaching orbit, perhaps to as little as $100000 within the next decade or so. This will bring spaceflight into the reach of a much greater audience than the current millionaire target customer. As more and more people become able to venture into space the cost will continue to fall until it is well within reach of the average man here on Earth, and by that time we may even be sending the more adventurous tourists to the moon for week long vacations. To sum up, then we use the words of Ken Mattingly, who visited the moon on Apollo 16: “The time for humans to explore the heavens once more is when manned spaceflight turns a profit – and that time is sooner than you may think”.

This article was produced on behalf of the Leicester

University Physics Department, and as such owes

many of it’s resources to it’s devoted students