Space Travel - Will everyone be able to do it?
WORDS BY GEORGIA NOLAN.
Space tourism is becoming more and more of a reality. Soon enough, we’ll be booking shuttles to Mars, or calling Planet X our new home. But will everyday people like you and I be able to partake in such luxuries? Or will we be left behind while the Earth’s elite go for galactic joyrides?
In the 2010s, companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin sprouted into existence. Space travel became a hot topic for billionaires to invest in. Projects such as Elon Musk’s Falcon 9, FalconHeavy, and dearMoon were launched (pun not intended), the former two completed by the end of the decade, and the latter set to commence this year.
Naturally, these projects required excessive amounts of money to get off the ground, not to mention additional funds to cover failed launches and spacecraft reconstruction. This is why it’s important for space companies to attract the attention of wealthy investors. So, technically yes, space travel will only be for the rich if costs remain high; but, if companies like SpaceX can lower their costs, they can lower the price-point of space travel. And, that is exactly what they’re doing.
Musk’s Falcon 9, FalconHeavy, and Starship projects explore spacecraft reusability. Reusable rockets ensure a major reduction in waste and cargo launching costs, as well as a future in regular space travel. Natalia Borotkanych of the State Space Agency of Ukraine states 'such [...] system[s],' like SpaceX's Starship, are predicted to 'reduce the cost of launches by a hundred times' and sit at a price of '$10 per kilogram'. If Musk’s projections are true, then we’ll be zipping about the solar system like the Jetsons in no time.
Space travel won’t only be for tourism, but scientific endeavours as well. ‘There’s economic potential beyond launching rich people to space’, reporter Joey Roulette claims, including ‘microgravity research for scientists and — a much farther goal — rapid transportation between continents.’ Space agencies will also be able to send giant telescopes and satellites into space, and as a result, learn more about the universe’s first galaxies and its potential Earth-like exoplanets.
But many scientists are critical of NewSpace and its projected figures. While low launching costs will benefit businesses, they won’t greatly affect the final costs for scientific missions. Some even suspect space tech CEOs of deliberately discounting other costs.
Pierre Lionett of Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries in Europe (ASD) is sceptical of Musk’s financial projections; in particular, his Starship project. ‘SpaceX [...] has not disclosed the costs of everything that has gone into the Starship, from building more than a dozen prototypes from scratch to employing an army of designers and engineers.’
Even if Musk is right, and launching costs do lower dramatically, costs for building telescopes and satellites will remain high. According to the Planetary Society, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched in December 2021, cost approximately 10.8 billion US dollars. Saving a measly one million dollars doesn’t sound so revolutionary now, does it?
But many scientists remain hopeful for the future. Space travel for the masses is on the cards, whether in the near future or next century, and that enough is a cause for excitement. As former NASA deputy coordinator Lori Garver claims, ‘No one is going to give up.’ Companies like SpaceX are going to keep designing and constructing rockets until mankind can explore the furthest depths of our solar system, and maybe even further than that.
EDITORIAL NOTE: This article has been reuploaded and was originally published in 2023.