Courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin, by Todd G. Dickson
A recent study finds that there not only is an existing market for space tourism, but predicts that market will only grow as more vehicles are developed and the price becomes competitive. The $277,000 study, called “Suborbital Reusable Vehicles: A Ten-Year Forecast of Market Demand,” was paid for by the Federal Aviation Administration.
While Virgin Galactic is currently the company close to taking passengers to suborbital space, there are a number of other companies at different stages in development of suborbital spacecraft that seek to offer the ultimate thrill ride at prices less than Virgin’s $200,000 a ticket. According to Virgin Galactic, the company has $70 million in deposits from more than 535 people.
Seeking to be a competitor for that market is XCOR Aerospace’s planned two-seater Lynx vehicle, at $95,000 a flight.
That may still seem like a lot of money, but the analysis by The Tauri Group of Alexandria, Va., found there are about another 7,500 wealthy people waiting in the wings. “Our analysis indicates that about 8,000 high-net-worth individuals from across the globe are sufficiently interested and have spending patterns likely to result in the purchase of a suborbital flight – one-third from the United States,” the report said.
The known demand for suborbital flights “appears sufficient to support multiple providers,” the report said. The demand also appears to support daily, multiple flights. Besides tourism, there is demand for suborbital launches in the areas of research, education, satellite deployment and media and public relations activities, the report said. “In a constrained scenario, where consumer and enterprise spending drop relative to today’s trends, multiple weekly flights generate about $300 million over 10 years,” the report said.
Pat Hynes, director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium at New Mexico State University, said the study will be one of the topics reviewed at the Community Partnership Luncheon preceding next month’s International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight.
The Community Partnership Luncheon will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road. Cost is $65, which includes lunch, a guest speaker and opportunities to visit the ISPCS exhibits.
For more information or to register visit www.ispcs.com, or call (575) 646-6414.
