What will the space tourism industry look like in the future?

In today's world, tourism is an important part of modern civilized society. It is also an important symbol of whether modern society is full of vitality and vitality. It is also one of the important means for many countries to earn foreign exchange and prosper the economy. . In 1980, the economic income from tourism alone reached 96 billion US dollars in various countries around the world. Therefore, all countries actively develop tourism resources based on their own characteristics, take all effective measures to attract tourists, and vigorously develop their own tourism industry. It is conceivable that with the emergence of various high-speed and cheap space vehicles, especially after the birth of space cities, space tourism will undoubtedly become an important part of space industrialization.

Space tourism has been the common wish of mankind for thousands of years. In 1961, former Soviet astronaut Gagarin finally turned this wish into reality, ushering in an epic new era of manned spaceflight. Since then, although more than 200 people have entered space in more than 27 years, space tourism is still monopolized by those strong and professional astronauts. There are certainly many reasons for this situation, but the high cost of space tourism is an important reason. Someone has calculated that in the 1960s, the original cost of launching each kilogram of payload into space using a launch vehicle improved by the "Thor" missile was as high as 200,000 US dollars. Let’s take the “Saturn-V” launch vehicle used for the “Apollo” moon landing flight as an example. It can send a 120-gauge payload into low-Earth orbit, or a 50-gauge "Apollo" spacecraft into lunar orbit. But don't forget that the cost of a "Saturn-V" is as high as 185 million US dollars. Even if you want to travel to the moon, if you use the "Saturn-V" launch vehicle, even if the weight of the 50-ton "Apollo" spacecraft is fully loaded with passengers, the launch cost will be as high as 3,700 US dollars per kilogram of weight. Even if a tourist weighs 60 kilograms, he will have to pay at least US$222,000 in launch fees. It can be seen from this that who can afford such an astonishing fee for this unique space travel?

When human history entered the 1980s, NASA created a great miracle in the history of manned spaceflight. This was the first space shuttle "Columbia" in 1981. Both trials and the third test flight in 1982 were a complete success. Because it can be reused hundreds of times, this greatly reduces launch costs and brings new hope for space travel to scientific personnel or ordinary tourists. Some aerospace experts believe that the success of the space shuttle trial marks a good start for ordinary people to travel to space. Although the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing all seven astronauts. But this tragedy has not stopped mankind from continuing to march into space. Space tourism will eventually become a living reality.

Space-Earth, a consulting company in California, USA, was commissioned by NASA to study and forecast the development prospects of space industrialization in the next few decades. Paul Siegler, an economist at the company, pointed out that space tourism will definitely develop into "an emerging industry" when talking about space industrialization.

American Scientific Applications Corporation is also another research unit keen on space industrialization. This company published a special report entitled "Research on Space Industrialization" on April 15, 1978. The report not only pointed out that space tourism is an important component of space industrialization, but also estimated that during the era of space industrialization from 1985 to 2010, the economic benefits of space tourism alone could reach as much as 1.5 billion US dollars. .

It should be pointed out that the key to developing space tourism is to develop more advanced and cheap space transportation systems and space cities. According to the assumptions of aerospace experts and those who strongly advocate space colonization, whether it is the development of a more advanced space transportation system or the construction of a space city that humans have longed for, it may become a reality at the beginning of this century. By then, the cosmic space that humans long for will no longer be the hereditary territory of professional astronauts, but will become a paradise that can be shared by all mankind. In other words, anyone with average health is eligible to travel to space. Of course, space tourists will include all kinds of people. Some are natural scientists who go to space to carry out scientific research and scientific experiments, some are writers, artists and journalists who go to space specifically to reflect life. There are also heads of governments from various countries who visit the space city, and some who go to the space city. Businessmen from various countries discussing trade business. Of course, ordinary tourists who long for space travel and want to share the joy of space travel can also get their wish, but they just have to queue up in order and wait patiently. Perhaps, geologists and explorers are the most promising to go to the moon, other planets in the solar system, and asteroids to engage in field investigation and exploration missions. Although the purposes of space tourists are different, Space City is a must-visit tourist attraction for them, which opens up extremely broad prospects for vigorously developing the tourism industry of Space City.

O'Neill, a professor at Princeton University in the United States and the most active advocate of space colonization, once predicted the development prospects of human society in the next hundred years and optimistically pointed out that by 2081, there will be 500 passengers traveling per second. kilometers of spacecraft.

In the solar system, especially in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, many space city clusters will appear, and “200 million people will travel between the earth and space every year.

"If his prediction can come true, wouldn't the resulting space tourism industry have an immeasurable impact on the future economic development and social prosperity of space!