Is it possible for civilians to travel in space?

Space tourism is based on people's ideal of traveling in space. Space travel provides an unprecedented experience. The latest and most exciting thing is that you can enjoy beautiful scenery in space and feel the wonder of weightlessness at the same time. The second space tourist, mark shuttleworth Space Journey Project, started on April 30th, 20001year. The first space tourist is American businessman dennis tito, the second is South African millionaire mark shuttleworth, and the third is American gregory olsen. Experts said that in the future, space tourism will present four major trends: popularization, diversification of projects, competition among many companies, and increasingly perfect safety regulations.

However, it should be pointed out that astronauts should learn to operate the spacecraft, while tourists only need to obey the astronauts' orders and not create trouble for astronauts as "tour guides", so there is no need for strict and systematic training. Although the technical requirements for space tourists are not high, one condition is necessary, and that is healthy body.

Broadly speaking, people often say that there are at least three ways of space tourism: high-altitude flight close to space, suborbital flight and orbital flight.

1 10,000 dollars to experience high-altitude flight.

Flying into space at close range is not a real space tourism, but it can make visitors feel at a very high altitude. When tourists fly to the sky 18 km above the ground, they can see the terrain curve of the earth under their feet and the dark sky overhead, and experience endless emptiness. Planes planning this tour include Russian MiG -25 and MiG -3 1 high-performance fighters. These planes can fly above 24 kilometers, and the ticket price for traveling by them is about $65,438+0,000.

The spacecraft is flying in suborbital orbit.

654.38 million dollars to experience suborbital flight

Suborbital flight will produce a state of weightlessness for several minutes. American private manned spacecraft "Spaceship 1" and Russian planned tourist spacecraft "C-XXI" are typical examples of this kind of flight. They can produce weightlessness for several minutes during the flameout and reentry of rocket engines. The price of this kind of flight is about $6,543,800 per person.

20 million dollars to experience orbital flight

Real Space Tourism-Orbital Flight

American Olson experienced real space tourism-orbital flight. At present, the tool to realize orbital tourism is mainly the International Space Station, and the "buses" for tourists to reach the space station are mainly the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and the American space shuttle. After the American space shuttle Columbia crashed, most space tourism agencies turned their attention to the Soyuz series spacecraft. Each ticket to travel with them is about $20 million.

Besides the three relatively formed forms of "space travel" mentioned above, are there any new projects that can enrich space travel? Imagine a resort hotel suspended for 400 kilometers on the ground.

The Russian space department, together with the government and enterprises, plans to design a miniature "space hotel". Some American engineers have also suggested that a cabin that flies around the earth for a long time can be built with light inflatable materials, and its "room fee" will be slightly cheaper than traveling to the space station.

Some American and Russian experts are still exploring the use of nanomaterials to make "space elevators". One end of the "elevator" sling is fixed on the platform on land or sea, and the other end tightly supports the spacecraft flying synchronously with the earth, about 36 thousand kilometers from the ground. The ultimate goal of this study is to lift people and goods tens of thousands of kilometers in the solar elevator, and the transportation cost per kilogram load is estimated to be only 10 USD. If the idea of "space elevator" can be realized, space tourism and space passenger and cargo transportation will usher in new development opportunities.

In order to maintain its superiority in the field of space tourism, American space exploration company also announced the "Moon Tourism" plan. According to this plan, tourists will first go to the International Space Station, stay in the station for 1 week, and then take the Soyuz spacecraft to the moon to enjoy the "moon view" at a close distance from the orbit of 160 km from the moon.

Schematic diagram of space elevator

Developing space tourism is not only to let ordinary people experience space life, but also of great significance. For example, we can use the proceeds from space tourism to continue to develop the space industry, ensure that the expensive sources of funds are not limited to government grants, and accelerate the development of human space technology. It can also make ordinary people, especially individuals with strong economic strength, more aware of the importance and superiority of the space industry and make them participate in it to the best of their limited ability. Because space travel is aimed at civilians, it is more in line with the requirements of human beings entering the universe in the future. In space travel, experts can use this opportunity to study the difficulties and troubles encountered by human beings when they immigrate into space. Therefore, space travel is not only the luxury consumption of a few people, but also of great and far-reaching significance to the space cause of mankind.

Although operators and consumers have high expectations for the future of space tourism, there are still several obstacles to making space the next tourist destination for people.

At present, the orbital flight cost of $20 million makes space tourism a "rich club". Therefore, reducing the cost is the key to expand the space tourism market; The safety risk of space flight cannot be ignored. In view of the high risk of space tourism, the FAA issued the first regulation on space tourism business, and temporarily did not force space tourism companies to ensure the personal safety of passengers, because space tourism is still in its infancy. In the process of space tourism, tourists' bodies must be able to withstand the huge noise, vibration and overload when the rocket takes off, and at the same time, they must be able to withstand strong radiation and long-term weightlessness. Improving the comfort of vehicles is also an important factor in developing space tourism.

Relevant personnel of Atlanta Aerospace Engineering Company pointed out that if the space tourism market wants to reach a certain scale, the price must be reduced to $500,000 to $654,380,000 each time before it can be accepted by the public. Reusable spacecraft has opened up an economical and feasible way to transport more civilian tourists into space.

Schematic diagram of space hotel

The first reusable "rocket plane" specially developed for space tourism has been successfully developed by XCOR, a space tourism company in California, and successfully tested. The American Aerospace Industry Prospect Research Committee also suggested to develop a low-cost commercial space tourist spacecraft-space bus, which can take about 20 people at a time. The envisaged space bus belongs to a two-way orbital transport plane, which can transport tourists back and forth between the International Space Station and the ground. The Russian Space Agency, which also has extraordinary space capabilities, announced that it will use the C-2 1 spacecraft to carry out paid manned flight activities, and the travel cost per person is only $654.38 million.

Although there are still many problems in realizing space tourism, people still believe that with the development of space technology, the "popularization" of space tourism will become a reality in the near future.

With the progress of science and technology, space tourism will be closer and closer to us. In the near future, the launch capability of the rocket will be gradually enhanced, and the launch comfort will be greatly improved. With the improvement of carrying capacity, large-scale space travel will be realized.