Xprize won.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/04/spaceshipone.attempt.cnn/index.html

Anyone have any guesses what this will do for spaceflight?

I wish I could be optimistic enough to think that we will now explode across the solar system, but more likely this will just let rich people go into space, and eventually the business will prove unprofitable in a commercial sense, and shut down.

 

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Right now it is about 250,00.00 US to get into sub orbit with this new type of travel but in about 10 years it could become very cheap as did flying when it was first invented. Only time will tell but I think it won't be as commercially accepted as you do.

 

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Well, I did say "i think it will prove unprofitable" which is exactly the same as saying "commercially accepted". If you read the article, a company has been founded, and the rights to the space craft have been bought, or lease.

 

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Space Travel will explode into the solar system. It was only a matter of time before the technology was there to enable a private company to create a vehicale capable of space flight.

Yeah, its expensive as hell right now. But I know of several pieces of equipment in my uncle's basment that were between $10-25K... now you can buy the equivalent at radio shack.
Another example? Computers. The first computer consisted of over 20K vacuum tubes and did about the same thing as the windows calculator. Now we have 4 gig 64 bit processor that would seem utterly impossible at that time. Next stop? Quantum computer: an 80 qubit computer is something like 3 million times more powerfull than the fastest 64bit proc today.

The point is this: Technology increases exponentially. It grows upon itself. Therefore, what you think we will have in 20 years will probably happen in the next 10.

Space flight will be a huge buisness in my lifetime, I guarantee it.

Late
T

 

please put your tray tables in their up-right and locked positions, we're cleared for takeoff...

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Tristan, that's quite right. However, companies should also be careful with how fast they will expand. Optic cable companies, for example, expanded too fast here in BC. As a result, we have lots of cables accross country that are not being used. Most companies died out and had pretty big debts. Well... at least we have lots of cable now...

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In the beginning of the century, just to buil a spacecraft would cost about $20 billion. A ticket was costing about $200 million. In less then a decade, the cost of building a spaceship dropped to $20 million. Soon a ticket will cost around $20,000. We just need the right ingredients. Basically, technology and demand. Then the industry can expand.

There are only two things still needed for a succesfull space industry:

1. a natural rate of expansion
2. competition

Here's a partial informal economic report on the issue....



Oh, and btw.... don't you think that private companies would be willing to invest in the industry? How much cheaper it would be to put a satellite into orbit with the private technologies!?

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