The commercial space race heats up

by Grant Martin on


Remember Virgin Galactic? It’s Richard Branson’s pet project to create the first ever commercial service to fly passengers into a lower orbit, tool around in zero gravity for a little while and float back to the surface. They teamed up with Scaled Composites, the group who built the spacecraft that won the Ansari X prize, to create SpaceShipTwo, which by 2009 should soon be able to carry six passengers and two pilots out into space. One ticket to 68 miles above sea level? $200,000.

It looks like they’ve also got some competition. Xcor, a California based aerospace company, revealed plans for a new sub-orbital aircraft earlier today dubbed the Lynx. It’s significantly smaller than SpaceShipTwo and only able to accommodate one passenger plus one pilot, but it’s a form factor that Xcor thinks will be better suitable to the market. Perhaps the fact that it takes off solo from an airstrip (opposed to the dual aircraft design of SpaceShipTwo) and only goes about half the altitude of its competitor will make it a less expensive flight.

It should be two years before the Lynx is off the ground, and Xcor has still to find a commercial partner to market and operate the flights. But with a little bit of extra competition in the market, maybe the galactic experience will soon be affordable to your average millionaire instead of your average billionaire.

Mutant Germs a Real Killer for Space Tourism

by Catherine Bodry on

Okay, so mutant germs and space tourism don’t really have too much in common. But you should still get ready for some real-life science fiction that has to do with space travel: when scientists sent salmonella up on a space shuttle, they found that it killed mice more quickly than it did on earth. And when the salmonella got back on terra firma, researchers discovered that 167 genes had changed in the space-traveling salmonella. And it took about one-third of the new, mutant salmonella to kill half the mice as regular salmonella.

The Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University doesn’t want you to panic, and is taking a positive spin on the whole gene-mutation situation. “Learning more about changes in germs has the potential to lead to novel new countermeasures for infectious disease,” gushes associate professor Cheryl Nickerson. And novel new measures for biological warfare, if you ask me. And has anyone here seen Outbreak? And what’s happening to the genes inside the astronauts? Anyone remember Pod People? Genes are mutating, people!

The Associated Press’ article has a lot of intriguing information, so if you’re curious about the science of it all, head there. As for me, I like the drama of the fear factor.

First Russian Space Tourist to be Launched in 2009

by Catherine Bodry on

Plans are already coming along for the world’s first space hotel, and now Russia is planning to send up its first space tourist, in 2009. Five other tourists have already paid (a cool $25 million!) for this honor, but four were from the U.S. and the other from South Africa.

The mystery man (described only as a serious, respectable, and young businessman and politician), is negotiating his ticket through Space Adventures, the company that brokers deals between potential space tourists and the Russian space agency.

The lucky tourist will be delivered to the International Space Station, but there are no reports of scheduled activities beyond that.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of November 26

by Adrienne Wilson on

Am I the only one who can’t believe it is December 1st? Where did November go? Where did the year go? How time flashes! If the end of the week managed to sneak up on you as fast as it got me you might want to review some of these posts found here over the week.

5. ABBA Museum to Debut in 2008:
Come on! You can’t tell me you’re not excited by the news. Get your dancing feet to this one to find out the details on the new Sweden based museum.

4. Maps of the World:
Erik brings our attention to the poor quality of maps too often found in guidebooks and then provides some good resources to finding good maps to take on your trip. AAA and another site new to me called, Just Maps are the only two that he mentions, but it’s a good starting place if you’re completely lost.

3.Magnifique Martinique:
Considering how popular the islands become once winter storms start pounding less tropical lands I thought this piece on the French Caribbean island of Martinique needed extra mentioning. It’s high on my travel agenda for that particular region of the world.

2. Garlic Card:
As a child I was never a fan of garlic, but this is mostly due to my aunt draping it in my window to protect me from vampires. I kid you not. However, some people can’t go a day with seasoning their food with a pinch of garlic. Neil brings us information on a Garlic card that can be used to help bring extra flavor and taste to your meals while camping in the great outdoors. I’m sure it will protect you from vampires in the woods as well, if you buy into that stuff.

1. Space Tourism Details Start to Fill In:
Everyone ready to go to space? More and more details are starting to come in on Space Tourism and it even looks somewhat affordable. If you think about $200,000 is a lot more affordable than $20 million bucks.

Space Tourism Details Start to Fill In

by Iva Skoch on

Not to steal too much thunder from Erik (who’s been blogging about this for some time), but it looks like the details of space tourism are getting clearer.

Virgin Galactic has already collected $200,000 from its first 100 customers, called “founders,” for their 150-minute flights on SpaceShipOne. More spots are still open for the next elite group of 400, called “pioneers” ($150,000 down payment). Booking is now also occurring for a third group, called “voyagers” ($20,000 down payment). They hope to put up 500 adventurous folks in the first year of operation: 2009.

Competitor Space Adventures is already off and running, haven taken the first three space tourists to the Space Station … for a $20 million “base price” apiece.

Finally, Benson Space Company will take you up on their Dream Chaser — once they complete it — for between $200,000 and $300,000, hopefully sometime in 2009. Get your $25,000 deposit ready.