Human beings have yearned to explore space for as long as they have gazed up at the sky. Getting trained astronauts and cosmonauts into space in a sustainable and scalable manner has proven to be a difficult challenge for more than five decades. Making commercial space tourism possible for the masses will also be challenging — but this dream has edged closer to reality in recent years.
As part of the global space tourism market, companies already are offering everything from astronaut boot camps to zero-gravity flights. As public interest in space travel grows, aerospace companies SpaceX, headquartered in California and led by Tesla’s Elon Musk, and Blue Origin, headquartered in Washington and owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, are making a significant impact. When it comes to commercial spaceflight, both companies regularly send small teams of astronauts and civilians into space.
Without question, aside from overcoming the technical challenges, there are other critical issues to address, such as the safety and security of travelers and how space travel fits into the mix of global environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) standards and policies. Other considerations include the impact of space waste on travel, how the commercial space sector should be regulated, the physical effects of space travel on the human body, and the psychological toll of being a world away from the familiar. As these issues continue to be investigated, there are those who dream about one day signing up to go to space and being among the first-ever to travel beyond Earth’s orbit.
“The holy grail of air and space transport is mainstream point-to-point travel with the idea that you could launch on one side of the world and get somewhere else on the other side of the globe within a few hours or travel to a destination in space in less than a day’s time,” says Richard Pruss, regional practice manager at Burns & McDonnell who specializes in the space market. “Both will one day be possible, and we are at an interesting inflection point as far as desire, commitment and capabilities.”
The Space Foundation reports private companies funded approximately 90% of all spacecraft launches in 2022. This includes the first completely private launch to the International Space Station (ISS) by SpaceX and Houston-based Axiom Space in April 2022, a critical first step toward Axiom’s goal of developing the world’s first commercial space station.
Perhaps one of the most recent revolutionary moves in space travel is the development of reusable spacecraft that sometimes feature vertical landing capabilities. SpaceX has the Falcon 9 with eyes on the creation of the Starship, a reusable vehicle that is projected to travel as far as Mars and have the capability to be refueled in orbit. Blue Origin has the New Shepard and New Glenn, which can be reused up to 25 times. Virgin Galactic, based in the United Kingdom and founded by Richard Branson, has its own reusable vehicle that is launched from the underside of a “mothership” and lands like an airplane.
These crafts’ reusable features could allow the companies to launch more spacecraft into orbit more frequently and at a lower cost. If these rockets were mass-produced and widely used, space travel could, with time, become like air travel with people traveling regularly into space.
Engineering and construction firms are playing a critical role in building the facilities needed to make sure space travel progresses. While space travel is expensive now, the goal is to get costs down. In the meantime, plans are underway to make the most of where we are today — continuing to take astronauts and civilians to the ISS and the Kármán line, which is 62 miles above Earth’s surface and considered the edge of Earth’s atmosphere.
Some entities are examining the potential for developing plush resorts and training camps at which travelers can stay in the days prior to taking flight. At these “space resorts,” travelers would learn how to handle the effects of flight, both physically and mentally, and be trained in safety best practices. As space travel picks up, space-related accommodations will improve both on the ground and in space. Take, for example, Orbital Assembly Corp., a manufacturing company whose goal is to help humanity “work, play and thrive in space” by creating the first space station with gravity.
“While the ultimate goal of the massive investment in space development is point-to-point travel, the midterm goal is to get the price point down significantly so that more citizens can enjoy this mode of transportation,” says Josh Foerschler, project development lead for aerospace and defense markets at Burns & McDonnell. “For that to happen, the space industry would have to increase vehicle production rates while making a paramount commitment to safety. Additionally, studies, governmental regulations and funding will be needed to grow and support a viable space economy.”
According to the Space Foundation’s 2022 Q2 Space Report, the space economy grew at its fastest rate in years, reaching a record $469 billion in 2021. Of that, $224 billion was from space firms’ products and services. Infrastructure supporting commercial space enterprises totaled another $138 billion. This includes the facilities needed to house the research, tech and manufacturing companies that are advancing our ability to travel to and explore space.
Innovations in this sector over the past several decades have led to advancements in medicine, agriculture, safety and manufacturing, including satellite navigation, water filtration, additive food production and imaging technology. The next generation of space innovation and research could involve the mass production of hardware, spacesuits and other equipment needed for handling space waste, mining asteroids and managing other space activities. Also envisioned are capabilities to create rocket fuel on the moon and growing large quantities of fresh produce in space.