On Jul 21, 7:33*am, BradGuth wrote:
On Jul 20, 9:17*pm, giveitawhirl2008
wrote:
On Jul 20, 10:40*pm, BradGuth wrote:
On Jul 20, 5:10*pm, giveitawhirl2008
wrote:
Let them check out:
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.space.policy/topics
Is that $2 BILLION per ticket some kind of a cheap group rate?
(possibly one-way?)
*~ Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth BG / “Guth Usenet”
Hopefully not one way! Not intentionally! But that's $2 Billion PER
SEAT! Some people could coff that up! And I do not find it absurd that
some of those WOULD!
I agree, although each two-way ticket might have to run at least $10B.
*~ BG- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Well, you might be right because even at $10 Billion the seat may not
be paying for itself, fully. Maybe it would actually have to cost $20
Billion to pay for itself. I was originally thinking $2 Billion
because, high as that is, it sounds like something a few could afford
and might even be willing to fork over for the chance to go to MARS.
But I was also thinking, maybe I should be multiplying these prices by
a factor of TEN if customers are REALLY going to "carry their weight"
as to the cost of the total flight.
I've even been thinking (casually, with some but not a full amount of
research): With the true cost of a Soyuz launch possibly as low as
$150 Million - and upping this to $200 Million to cover contingencies
and allow a moderate profit margin - that: The Russians could fly
EXTRA Soyuz missions that are not part of their normal space program,
which would NOT need to go to the ISS but just orbit the Earth one to
several times and return. With ONE professional cosomonaut and TWO
PAYING passengers, this could be at $100 million per seat.
One consideration: would the Russians have to build extra hardware or
could they just use existing hardware? If they need to build EXTRA
stuff, this might up the price unreasonably. But at $100 Million for a
trip to orbit, I think your James Cameron types might fo for it. It's
either: pay only $20 Million to go the ISS but get in a line that's
already out the door, and therefore you may never go, OR, get in the
SHORT LINE - the $100 Million Line! THEN you actually get to GO...and
fairly soon!
Now, while the Russians have been proposing a $100 Million trip to
swing aroung the Moon but not land, I'm thinking, multiply that by TEN
and you might be able to land customers on the SURFACE!?
If it costs $1 Billion to SERIOUSLY be able take a walking/driving
tour of parts of the lunar surface, there might yet be SOME who would
pay it. But, if so, then do we need to multiply THAT by ten to be
talking about covering your own costs to climb Olympus Mons (say) on
MARS!?
At $10 Billion, we might find no Mars tourists ready to go. But these
ten-times-what-I-was-thinking/hoping-for proposals are hunches about
what it would cost to FULLY PAY ONE'S SHARE of the flight. But even
the Russians do not charge their space tourists the true cost of their
part of the trip, I do not think. SO.....
Think of how much extra excitement NASA could generate by selling
seats to the Moon and Mars at prices SOME COULD ACTUALLY AFFORD!! Say,
$100 Million to walk on the Moon and a $Billion or maybe $2 Billion to
walk on Mars!
At these prices, the tourist seat may not pay much if its own way. But
between the notable reduction in cost to the taspayer (by hundreds of
millions or billions of dollars!) and the THRILL that the public can
share in about the fact that some can actually BUY A TRIP TO THE MOON
OR MARS....
This could be a fantastic, win-win proposition!
-------------------------
Now, these Moon/Mars tourism proposals are separate from the idea of
the Million Mile Per Hour Spacecraft and exploration of the Outer
Solar System. One approach with the 1 Million MPH spacecraft and the
human exploration of Titan, etc., is to get the public to think about
how thrilled it is, sharing in spirit, the Apollo astronauts' journeys
to and on the lunar surface. If the many people who love that memory
could also be interested in sharing that kind of thrill again! This
time, not only of Lunar and Martian exploration, as planned, but:
exploration of the breath-taking worlds in our Outer Solar System!
The public can share this thrill with the astronauts who actually get
to do it. If the public would like this strongly enough, the public
can have this excitement!