>In article <1993Jan28.135651.18692@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes:
>>The ticket will cost (round trip) $100,000 to $200,000 (assuming you pack
>>them in like sardiens for a very uncomfortable trip). That's roughly a
>>years pay for a typical corporate senior executive.
>>
>>This is not a very big market.
>>
>A few weeks ago, on "Beyond 2000", they had a clip about the SSTO/DCX.
>They claimed that a round trip would cost approximately the same as a
>current round-the-world trip would cost (2000-3000 US$).
I saw that too. This is a good example of how useful it is to be able to tell
what a statisic really means, not just what it sounds like it means. A few
thousand dollars would be the cost of moving your mass. If you're willing to
be stacked in like logs with 130 other people then they could charge you that
price. If you wish to travel with some semblance of dignity however, it's not
your mass but the volume of you and your personal space that will be the
dominant factor in passenger load.
Personally, I think that if you can show that intercontinental travel might be
reasonable then you can take it as a fait accompli that orbital tourism would
be a bigger and more successful market. People will pay much more to boldly go
where no tourist has gone before and they'll accept more discomfort to do it.
--
Josh Hopkins jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Q: How do you tell a novice from an expert.
A: A novice hesitates before doing something stupid.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1993 02:46:45 GMT
From: Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com>
Subject: Reason for SSTO/DCX and Market
Newsgroups: sci.space
In article <ewright.728288766@convex.convex.com> ewright@convex.com (Edward V. Wright) writes:
: On the other hand, suppose your son needs a critical operation,
: and the only doctor who can perform it is on the other side of
: the world. Would you pay an extra $27,000 then?
Now THAT'S what I call skyrocketing medical bills...
Larry Wall
lwall@netlabs.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 15:51:21 EST
From: aa429@freenet.carleton.ca (Terry Ford)
Subject: Riding Comets
What is the possibility of creating a craft that could land on either a near
earth asteroid, or a comet, and hitch a ride? From what I have heard, comets
and the likes travel at impressive speeds, which would be a great way to conserve energy on a deep space mission. Landing on a comet that is passing through the solar
sytem, on its way into deep space would be a great way to get out, without
having to use all the energy for propulsion. Another idea would be
to place a spacecraft on Halleys comet, or somethign else that flies by
the earth frequently. That way, on its voyage out, it could take many many
observations, without warrying about propulsion, OR sending data back to earth.
Once the comet comes close to the earth, optical communications could take
place, and all data collected could be transmitted to earth, AND any power
the probe/spacecraft had lost could be transmitted to the probe.
..getting to the comet/asteroid is another problem..
