Re: Moon Tourism business plan (was Re: WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 16 Mar 07 Washington, DC)

In sci.physics, mmeron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mmeron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:16:38 GMT
<GMANh.3$25.111@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
In article <rfvid4-r7i.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, The Ghost In The Machine <ewill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
In sci.physics, mmeron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mmeron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Sun, 25 Mar 2007 18:52:44 GMT
<0yzNh.1$25.147@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
In article <eu5mt5$8ss_002@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, jmfbahciv@xxxxxxx writes:
In article <aq3gd4-b8s.ln1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
The Ghost In The Machine <ewill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In sci.physics, jmfbahciv@xxxxxxx
<jmfbahciv@xxxxxxx>
wrote
on Sat, 24 Mar 07 11:20:20 GMT
<eu31hk$8qk_001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
In article <9a4Nh.39$25.143@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
mmeron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
<snip>

And since there doesn't appear to be, in the public eye, a compelling
reason to get there.

In truth, I'm not sure what could serve as a mission, comparable to
"getting to the moon", right now.

Tourism.

I'm not sure that counts as a mission

The discussion was not about a mission but a goal.

Actually, it ***is*** about mission. In an exploratory stage, it is a
mision that focuses people's minds and energies.

though it might be
an interesting business to develop -- the main problem
at this point is that, if it costs $20M to travel to the
space station, how much would it cost to get to the moon?

I would suspect a similar price.

No way.

The calculations in my previous post suggest space
tourism to be extremely expensive with current rocketry,
and vaguely possible if rockets have 10 times the exhaust
velocity.

Yes, I've your numbers and, while I didn't check all the details, they
appear reasonable. The problem is, where will the increase in exhaust
velocity come from. It has to be understood that there are no further
significant gains to be milked out of chemical rockets, we're already
close to theoretical maximum there. Ion motors offer higher exhaust
velocity but a huge amount of energy is needed for signicant delta_v.

True, and that's where the problems start. Regardless of v_e, if one
doesn't have sufficient raw *thrust*, one cannot leave this planet.
A flashlight, after all, can't lift itself. :-)



I'd suspect something in the $40M-$50M range, per tourist,
using conventional technology. Not all that many tourists,
I suspect, will get up there.

There doesn't have to be many.

Yes, there has to be. You're not running realistic cost estimates.

Depends on a fair number of factors. The main issue for
a business -- which is what tourism is -- is maximizing
profits (ethically, of course; "sex tours" for example
are not unknown in Asia and are a worrisome issue there;
in a moon shot the main issues might be safety-related).
Setting expectations may be part of that process; if
one expects the cost to be somewhat less than $20,000,
one can plan accordingly.

Of course. Unfortunately, in the case at hand, the cost now and for a
foreseable future is much higher.

One has to be careful of course; "charge what the market
will bear" does not mean "charge as high as you can
possibly charge". Revenue, after all, is price times unit
count; if the unit count is zero, then it doesn't matter
whether one is charging $10 or $10 million, there will be
no revenue.

Yep. Now, there are some people who may be willing to pay a very high
price but you cannot base a profitable operation on these. A
sufficient market base is needed.

Contrariwise, charging too low will eat into profits,
or get into a situation where one loses only a little bit
per sale, but makes up for it with volume.

Either way, one will eventually go bankrupt.

That's for sure:-)

Mati Meron | "When you argue with a fool,
meron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | chances are he is doing just the same"


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