Re: Space Exploitation

From: *** Morris (richard.a.morris_at_boeing.com)
Date: 06/01/04 

Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 19:04:16 GMT

Terry Goodrich wrote:
>
> Hello All,
>
> I was just noodling an idea and realized that I really didn't know very much
> about it, so I decided to throw it out to the group and see what would
> become of it. So here it goes.
>
> I think most will agree that getting the price per pound to orbit down to
> something reasonable is the most important thing thats got to happen before
> spaceflight can become common place (i.e., I want to take a vacation in
> space and I'm not and probably won't ever be a multi millionare). This is
> not going to happen until a space resource can be exploited and there is
> money to be made.
>
> My question is, what resources are there that will support space industry
> and development? I know there is the telecommunication industry but it
> seems that it would be rather limited. I've heard of experiements in
> material science and pharmacutical developement on board ISS and the
> shuttle, but nothing has been developed that would come even close to paying
> for the development cost. We all have heard of placing solar power stations
> and such in orbit, but if electric power grows in price to justify the cost
> of that, we've got a whole lot bigger problem the power. Tourism and
> advertising pop up as two means of making money, at least for the Russians,
> although I suspect that it will never pay for the whole thing.
>
It's possible that materials processing experiments on ISS (if they are
allowed to continue) may lead to products that are valuable enough to
justify the transportation costs, but the high cost of existing launch
vehicles will mean a very small market, in terms of mass-to-orbit. The
transportation requirements are likely to be small even in comparison to
the market for launching comsats. The only market I can see that is
potentially big enough to get LEO transportation costs down to where the
average person can afford a trip to orbit is the LEO tourism market
itself.
 
> Where should we be investing our money?
>
> Small automated laboritories to grow silicon crystals that could be
> launched from a regular booster?
> The same with pharmacuticals?

At current prices, it would probably have to be something that can
*only* be made in space (and that people will pay a lot of money for,
like a cure for cancer).

> Could titanium be mined from the moon for cheaper than produced from earth?

Yes, if you're going to use it on the Moon.

> Is a resort hotel in orbit a possibility?
>
Yes.
 
> Just looking for ideas;)
>
> Terry