Is suborbital a real market?

The Ansari X prize was great but then we see all these guys who say
they will make money sending people into 5 minutes of weightlessness.
Do you buy this? It seems awfully sketchy to me. I hope they are
right.
You might say that this is a step towards an orbital market but all
you have to do is to compare E=mgh to E=1/2 mv^2 where v is orbital
velocity to see that suborbital isnt a real step toward orbital. For
orbital, you gotta carry a whole lotta fuel and I dont see Virgin or
Blue Origin or the others trying to do so.
.

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