From Space Station to Space Tourism: The Role of ISS in Public Access to Space

Abstract

Space stations have long been touted as the first step toward opening space for humanity. Visions of the future, such as in the 1968 movie ``2001: A Space Odyssey,'' have shown space stations functioning as space hotels. And yet there always seemed to be a missing step between this vision of the future and the current space programs. How do we make the transition from the current government-funded space facilities, such as the International Space Station (ISS), to the private space hotels of the future? There is a growing perception that the space tourism market could be large enough to drive the development of cheap access to space and private orbital facilities. Companies such as Space Adventures are already selling reservations for sub-orbital flights on vehicles under development. Large-scale space tourism could provide the market to support fleets of space vehicles offering cheap access to spate, which in turn would benefit all other space activities. It is difficult to predict the schedule, but significant numbers of tourists going to orbit should be expected within the time of ISS operations. The ISS can play several roles to encourage space tourism, both technical and programmatic. Biomedical research aims should be conducted within the context of future public access to space, similar to the current context of Mars exploration. Research aims include improving space habitability, the medical implications of flying a broader spectrum of humanity (age, physiology, medical conditions, etc.), and on-orbit health monitoring and health care systems. The ISS can be used to evaluate and certify equipment or operations for future space hotels. Companies that develop TSS components should be able to apply their expertise toward the development of private space facilities, without undue restrictions nor unfair advantage. new companies, beyond existing contractors, should be encouraged to develop equipment for use on-orbit, initially for ISS and later for space hotels. ISS operations could be developed into an initial market for companies seeking to provide space equipment and services to future hotels and other facilities. This win require new roles for the government, and will threaten the monopoly of certain government offices. Finally, the organizations that built ISS should not resist the next generation of space facilities. The builders of ISS have expressed the hope that ISS will eventually lead to the opening of space to humanity. When that time comes, they should accept that they have succeeded.