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Private spaceflight

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File:This space for sale.jpg
This space for sale

During the early years of spaceflight only nation states had the resources to develop and fly spacecraft. Both the U.S. space program and Soviet space program were operated using mainly military pilots as astronauts. During this period, no commercial space launches were available to private operators, and no private organization was able to offer space launches.

Space transportation

The first phase of private space operation was the launch of the first commercial communications satellites. The U.S. Communications Satellite Act of 1962 opened the way to commercial consortia owning and operating their own satellites, although these were still launched on state-owned launch vehicles.

On October 30, 1984, United States President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Commercial Space Launch Act [1]. This enabled an industry of private operators of expendable launch systems. Prior to the signing of this law, all commercial satellite launches in the United States were limited to the Space Shuttle, operated by NASA.

In 1994, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian government sold part of their stake in RSC Energia to private investors. Energia together with Khrunichev constituted most of the Russian manned space program. Their Proton rocket is marketed through International Launch Services while the Soyuz rocket is marketed via Starsem. In 1997, the Russian government sold off enough of their share to lose their majority position. Energia builds the Soyuz rocket and owns part of the Sea Launch project which flies the Ukrainian Zenit rocket.

In 1996 the United States government selected Lockheed Martin and Boeing to each develop Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles to compete for launch contracts and provide assured access to space. The government's acquisition strategy relied on the strong commercial viability of both vehicles to lower unit costs. Since this market demand did not materialze for the EELV, Boeing pulled the Delta IV from commercial service in 2003. In 2005, continued weak commercial demand for EELV launches drove Lockheed Martin and Boeing to propose a joint venture called the United Launch Alliance to monopolize the government launch market[2].

As of 2004, a number of private organizations are able to launch satellites commercially. The emergence of this sector has led to a commercial market for the services of state space organizations around the world.

File:Taurus 3210 launching ROCSAT 2.jpg
Taurus 3210 launching ROCSAT 2 on May 20, 2004.

Commercial space launch organizations:

Government space organizations offering commercial services:

Personal spaceflight

File:SpaceShipOne ground.jpg
SpaceShipOne has a 5-metre wingspan and a 3-person cabin.

Until 2004, no privately operated manned spaceflight had ever occurred. The only private individuals to journey to space went as space tourists on vehicles operated by the Russian Federation.

The Ansari X Prize is intended to stimulate private investment in the development of spaceflight technologies. The June 21, 2004 test flight of SpaceShipOne, a contender for the X Prize, was the first manned spaceflight in a privately developed and operated vehicle.

Following the success of SpaceShipOne, Richard Branson, owner of Virgin and Burt Rutan, SpaceShipOne's designer, announced on 27 September 2004 that Virgin Galactic had licensed the craft's technology, and were planning commercial space flights in 2.5 to 3 years. A fleet of five craft is to be constructed, and flights will be offered at around $190,000 each, although Branson has said he plans to use this money to make flights more affordable in the long term.

A small number of other privately held companies are also actively engaged in research and development of manned space vehicles. A summary of all such companies is as follows:

Non-profit missions

Although one typically refers to commercial endeavours with the term private spaceflight, it also refers to non-profit endeavours:

Failed ventures

In the 1990s the projection of a significant demand for communications satellite launches attracted the development of a number of commercial space launch providers. The launch demand largely vanished when some of the largest satellite constellations, such as 288 satellite Teledesic network, were never built.

Lockheed Martin VentureStar

In 1996 NASA selected Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to build the X-33 VentureStar prototype for a single stage to orbit (SSTO) reusable launch vehicle. In 1999, the subscale X-33 prototype's composite liquid hydrogen fuel tank failed during testing. At project termination on March 31, 2001, NASA had funded $912 million of this wedge shaped spacecraft while Lockheed Martin financed $357 million of it[3]. The VentureStar was to have been a full-scale commercial space transport operated by Lockheed Martin.

In 1997 Beal Aerospace proposed the BA-2, a low-cost heavy-lift commercial launch vehicle. In March 4, 2000, the BA-2 project tested the largest liquid rocket engine built since the Saturn V [4]. In October 2000, Beal Aerospace ceased operations citing a decision by NASA and the Department of Defense to commit themselves to the development of the competing government-financed EELV program.

In 1998 Rotary Rocket proposed the Roton, a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) piloted Verticle Take-off and Landing (VTOL) space transport [5]. A full scale Roton Atmospheric Test Vehicle flew three times in 1999. After spending tens of millions of dollars in development the Roton failed to secure launch contracts and Rotary Rocket ceased operations in 2001.

Future plans

Many have speculated on where private spaceflight may go in the near future. One possibility is for paid suborbital tourism on craft like SpaceShipOne. Additionally, suborbital spacecraft have applications for faster intercontinental package delivery and passenger flight.

SpaceX's Falcon 5 rocket, scheduled to be first launched in late 2006, is designed to be man-rated. This would be the first American orbital vehicle since the Space Shuttle to receive this designation, conceivably allowing the craft to transport paying customers to orbit. The first flight of the Falcon 5 is planned to carry a prototype inflatable module constructed by Bigelow Aerospace. Bigelow Aerospace expects such modules to be used for activities like microgravity research, space manufacturing, and space tourism (with modules serving as orbital hotels).

Others have speculated on the possibilities of mining asteroids to extract metals for profit. According to some estimates, a one kilometer-diameter asteroid would contain 30 million tons of nickel, 1.5 million tons of metal cobalt and 7,500 tons of platinum; the platinum alone would have a value of more than $150 billion at current prices. [6] While the potential rewards from asteroid mining are indeed huge, the technical challenges are equally large and it seems likely that the private sector will wait for the publicly funded space programme to solve them (e.g. by establishing experimental mines on the Moon).

Future energy development may use energy sources in space and on other planets. Helium-3 on the Moon is one example.

References

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