Space program co-ops and Astronaut Farmer

Spaceflight started out in the realm of the hobbyist. Then it entered the realm of the government. In 2004, SpaceShipOne proved by example that a person could have a space program. In 2007, Space Shot pointed the way for a person of Charles Farmer’s means to take a spaceflight with the launch of freespaceshot.com. Let’s review the space age from the personal perspective, then see where it’s headed.
Emergence to emergency

Science in the 19th century was not yet a scientific military industrial complex. Rocketry for human spaceflight started out as a club activity on the fringe. During the early years, the space hobbyist could do the following:
Further research and experimentation in rocketry
Join a rocketry club

Rockets had been used as weapons for hundreds of years, but in World War 2 rockets became fashionable. With the advent of nuclear weapons, rockets became important strategic weapons. Human spaceflight was not yet big business.

When Sputnik circled the Earth, the United States populace awoke to the feasibility of artificial satellites and the fear of foreign domination of space. This fear fueled the Space Race culminating in a series of Lunar flights.
During these heady years, individuals could apply to be astronauts and the engineers to build the rockets. But spaceflight was beyond even the wealthiest individuals. No one could buy V-2 missiles at the scrap yard the way they could a DC-3. Rocketry was a national obsession and the government marshaled all national resources to force the pace of rocket development.

During these years, the space hobbyist could do the following:
Build a small rocket
Join a space advocacy group
Read or write science fiction
Join the national effort to explore and conquer space

The space hobbyists were largely nationalized to become the new cadre of military and civilian government space programs.

Even after the national emergency ended with the end of the Space Race, there was still little new that the individual could do even as the national effort to explore and conquer space wound down.

This is how Charles Farmer in The Astronaut Farmer got involved. He was going to be an astronaut for the government.
The personal space program and the startup space program

With the Ansari X Prize, Peter Diamandis gave Paul Allen the impetus to go out and build his own personal space program. For tens of millions of dollars, a person could achieve what the government did with its X-15 program that cost hundreds of millions of dollars nearly fifty years ago or about $1.5 billion in current dollars. This opened up the possibility of having a space program to Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. Others similarly situated, such as Bob Bigelow and Elon Musk, were making progress on their personal space programs.
With the award of hundreds of millions of dollars in government money to Musk’s SpaceX for his rocket and for Branson’s spaceport, the validation of the age of the personal space program is underway. It won’t be for lack of government support that these space programs fail, but it might be due to too much support; they may get co-opted and lose their personal flavor.

Even as rich people with tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to burn started hiring engineers by the score, the garage startup personal space program is gaining ground. XCOR Aerospace is making steady progress toward its first spacecraft.

These new opportunities became available to the space enthusiast:
Go to work for a company that expects to fly all of its employees into space
Earn sweat equity by working for a space startup
Invest in a company if you are a qualified investor (roughly $250,000/year family income or $1 million in assets)

This is where I joined. But even if there are two million families with $250,000/year income, that still leaves 98 percent of the United States without a way to invest without becoming an employee of a space firm.

Could an atypical farmer take a lifetime of effort and farm wages and spend them on an orbital rocket ride? It may be fiction today, but it is only a few years away from being fact. Forty years working full time earning about the average wage of $12.50 an hour earns $1 million. It is only a matter of time before private industry finds a way to provide an orbital flight for $1 million now that orbital flights for over $10 million on the Russian Soyuz are sold out. Kistler K-1 may be able to fly 4,500 kg to low Earth orbit, which is enough for a pair of two-person Gemini re-entry modules, for $17 million. That would be about $4.25 million per person in launch costs if a charter can be had for four people for $17 million. That might be half of the total costs because one still has to build the crew compartment; the launch vehicle is only part of the costs.

Call it next decade, December 31, 2019, when someone saving a lifetime’s earnings at the average wage will be enough to afford an orbital spaceflight. That amount of money will probably be up to $1.5 million by then, or $3 million if you are working two jobs like Charles Farmer did in the movie.
Cooperative space program

Now for the first time, anyone can be like Charles Farmer and invest a little time, and in return earn a small opportunity to get into orbit. You don’t need to dedicate your life or a big chunk of riches to directly seek space flight. Instead of spending millions of dollars of time to earn a spaceflight, spend a few minutes at a time and earn an opportunity to win a multi-million dollar spaceflight worth a few dollars.
FreeSpaceShot.com has a tournament to win an orbital spaceflight on the Kistler K-1 with billions of entries. Playing takes a couple of minutes and builds a few cents of advertising revenue toward a spaceflight. Less than one thousand people playing at night for forty years could together produce a winner of one seat at today’s $20 million Soyuz flight price tag (plus tax). We already have 2,000 players and rising and spaceflight prices are falling. I expect the players will not have to wait as long to see an orbital flight winner as the twenty years Barbara Morgan has been waiting for her government flight.

In a generation as spaceflight prices go down and income goes up, we might see an orbital flight raffled for a fund raiser the way that trips to Hawaii were raffled a generation ago: tens of thousand tickets at $100 each, with the bulk of the money going to the sponsoring organization.

Thus, we return to the club roots of space programs after a seventy-year long hiatus. This time, the prize is a trip to orbit or beyond. Strive to be an astronaut like Charles Farmer whenever you want.
by Sam Dinkin

Space program co-ops and Astronaut Farmer

by Sam Dinkin
Monday, March 5, 2007

Spaceflight started out in the realm of the hobbyist. Then it entered the realm of the government. In 2004, SpaceShipOne proved by example that a person could have a space program. In 2007, Space Shot pointed the way for a person of Charles Farmer’s means to take a spaceflight with the launch of freespaceshot.com. Let’s review the space age from the personal perspective, then see where it’s headed.
Emergence to emergency

Science in the 19th century was not yet a scientific military industrial complex. Rocketry for human spaceflight started out as a club activity on the fringe. During the early years, the space hobbyist could do the following:
Further research and experimentation in rocketry
Join a rocketry club

Rockets had been used as weapons for hundreds of years, but in World War 2 rockets became fashionable. With the advent of nuclear weapons, rockets became important strategic weapons. Human spaceflight was not yet big business.

When Sputnik circled the Earth, the United States populace awoke to the feasibility of artificial satellites and the fear of foreign domination of space. This fear fueled the Space Race culminating in a series of Lunar flights.
During these heady years, individuals could apply to be astronauts and the engineers to build the rockets. But spaceflight was beyond even the wealthiest individuals. No one could buy V-2 missiles at the scrap yard the way they could a DC-3. Rocketry was a national obsession and the government marshaled all national resources to force the pace of rocket development.

During these years, the space hobbyist could do the following:
Build a small rocket
Join a space advocacy group
Read or write science fiction
Join the national effort to explore and conquer space

The space hobbyists were largely nationalized to become the new cadre of military and civilian government space programs.

Even after the national emergency ended with the end of the Space Race, there was still little new that the individual could do even as the national effort to explore and conquer space wound down.

This is how Charles Farmer in The Astronaut Farmer got involved. He was going to be an astronaut for the government.
The personal space program and the startup space program

With the Ansari X Prize, Peter Diamandis gave Paul Allen the impetus to go out and build his own personal space program. For tens of millions of dollars, a person could achieve what the government did with its X-15 program that cost hundreds of millions of dollars nearly fifty years ago or about $1.5 billion in current dollars. This opened up the possibility of having a space program to Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. Others similarly situated, such as Bob Bigelow and Elon Musk, were making progress on their personal space programs.
With the award of hundreds of millions of dollars in government money to Musk’s SpaceX for his rocket and for Branson’s spaceport, the validation of the age of the personal space program is underway. It won’t be for lack of government support that these space programs fail, but it might be due to too much support; they may get co-opted and lose their personal flavor.

Even as rich people with tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to burn started hiring engineers by the score, the garage startup personal space program is gaining ground. XCOR Aerospace is making steady progress toward its first spacecraft.

These new opportunities became available to the space enthusiast:
Go to work for a company that expects to fly all of its employees into space
Earn sweat equity by working for a space startup
Invest in a company if you are a qualified investor (roughly $250,000/year family income or $1 million in assets)

This is where I joined. But even if there are two million families with $250,000/year income, that still leaves 98 percent of the United States without a way to invest without becoming an employee of a space firm.

Could an atypical farmer take a lifetime of effort and farm wages and spend them on an orbital rocket ride? It may be fiction today, but it is only a few years away from being fact. Forty years working full time earning about the average wage of $12.50 an hour earns $1 million. It is only a matter of time before private industry finds a way to provide an orbital flight for $1 million now that orbital flights for over $10 million on the Russian Soyuz are sold out. Kistler K-1 may be able to fly 4,500 kg to low Earth orbit, which is enough for a pair of two-person Gemini re-entry modules, for $17 million. That would be about $4.25 million per person in launch costs if a charter can be had for four people for $17 million. That might be half of the total costs because one still has to build the crew compartment; the launch vehicle is only part of the costs.

Call it next decade, December 31, 2019, when someone saving a lifetime’s earnings at the average wage will be enough to afford an orbital spaceflight. That amount of money will probably be up to $1.5 million by then, or $3 million if you are working two jobs like Charles Farmer did in the movie.
Cooperative space program

Now for the first time, anyone can be like Charles Farmer and invest a little time, and in return earn a small opportunity to get into orbit. You don’t need to dedicate your life or a big chunk of riches to directly seek space flight. Instead of spending millions of dollars of time to earn a spaceflight, spend a few minutes at a time and earn an opportunity to win a multi-million dollar spaceflight worth a few dollars.
FreeSpaceShot.com has a tournament to win an orbital spaceflight on the Kistler K-1 with billions of entries. Playing takes a couple of minutes and builds a few cents of advertising revenue toward a spaceflight. Less than one thousand people playing at night for forty years could together produce a winner of one seat at today’s $20 million Soyuz flight price tag (plus tax). We already have 2,000 players and rising and spaceflight prices are falling. I expect the players will not have to wait as long to see an orbital flight winner as the twenty years Barbara Morgan has been waiting for her government flight.

In a generation as spaceflight prices go down and income goes up, we might see an orbital flight raffled for a fund raiser the way that trips to Hawaii were raffled a generation ago: tens of thousand tickets at $100 each, with the bulk of the money going to the sponsoring organization.

Thus, we return to the club roots of space programs after a seventy-year long hiatus. This time, the prize is a trip to orbit or beyond. Strive to be an astronaut like Charles Farmer whenever you want.

Space tourist talks about great trip

Students told how Anousheh Ansari fulfilled her dream



By WHITNEY ALLEN
Times Staff Writer whitneydallen@hotmail.com

As a girl, Anousheh Ansari had always dreamed of going to space, but females growing up in Iran don't usually get encouragement for such dreams.

So, she moved to the United States when she was 16, earned advanced degrees in engineering and started an Internet company, Telecom Technologies, that she and her husband sold for $750 million. Last year, she spent $20 million of her self-made fortune to buy a ride to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.

"I always wanted to be an astronaut, but everyone always told me that it would never happen," said Ansari, who spoke to Bob Jones High School students Thursday during a schoolwide assembly.
Students sat on the edge of their seats while she explained the intense training she endured to prepare for her trip to space.

"I had to learn Russian," said Ansari, 41. "I trained in Moscow during one of the coldest winters in history.

"It took two days to reach the space station and I spent the first six hours of the trip with my knees pulled up to my chest."

Even before her trip to space, Ansari was a major proponent of space innovation. Her family's name is attached to the Ansari X-Prize, a $10 million prize awarded in 2004 to entrepreneur Burt Rutan for his SpaceShipOne, the first commercial space vehicle to crack the atmosphere.

Tim Pickens, president of Orion Propulsion in Huntsville, worked on the team that built SpaceShipOne. Pickens and his wife, Melanie, a chemistry teacher at Bob Jones, were among those responsible for bringing Ansari to Madison to speak to the students.

After she spoke, the students asked Ansari questions about her trip to space. One of her favorite experiences, she said, was eating M&Ms while floating weightless.

One student asked, "Do you believe in aliens and extraterrestrial beings?"

Ansari quickly answered, "I sure do. The universe is so huge, it is hard to believe that we are the only beings in the entire universe.

Watch this space!

Dutch radio station offers space flight as prize


by Thijs Westerbeek


Dutch commercial radio station Q-music is trying to further raise its profile, and its market share, with a remarkable promotional activity. Listeners can submit their names, and every hour three names are mentioned on the air. The first person to call back after hearing his or her name stands a chance of winning a very special prize.

The prize consists of a so-called 'suborbital' flight, where a small, space shuttle type of aircraft will be launched on the back of a bigger plane. Although the Space Shuttle Explorer will go higher than 100 kilometres for only a few minutes, it will indeed be a real space flight. According to the renowned Dutch aerospace journalist Govert Schilling, it will be an experience the winner will never forget for the rest of his or her life.

"You will reach an altitude of over 100 kilometres, which is far beyond the atmosphere. You will see the blackness of the universe and you will see the Earth as a beautiful blue planet from the outside. However, it will only be for a short time, and a few minutes later you will be landing on the runway, like a plane."

Harmful exhaust fumes
It will be an exciting trip, but it will have a harmful effect on the atmosphere, says Peter van Vliet. He's the president of iNS, a foundation that promotes sustainability; he is also the editor-in-chief of a Dutch-language news site on sustainability. He says the higher aerial strata in the atmosphere are especially vulnerable.
"Those higher aerial strata are extremely thin. The exhaust fumes emitted at that level cause much more damage than the same amount of exhaust fumes would do on lower aerial strata."

Van Vliet holds the view that space tourism is unacceptable at a time when there is so much attention on air pollution and climate change. He says it will be even more unacceptable if such commercial space flights happen more frequently in the future.
"It's a classic case of something you just can't do anymore, in this day and age. Just look at the fuel that is burned up, and the emissions an adventure like that will produce, and compare it with those five minutes of fun for six passengers. What's more, if you think of your direct contribution to the decay of the higher aerial strata, I have serious doubts about the whole thing."
Drawing board
It remains to be seen if the lucky Q-music listener really will embark on a journey into space. In fact, the spaceship only exists on the drawing board at the moment, and the launch sites in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore still have to be built as well.

The website of 'Space Adventures', the American company that is supposed to carry our the space flights, is keeping silent about when all of these plans are going to be realised. It will take years before they're able to stage a space flight, if at all. The winner of the contest will be announced on Saturday 22 September at a special event in the aviation and space travel museum Aviodome in Lelystad, the Netherlands.