"Hop David" wrote in message
...
Suppose a space tourism market does come to pass: Rich folk ride the
descendants of an X-prize winner to enjoy the view and weightlessness.
The flights would be suborbital or low earth orbit, no?

Would this make Mars, the moon, or even high earth orbit more accessible?

Hop
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html


No. None of the X prize ships are for LEO. They are all striving for a
roughly 60 mi altitude ballistic lob. It is HUGE leap in both technology
and cost to go from that to LEO capable vehicles. This competition may
spin off some minor new ideas and stimulate some interest in space
activities, but it does nothing to "make Mars, the moon, or even high earth
orbit more accessible."