$208,000 for a Ticket into ...Space! A Turning Point in Space exploration.

Chuck Lysaght wrote:

I Lurk Alone wrote in message ...
Chuck Lysaght wrote:

"Curious-yellow" wrote in message ...
Posted on Tue, Sep. 28, 2004




It's the market system that will develop space travel imho.

If I were filthy rich, I would take advantage of this in a heartbeat.


You're halfway there.

At least I don't hide behind a phony e-mail account.



Ah, but that's enough about me.

My assessment: you're plenty filthy. Why not work on rich for a change?

(k2) wrote in message . com...
(Bill Bogen) wrote in message
A prediction: They'll build one or two ships, fly a couple hundred
people, and establish there's a market for the service. Someone
(Pioneer?) will then get funding to design and build a bigger, faster,
liquid-fueled ship, perhaps exceeding the capacity of a jet to
air-launch the ship and going to in-flight refueling, as originally
proposed by Mitchell Burnside Clapp. Then we might squeak into orbit.

I like Pioneer's concept but; Why would anybody go with a new unproven
company after Mojave Aerospace Ventures (Rutan/Allen) successfully
flew SS1 & VSS with a "couple hundred people"? Have the experts build
SS3 to the customer's (Funding Source) requirements such as airport
take off, jet engines, liquid rockets.

A near-future scenario: Say I'm an investor interested in this new,
hot space tourism industry. But MAV is wholly owned by Allen, who
shows no interest in going public and selling shares. Pioneer
approaches me, explains how their concept will leap-frog over MAV and
the sub-orbital market and give access to Low Earth Orbit, a much
bigger market. I have independent engineers (non-NASA!) critique
Pioneer's designs. They approve, I collect a group of other venture
capitalists, and Pioneer starts bending metal. Just because MAV opens
the sub-orbital market doesn't mean they'll have a monopoly over other
folks also willing to take risks, or even much of an advantage if the
next step (orbital access) can be better done using different methods.
Historically, MAV may go down in history as an Alan Shepherd while
another company becomes John Glenn.

In article ,
I Lurk Alone said:



Chuck Lysaght wrote:

I Lurk Alone wrote in message ...
Chuck Lysaght wrote:

"Curious-yellow" wrote in message ...
Posted on Tue, Sep. 28, 2004




It's the market system that will develop space travel imho.

If I were filthy rich, I would take advantage of this in a heartbeat.


You're halfway there.

At least I don't hide behind a phony e-mail account.



Ah, but that's enough about me.

My assessment: you're plenty filthy. Why not work on rich for a change?

Don't ya think Rich's owner will get upset
about Pedo-Chuck screwing their dog?

--
Cm~

In article , Invid Fan wrote:
Make deals with studios so the customers can go up dressed in authentic
SF outfits (Star Trek, Babylon 5, Gundam, etc) or NASA gear and it
changes again

They'll fly in pressure suits which are quite closely form-fitting
to prevent/ reduce snagging in an emergency evacuation.
I travel in commercial flights using unstable aircraft over
hazardous substrates (the North Sea) most months - I don't have the
option of what I wear. 3-layers of street clothing; Thermal Insulation
Garment; diver's dry diving suit. If I don't want to wear that, I get
thrown off the flight, no questions permitted.

They'll fly in what the flight planners consider appropriate
equipment. With the sponsor's logos prominent.

I think that the X-craft criteria did not include "air-tight
passenger cabin". So, to save weight, the crew will *need* to breathe off
their suits.
--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: 57°10'11" N, 02°08'43" W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233

Around U$200.000,00 for a single trip to an altitude of 100 km plus a
few days of training?

What a rip off!

It's much better to spent U$20.000.000,00 on a ride on the Soyuz to
the I.S.S. and back, it's much more rewarding and not to mentioned
it's a LOT cheaper if you count it according to the amount of
kilometers (or miles) it traveled and days of its duration. But then
again, not anyone can go to the I.S.S., despite how much money they
got. Tito and Shuttleworth were there not because they got the money,
but were sent there due to political purpose.


Anyway. It might be better to compare the Virgin Atlantic trip to a
trip using the Mig-25 Foxbat, which cost only around U$10.000,00 and
go up to the altitude of around 25 km, plus some maneuvers including
some you can even do by yourself. This is the true 'anyone can do it
if they got the money' thing (like Concorde) and not a fake one.

http://www.flymig.com/packages/MiG-25.flight.htm

If it's compare to that, then the price for the Virgin Atlantic should
have been set in the U$100.000,00 category or so, maybe even lower.



Virgin said it planned to begin construction of the first vessel,
VSS Enterprise, next year and to offer flights by 2007.

What a fitting name. LOL!

In sci.space.policy EAC wrote:
Around U$200.000,00 for a single trip to an altitude of 100 km plus a
few days of training?

What a rip off!


Hopefully there will be lots of competitors to drive the price down

--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++

EAC wrote:
Around U$200.000,00 for a single trip to an altitude of 100 km plus a
few days of training?

What a rip off!

What you think is immaterial. What people are willing to pay
for the service is what matters, and apparently several thousand
people are willing to pay that amount.

It's much better to spent U$20.000.000,00 on a ride on the Soyuz to
the I.S.S. and back,

If you have the extra $19,800,000

The whole point is that there are a large number of people who
have the $200k and are willing to settle for 110km and a few
minutes of zero-G.

Markets work on what consumers want, not what analysts want.

No doubt when we bring the cost of tourist orbital flights
down there will be more market there too. But Branson seems
to have plenty enough market to make his money back on building
Virgin Galactic.


-george william herbert

In article ,
(EAC) wrote:

Around U$200.000,00 for a single trip to an altitude of 100 km plus a
few days of training?

What a rip off!

If you feel that way, don't go.

It's much better to spent U$20.000.000,00 on a ride on the Soyuz to
the I.S.S. and back, it's much more rewarding and not to mentioned
it's a LOT cheaper if you count it according to the amount of
kilometers (or miles) it traveled and days of its duration.

Sure, do that if you prefer it and are able.

It's a free market. Do what you want, but don't try to tell other
people what to do -- they'll buy a ticket if *they* think it's a good
value, and your opinion really doesn't matter.

If it's compare to that, then the price for the Virgin Atlantic should
have been set in the U$100.000,00 category or so, maybe even lower.

"Should"?!? There is no "should" in how market prices are set, except
that they should be set in order to maximize profit. I have no doubt
that Branson is doing exactly that, and with a lot more information and
more detailed analysis than you or I can do.

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: |
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(George William Herbert) wrote:
The whole point is that there are a large number of people who
have the $200k and are willing to settle for 110km and a few
minutes of zero-G.

They are willing to make reservations to do that, which should
surprise no one. Reservations on various space passenger ventures
have been around since the dawn of the space age and have always been
well subscribed.

How many will actually pay is a subject open to discussion as no one
has ever been actually asked to pony up before.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

Derek Lyons wrote:
(George William Herbert) wrote:

The whole point is that there are a large number of people who
have the $200k and are willing to settle for 110km and a few
minutes of zero-G.

They are willing to make reservations to do that, which should
surprise no one. Reservations on various space passenger ventures
have been around since the dawn of the space age and have always been
well subscribed.

How many will actually pay is a subject open to discussion as no one
has ever been actually asked to pony up before.

This is wrong. Some have actually paid before. Some
have paid before for tickets on flights that did not
materialize (and were refunded later). I understand
that some have already paid up front for flights on
Virgin Galactic. This is more than simply
reservations.