9 thoughts on “The Future Of Commercial Spaceflight”
I read about the ticket price on Parabolic Arc in July, so that’s not really news. I don’t understand how suborbital is a feeder market for orbital. It seems to me that if you need orbital, you need orbital. Though maybe flying suborbital ups the TRL of your thing before you fly orbital? This article was a rather uninteresting waste of time. I don’t recommend it. Bah Humbug.
“I don’t understand how suborbital is a feeder market for orbital.”
Things are sold because they are better, likewise suborbital once it starts will include competition which is sold as better.
Better can be cheaper, but better can a further distance traveled- get 10 mins rather than 5 mins. Also going somewhere can be better than returning to same spot. We took the new suborbital to Hawaii and did something there.
Or suborbital will not be a static thing and may become replacement or part of airline travel.
Or one could go up and down, but carry a bus full of people.
I would understand this if the suborbital schemes, as proposed, were to do exactly this. Say LA to Sydney in 1 hour, etc. But AFAIK all proposed schemes are strictly up and down, with a few minutes of zero G thrown in the middle. I don’t really see this as a sustainable market. Sorry. You need to “extend” that “Parabolic Arc” IMHO. 😉 But also I recognize the technical difficulty in that. Otherwise it would be on the front burner I would think…
I think it’s a quite sustainable market, but orbital is bigger.
The key is getting the ticket price down. A lot. Not saying it can’t be done. I am saying it must be done.
It’s a sustainable market at current prices. Reducing them will expand it.
On this one we disagree. Time will tell.
I am saying it must be done.
Virgin Galactic and XCOR evidently disagree. They’ve both raised prices.
Noted. Also noted: Neither are flying paying customers. Yet. That they will, someday, well maybe. VG has IMO an edge over Lynx, if they can overcome their engine issues, and largely not due to technology but because they’ve been at it longer and perhaps because with Sir Branson, better $ backing? But sustainable? That’s another question.
Note: I do NOT share this view about the commercial viability of orbital. Obviously neither does Elon….
I read about the ticket price on Parabolic Arc in July, so that’s not really news. I don’t understand how suborbital is a feeder market for orbital. It seems to me that if you need orbital, you need orbital. Though maybe flying suborbital ups the TRL of your thing before you fly orbital? This article was a rather uninteresting waste of time. I don’t recommend it. Bah Humbug.
“I don’t understand how suborbital is a feeder market for orbital.”
Things are sold because they are better, likewise suborbital once it starts will include competition which is sold as better.
Better can be cheaper, but better can a further distance traveled- get 10 mins rather than 5 mins. Also going somewhere can be better than returning to same spot. We took the new suborbital to Hawaii and did something there.
Or suborbital will not be a static thing and may become replacement or part of airline travel.
Or one could go up and down, but carry a bus full of people.
I would understand this if the suborbital schemes, as proposed, were to do exactly this. Say LA to Sydney in 1 hour, etc. But AFAIK all proposed schemes are strictly up and down, with a few minutes of zero G thrown in the middle. I don’t really see this as a sustainable market. Sorry. You need to “extend” that “Parabolic Arc” IMHO. 😉 But also I recognize the technical difficulty in that. Otherwise it would be on the front burner I would think…
I think it’s a quite sustainable market, but orbital is bigger.
The key is getting the ticket price down. A lot. Not saying it can’t be done. I am saying it must be done.
It’s a sustainable market at current prices. Reducing them will expand it.
On this one we disagree. Time will tell.
I am saying it must be done.
Virgin Galactic and XCOR evidently disagree. They’ve both raised prices.
Noted. Also noted: Neither are flying paying customers. Yet. That they will, someday, well maybe. VG has IMO an edge over Lynx, if they can overcome their engine issues, and largely not due to technology but because they’ve been at it longer and perhaps because with Sir Branson, better $ backing? But sustainable? That’s another question.
Note: I do NOT share this view about the commercial viability of orbital. Obviously neither does Elon….