Space Tourism Workshop

"Tourism in Earth Orbit &emdash; and Beyond"

May 28th, '94, ISDC '94, Toronto, Ontario
Led by Peter Kokh, Mark Kaehny, George French

Three Breakout Sections

TEAM 1: A Space-going Tourist - The First Flights

Report by Mark Kaehny, President: LRS, Editor MMR

Team: Ronnie Lajoie, Ruth Petra, Morrie Schneiderman, Mark Kaehny (discussion leader and secretary)

Tourism is perhaps the largest "industry" in the world at present. People like to see new sights, try new things, be thrilled, and of course show off their wealth and status. If we are to expand our human experience off the Earth we will also have some of the most exciting, spiritually uplifting, and expensive experiences accessible to those who want to try them.

In this workshop exercise we tried to explore what the first steps in Space tourism might look like. We defined space as in the IAU definition of 100 km (not 50 miles like the US Air Force). Thus the "space" part of space tourism means going at least 100 km (62 miles) up for some period of time. The group considered a time of a few minutes to a few hours as the period in space. "Tourism" generally means going somewhere or doing something for personal enjoyment and the experience.

The Current "Space Tourist" Options

Currently there is only one possible Space Tourism opportunity - the Russian Space Program if you have enough cash (say $10 million). This is not guaranteed but it currently is the only game in town.

There are several other opportunities at present for the adventurer that have some relation to space. They may go to Space Camp™ in Huntsville, Alabama and work through a simulated shuttle mission. They may experience micro-gravity in several places for a period of time longer than the nearest roller coaster - aerospace companies or organizations off parabolic flights with several minutes of weightlessness in Russia and commercially in Idaho. If you can fake being "useful" (remember we are talking about a tourist here!) you may even get on NASA's micro-gravity plane. These experiences cost from several to many thousands of dollars.

The only truly commercial one of these enterprises is Weaver Aerospace in Idaho. Commercial in this case meaning that the Company is not just scrounging equipment built for other purposes and making extra money, but rather that this is their business and the proceeds are put back in to the company. Actually Interglobal Space Lines, Inc. (307-739-1296) provides the flight opportunities through Weaver to Tourists.

The closest the "average" millionaire can get to space now is to get a ride in a Mig 25 up to 15 kilometers or more. At this level one must wear a pressure suit, sees the stars with the eye in sunlight, and sees clearly the Earth's curvature. This kind of experience costs tens of thousands of dollars. (If you don't already live in Russia.) There is a steady supply of people doing this. So where do we go from here?

The Next Generation

What can a tourist look forward to in the next 10 to 15 years and what kind of market will there be at various price levels? Our group concluded that tourism could actually be a driving factor for development of maneuverable suborbital spacecraft designs and also for orbital designs.

For true "space tourism" we assume that one or several of the Single Stage to Orbit designs works. The "sortie" cost of a flight has to be brought down to between $100,000 to $1,000,000 depending on the number of passengers. This would seem to be a necessary prerequisite for space tourism. This market segment includes those people who do the activities described in the previous section and people that go to the Antarctic, who make scuba trips, who take helicopters to ski down Greenland slopes, etc. The common denominators are a willingness to take a chance to get a unique experience, and the ability to pay for it. A "space experience" including a suborbital flight (or depending on launch prices a few-orbit-flight) was assumed to cost $50,000 or so. This was just taken as a figure out of the blue - launch costs have to come down by an order of magnitude for something like this to be possible. No market surveys were done at this point. The group decided to concentrate on fleshing out what a tourist would be buying when they bought a "space package", what kinds of equipment would be needed, and a 'walk through' of what the experience might be like. Sooner than one might think, people will routinely fly into space, just for kicks.

What a Ticket Might Buy

Suppose Jane Doe buys a ticket from Space Tours Inc. What is she going to get? Certainly not just a quick one hour flight for her $50,000 dollar ticket! The experience should be a combination of Space Camp, Emergency Rescue training, and an American Museum of Natural History Cruise. Jane would pick a 2 week period for her trip. She would come, have a flight physical to qualify her (before paying, of course), and spend about a week in orientation which may include a micro-gravity flight in a plane. Also for some types of suborbital flights she may need to worry about high-G stresses. The orientation would consist in getting familiar with the cabin environment, and if Space Suits are to be used, with her suit and how it works.

Since the tourist company would want to maximize throughput of people, part of the orientation would be given by people who have already been on the flight. This allows for socializing, and for letting the "experienced" show off a little. Depending on the kind of flight, different things would be emphasized. As with things like Space Camp, each person would have a personal video of how they trained, and how they taught.

For a suborbital flight lasting on the order of Alan Sheppard's flight [i.e. about 15 minutes] it would be nice if the craft could return to the point of origin. This means cross range and some kind of maneuverability in the vehicle. There would be at least 10 minutes of weightlessness. Flight problems that would have to be dealt with are sickness, panic, normal bodily functions ... and room. To deal with these there would have to be "caretakers", more than just stewards and stewardesses, along. These people would have to be able to deal with unforeseen problems. Diapers [chux] of some kind or a similar system could be used for as short a flight as this. Room is certainly important.

If you are crammed in a little space with no window you won't even notice you flew! Large windows and some room, perhaps as much as is given in a railway seat (bigger than an airplane seat), would be nice [although such generosity would surely increase ticket prices - Ed.]. The spacesuit option discussed below is probably impractical for this short a flight. Either everyone will have their video equipment or cameras, or overall video would be provided. The flight schedule should be such that either a sunrise or sunset would be visible to the passengers. A little night Earth viewing would be nice.

Orbital Flights

For an orbital flight, with more than an hour of micro-gravity more problems (and more fun) are possible. This could be a LOT more expensive than suborbital flights.

One option discussed was the idea that each passenger wear a space suit, and that the cabin be opened up so that each ticket-purchaser could float in space, for a true "in-space" experience.

Points to consider would be the design and manufacture of relatively inexpensive space suits, and the probable need for extra personnel to deal with people getting sick in their suits, etc. One could just have the top of the cargo area open up above the people, people would be hooked to their seats by short lines so they wouldn't get tangled up, but they could mess around. Another way is to have the people exit a hatch on some kind of control structure.

Tether-restrained "free" floating Space Shuttle type
Payload Bay Passenger Cabin Orbiter

Finally, there was the suggestion that a strong but practically invisible net be cast out as the cabin doors or roof opened, so that each passenger could float truly free, without tethers and tether entanglement problems. But then how would you round everyone up? Sooner or later the romp must end so as to start making preparations for a descent out of orbit.

"Truly free" floating within "invisible" net
Delta Clipper type Passenger Orbiter shown

With Spacesuits would come the need for radio communications. What if somebody becomes disoriented and starts screaming? The caretakers should be able to cut off people from the general circuit. Depending on the number of passengers, there may be several circuits for people to use. Spacesuits or helmets would be uniquely labeled, different colors, etc., for easy identification. Depending on cost, the passengers could have the option of keeping them. Problems with the spacesuit approach are obvious and the danger would be greater, but what an experience!

Other possibilities for orbital flights would be the ability to call friends and relatives on the ground from orbit, and all the viewing described above. With orbital fight, everyone will get to see at least one sunrise and one sunset. The craft should also return to the departure point for more centralized operations.

Note that this is the report on an "idea generating" exercise in thinking about this type of tourism. The problems were not dealt with in detail; rather the idea was to get some feel for the experience. It would be dangerous, some people would die, but people die every year scuba diving. The people to whom space tourism would appeal would not be risk averse.

Space tourism of the sort envisioned is dangerous but perhaps NOT as physically demanding - an older person (>65) in the group was quite interested. The existence of groups like Weaver Aerospace and Interglobal Space Lines makes us hopeful that this kind of thing will come about, and point the way for what kind of space research NASA could be doing -- developing the engines, designs and test vehicles, so that the type of spacecraft needed for these flights would be available! - MRK

TEAM 2: The first Space "Hotel": Aiming at a ready-made market

George D. French, Jr. Leader, President: Wisconsin Space Business Roundtable, Wisconsin Delegate Aerospace States Association

TEAM: Richard Richardson, Edward T. Reber, Kyle Smith,

George French (discussion leader and team secretary)

While the suggested "Mission" of our group was to "assume an operational Earth-to-Orbit Passenger Vehicle of some type and design an independently orbiting minimal tourist hotel not attached to a Space Station and suitable for stays of a few days ..." we decided on a much more conservative and practical project. Our reasoning was that business and industry travelers to the station would form the first hotel market, not private individuals going up for personal pleasure.

Accordingly we endeavored to define this icebreaking market niche, and then define just what kind of a facility, attached to a space station, might fill their needs.

At the time of the Toronto ISDC last May, the future of "Ralpha", the proposed joint Russian-American Mir II based station was still in doubt. Its proposed inclination of 51û to the equator, fine for Earth observation of temperate latitudes seemed to us less than ideal in that it made access from U.S. spaceports (European, Japanese, Chinese too) more difficult and expensive. The scenario we were working with was a multi-government built station in a 28û to 32û orbit, a compromise between accessibility from most international spaceports and the range of observable latitudes.

Attachment to an oft' proposed commercial orbital facility seems another option. If both types of facilities exist, cooperation between them is likely, depending on their mutual proximity in orbit If Ralpha is built as proposed, the appeal of and incentives for a second commercial station in a much less highly inclined orbit (better as a staging point for deep space operations of any sort) would grow stronger.

The advantages of attachment to an existing station, government-run or commercial are these:

• there will be a ready-made market for housing commercial, industrial, and official visitors to any existing station engaged in orbital research and/or manufacturing.

• Power, communications, and attitude control, and orbital altitude maintenance would be already provided for by the host facility, making the hotel more of an "incremental" expense, much more feasible to amortize with (company or government-paid) guest registrations and thereby more apt to earn a profit. We think it makes more sense that any such facility, even attached to a multi-government international facility like the defunct Freedom or current Ralpha station, be both commercially owned and commercially operated.

What is the market? Activities likely to be supported in orbit by both governmental agencies and commercial/ industrial projects are:

• Astronomy

• Life Sciences

• Experimental agriculture (centrifuge hosted-hydroponics)

• Zero-G or micro-gravity research and processing.

• Manufacturing feasibility research and manufacturing

Those (in addition to the station's regular crew with their own habitat module(s)) coming either to work or to tour and visit will need the following:

• zero-G-proof facilities with locomotion and position-keeping aids and adaptation assists

• exercise facilities

• work stations

• other research and study facilities

• an observation cupola or viewport, inspection port

• additional communications facilities

press interviews
conference calls
family calls
program origination broadcasting facilities

• assembly lounge facility (= dining, entertainment center) (Nb. meals could be taken with regular station crew)

• games, entertainment center, audiovisual library

• half as many berths as design guest capacity, on a time-share shift-assigned basis. This provides for more efficient 24-hour use of work, recreation, and sleeping facilities alike &emdash; no underutilized space. Six berths seems a reasonable initial size to support the early market. An upgrade would be a dozen berth cores with movable partitions between them to provide elbow room when occupied.

• toilets, showers - hygiene facilities in general.

• one "permanent" staff member with medical and other training appropriate to serve as host and decision maker.

Two "prefab" hotel design architectures seem plausible:

• A very spacious in-orbit modified Shuttle External Tank with a docking port in an Aft-Cargo-Compartment (ACC) for real "growth potential". An option would be to boost to orbit a ready to use ET-based facility, sent up dry attached to a fueled ET and double booster pack, in the proposed shuttle-C configuration.

• A functional mockup of the proposed Mars Habitat Module in Bob Zubrin's "Mars Direct" mission proposal: [see MMM # 42, p. 3, FEB '91] a cylindrical pod 27.5 ft in diameter (same as the ET), two floors (16 ft.) high with nearly 600 square feet per floor. It could be attached to the station by NASA to test its flight worthiness and debug its systems in an extreme environment closer to home. This choice, more in scale with the proposed station, kills two birds with one stone, providing a small but functional commercially-run orbital hotel and preparing for Mars exploration (perhaps earning it a hefty NASA subsidy.)

ABOVE: Artist sketch of Zubrin's Mars Habitat Module and the floor plan of its habitation deck. For station hotel use, the "cargo floor" could contain science and/or utility systems equipment or additional private berths and common space.

While usually "tourists" need only minimal special "preparation" for their tour or expedition, it seems prudent that all visitors to the station hotel in this early phase undergo some qualification process with some subsequent training. There will be physical qualifications and others requirements.

The amount of training tourists or would-be hotel guests will need will depend on relevant past experience, from as little as 2 weeks to as much as 6 months. A certification process (and certification maintenance program) are likely.

While the early market may be dominated and pump-primed by official visitors and commercial/industrial visitors, there will occasionally be upcoming vacancies that can be filled by lottery winners, affluent globe-trotters, press persons on assignment, etc. Beginnings are always humble. GDF

TEAM 3: An Expandable Luxury Earth Orbit Hotel-Resort: Beyond Motel 6

Peter Kokh, discussion leader

TEAM: James McEnanly, Goana Milosevic, Murray Wilson, Janet Jones Smith, Hugh Dietrich, Dennis Pearer, Bill Bogen

MISSION: Assumption: Market demand i.e. ticket prices now make it possible to build a luxury hotel in orbit. It will have artificial gravity sections at Earth-normal, Moon-normal (1/6 G), and Mars-normal (3/8 G). There should be 50-150 guest rooms with at least double occupancy. They will be compact but comfortable (more akin to Amtrak than cruise ship models). The hotel should, however, have generous exercise room in a non-rotating zero-G hub. Take time to consider what other amenities are worth the cost to guarantee a "thrill of a lifetime stay" and how little/much room they merit. There should be generous Earth-viewing and watching lounge areas. How about a "screened in" "outvac" sports area to frolic in with untethered space suits?

Design a facility that is both easy to construct and finance. Assume that only Earth-sourced components are available at this time. You should probably work with prefabricated modular elements like ET-Compatibles, outfitted on Earth and boosted dry (in place of an Orbiter) or more compact modules, rather than design some stunning megastructure that will require extensive on orbit labor to assemble. There should be two or more docking ports at a minimum. You will want to keep total per capita (guest & staff) weight (and number of launch loads) to a minimum.

It is important that the design not be fixed in size but able to support continuing hotel expansion as tourist demand warrants. The special constraints imposed by artificial gravity are to be considered here. If you have time, show phase by phase expansion and what might be added: rooms, suites, conference areas, shops, other tourist- and business-oriented activity areas.

Your purpose in all this is to expand on your own thoughts and help illustrate to others some of the logical possibilities.

WORKSHOP RESULTS:

The way this group worked, various ideas and trial balloons would be put forth by each of us as they came to mind no matter which heading they came under: guest facilities, guest activities, recreation, food, services, structure, future expansion &emdash; if this freeform process seems unruly, it is exactly what is needed. For, after all, everything bears on everything else and to tackle each heading in sequential isolation is to guarantee our missing important definition and design opportunities. The moderator's job is to help others flesh out their ideas, suggest repercussions and enhancements, and get the discussion back to unfinished business. A synthesis of our brainstorming follows.

What Hotel Guests Will Want

The View: Individual Quarters, or at least Premium Class ones, should have shutterable portholes from which to gaze on the planet below: landforms, mountain ranges, rivers, coastlines, seas, clouds; and, on the nightside pass, the ballet of lightning flashes and metropolitan city lights. Common areas such as a combo Dining/Lounge/Library/Assembly hall should also provide generous Earth views.

Floating Free: For those able to adapt to it without space sickness (about half of the general population), the ambient zero-G will be something to enjoy. There should be some assists, however: velcro shoe soles with convenient attach points here and there, handrails, visual cues, possibly color coded to help maintain orientation. There needs to be a zero-G gym with exercise equipment and a room for supervised structured activity: aerobatics and dance.

One permanent staff position may be zero-G choreographer/dance instructor: someone who is as at home in weightlessness as cosmonaut Andrei Krikalev. [Those who have seen videos of this cosmonaut at work in Mir will have been awed by the sheer Manta-like grace with which he effortlessly swims/flies around the facility with no wasted motion). Guests so inclined could schedule practice sessions several times a day and by the end of their several day-long stay may be good enough at individual, paired, or group free-fall dance to stage a show for the rest of the guests, and have it videotaped, if not televised live, to impress friends at home and preserve a unique memory. as well as to further entice those thinking about buying a similar out-of-this-world vacation.

The zero-G dance hall might be a spherical inflatable, with a post-inflation inner armor of metal applied through the vapor deposition process. Creative placement of mirror segments would enhance the experience and provide feedback to neophytes. For "gala night" show and tell, disco and strobe lighting could further theatricalize the performance.

Restaurant: granted that some will have little appetite in weightlessness, one intriguing suggestion is that culinary experimentation may yield gustatory delights that could not be created in a gravid location (on Earth, on the Moon, on Mars). This may or may not be the case and calls for "orbit-truth" demonstrations after considerable brainstorming. If the idea proves out, free fall foods and drinks may someday provide an added incentive to take an orbital vacation.

Artificial Gravity: Why reproduce Earth-normal gravity? Are not our guests out here to experience something new? One-sixth G or sixthweight, the fractional gravity level of the lunar surface would be easier and less costly to reproduce: it would require only 1/6th the radius and correspondingly reduced structural mass at any given rotation per minute level. Yet this level of gravity is more than sufficient to support normal physiological processes, provide firm orientation, and guarantee freedom from space sickness. Most LEO hotel guests might welcome this chance to experience what it would be like to walk on the Moon. But more about this later.

The Lunar Section should have a dance-floor (glass see-through: stars, Earth??), also staffed by a sixthweight-adept choreographer/dance instructor. Again, by the end of stay, some may want their gala night public performance videotaped.

The Lunar Section should also have some sort of ball court in which, thanks to a succession of experiments by a succession of guests, new sport forms fun to play and watch in the Moon's lower gravity could be developed and debugged. We could start by trying racket ball and Jai Alai, and making trial adaptations. Eventually, the results might be good enough to make ABC's Wide World of Sports and other TV Sports Magazines. A swimming pool in this section would attract divers who could go through fairy-tale like routines before finally hitting the water. Again likely fare for Earthbound viewers green with envy, and great promotional material for the hotel. If possible and practical, a perimeter jogging track of some sort would be welcomed by many.

Because artificial gravity introduces a coriolis effect on motions within its "field", both dance and sports in an orbiting hotel Lunar Section would give rise to a characteristic "english" that would not carry over to the Moon settlement itself. This "english" will be hard to learn because it will matter greatly if one is facing spinward ("east"), antispinward ("west"), to the right of spinward ("north") or to the left ("south"). Standardized orientation color cues on the walls, something that the subconscious mind can learn to take into account automatically, should help greatly. Of course, some will pick up on these cues faster than others.

Both zero-G and reduced gravity sections may someday support sanitaria, places where enhanced recuperation may be possible. This assumes, of course, that patients are not only well-heeled, but able to stand the stress of getting here in the first place.

A small museum or historical area would be logical. Guests would be amazed with displays of primitive free-fall toilets and dull meal-fare, and more gratefully appreciate what civilized improvements progress has since made possible. Of course, such facilities could also or alternately be provided at Earthside aerospaceport gateways.

Orbit may become as popular a honeymoon visit as Niagara Falls. Honeymoon aside, the idea of simply being married in space should draw more than a few. Zero-G or sixth-weight processionals could provide quite a memorable show.

Other Facilities: The hotel should have a well-stocked audiovisual library, an observatory from which guests could peer at stars and planets in their natural atmosphere-free twinkle-not brilliance. A communications center should provide phone, visiphone, fax, electronic mail and internet access. A tax-free casino with zero-G games could be a novelty for those not up to more aggressive pastimes.

The hotel should not only support teleconferencing but have some meeting room and conference space and a newsroom available for on site anchoring of major network newscasts. More imaginatively, a properly decorated alcove with table and chairs and Earthview picture window backdrop could conceivably become a favorite site for ceremonial signing of important international treaties.

Stores, Pantries, Supplies: There should be emergency caches of nonperishable food preserves, water, oxygen, power, medical supplies etc. should the normal scheduling of freight resupply flights and passenger craft be interrupted for any reason. There ought to be a full time nurse and paramedic able to perform most of the more common surgical emergency routines under radio/TV guidance from the surface.

Earthside Gateways to Orbit

Given that the Orbitel should cater to international trade, and given the need to get 24-hour service out of all common facilities and equipment, an elegant solution would to have three near-equatorial gateways for shuttlecraft (NASP or Delta Clipper) feeding the hotel. One for the Americas (Bogota and/or Quito international airports?), one for Europe-Africa (Nairobi?), and one for East Asia/Pacific (Singapore?) This would feed a natural three shift rhythm without inflicting a jet lag handicap on anyone. The national carriers feeding those aerospaceports would logically prosper in the traffic and prestige.

Architecture and Expansion

This is fairly well determined by the decision to include both weightless and simulated lunar gravity sections in the hotel. A dumbbell arrangement would counterbalance a service, maintenance and supplies section at one end with the 1/6th G guest quarters at the other with a non-rotating hub in the middle. As with a teeter totter, the two ends need to be neither of equal mass nor equidistant from the hub. The heavier end need only be proportionately closer to the hub , as it were a fulcrum.

One expansion we considered was to create a simulated Moonscape, in which the Lunar Wing of the Hotel was "buried", to give suited guests EVA access to the 1/6th G "surface". Such a feature need only be "skin-thick" i.e. not very massive.

The "Lunar Experience" could be heightened by using only furniture and furnishings that might be duplicated on the Moon using materials that could be processed locally in the early settlement. There could even be an optional Lunar "menu".

If at the same time the Lunar Wing of the Hotel is doubled or twinned, the total excess weight could be counterweighted with a new small Mars wing a bit more than twice the distance from the hub to provide 0.38 G.

The Service Complex can be positioned anywhere along the axis, to either side of the hub as needed to balance the Lunar and Martian Wings.

The idea of an orbital amusement park was mentioned but not elaborated. PK