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Amahri Snipes

Instructor: Malcom Campbell

UWRT 1104

December 5November 6, 2017

The Privatization of Space and the Future of It Holds for Space Travel

Going to space has always been a government controlled activity. The first man- made

object in space and even the first man on the moon were achieved through the labor of the United

Statestwo and the Soviet Uniongovernments racing for extraterrestrial dominance. American

dreams of space travel have always rested on NASA and on their heels of their successes, as well

as in the shadow of their failures. The United States government hasd always had a hand in space

travel.. This was the case until 2004, when private space travel became legal under the

Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. Even with severe budgets cuts to NASA

and a dwindling public interest in space exploration, the dream has stayed alive in a seemingly

chosen few, who are currently flipping the industry on its head and paving the way for the

biggest advancements in space travel since the space race. This was the case until 2004, when

private space travel was made legal and the first private vessel made its way into space.

The first commercial -touch on SpaceShipOne-

As of today, one of the biggest names in private space travel is Elon Musk. Elon Musk is

the founder and CEO of SpaceX. He earned his Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree at the

University of Pennsylvania in 1994. SpaceX has changed the face of the private industry and the

way many view space exploration. The company is making big strides in space travel, especially

with the development of its Falcon 9 rockets. The Falcon 9 are a family of two-stage rockets that

are famoushelmed for their ability to have the first stage of the rocket land back on Earth to be

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reused. Development of the Falcon 9 rocket was accelerated by NASA funding parts of

development costs and committing to purchase several commercial flights if specific capabilities

were demonstrated. This has huge implications for the future of missions to space,. MuskI It also

has even bigger plans for the future, the most outstanding of which are plans to go to Mmars.

* Insert elon musk quote about mars*-

As of right now, the face of the private sector of space rest on companies landing special

supply contracts with NASA. These Commercial Resupply Contracts are essentially NASA

commissioning private companies to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). This

is a mutually beneficially relationship;, NASA gets supplies to the ISS without having to spend

ans exorbitant amount ofmuch money and the private companies profit. IConsidering it costs

NASA roughly $10,000 per pound to get things into space, so with the aid of these contracts, the

ISS can be resupplied without NASA necessarily having to break the bank., these contracts are

crucial in getting important supplies into space. The revenue gained froorm these cWith these

contracts also helps ccompanies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic devote their time and resources

into developing new technologiescan spend money on researching new technologies and driving

innovation..

An interesting argument is brought against private space travel is what happens if the

entire industryit all goes private? What happens to NASA as we know it? According to Robert

Frost, NASAs Flight Operations Directorate that has trained astronauts and flight controllers on

the guidance, navigation, control & propulsion of the International Space Station for ten years,

NASA hasd no threat to worry about from the private sector. "The role of government in space

exploration is to do the things that the market cant support, but the people agree are

beneficial" says Frost, "When we send a spacecraft like New Horizons to take close up pictures

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of Pluto, we do so because, as a people, we understand that science is important. We understand

that learning about the universe is good for our society." He expresses how the privatization of

space isnt meant to replace government involvement in space, only to complement the already

existing system. If everything were as private, it would impede the advancement of science. For

example, if a company owned something like Hubble Space Telescope, which provides the

public with mass amounts of data and images froorm space, they would charge universities and

companies for the data that it collects. Having this data locked behind a paywall would only

serve to impede the spread of knowledge and information. For private companies, no matter

how noble the venture may seem, at the end of the day, the project must turn a profit in order to

please shareholders and continue progress so that the company does not shut down. Imagine

having to pay every single time you wanted to see the latest pictures a deep space telescope had

taken. All the research and discoveries NASA makes are for the advancement of human

knowledge of outer space, which is why their findings are public. If this was moved to the

private sector, the advancement of knowledge would be locked behind a paywall. The balance of

private to government is a beneficial one, one that should help science in the long run.

One of the main benefits of privatizing space travel is how much NASA saves on

expenses. WIt is extremely expensive to get things into space, and with NASA's budget sitting at

around 18.4 billion dollars, less than 1% of the federal budget, it severely hinders the progress

NASA is able to make. This amount of money is enough to sustain ongoing projects, it is not

enough to fund new ventures, and some existing programs still needed to be cut, like when the

Space Shuttle Program famously shut down in 2011. With our space shuttle decommissioned,

NASA must rely on the Russian Soyuz rocket to get American astronauts into space. A single

ticket on the Russian craft can cost anywhere from $52 million to $70

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million dollars (Space.com). This means NASA could spend nearly 1.6 billion dollars per trip to

the ISS, or roughly 11.25% of its entire annual budget. With these costs mitigated with help

from private companies, NASA is able to focus what little budget they have

oninto other projects.

An article written by Nayef Al-Rodhan in the Geneva Centre for Public Security Formatted: Font: Italic

Policy touches on an interesting point. It talks about the theoretical liability of a company versus

the government. If sa something failed and resulted in one or more fatalities when NASA was at

the helm, it would be easy to recover because in the past it has been is viewed as a symptom of

progress "because there were no alternatives to government space programs, accidents were seen

to some degree as par for the course."(Nayef). progress. .Because there were no alternatives to

government space programs, says Al-Rodhan, accidents were seen to some degree as par for

the course. Also, for governments, there no shareholders to please. However, if a private

company were to have an accident that resulted in one or more fatalities the implications would

be different because of the level of accountability we hold them totheyre a public entity. For

private companies, they have unlimited liability for those types of situations. Everything that

goes wrong can immediately be traced back to the companythem and this has a huge effect on

how the public will view the company going forward, especially versus the competition. Say if

Virgin Galactic had an accident where they lost 5 astronauts, there would be massive public

outcry, their stock would go down and the company would overall sustain huge losses. Now let's

say that in light of Virgin Galactic's critical failure, Space X maintains it's near flawless track

record. This would thrust the company even further into public favor.

Many people have grandiose expectations for the future of space. The believers imagine

that, someday in the near future (next 30 years or so), robotic vehicles will mine asteroids for

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precious metals like gold and platinum or precious materials like diamonds. Moon dirt will be

transformed into rocket fuel for missions to Mars and a terraformed permanent base on the moon

will be a day-trip away for visitation, with lunar tourism starting to boom. Some believe casual

spaceflight will be the new norm, with airlines and shipping companies utilizing space for the

greatly reduced cross-world travel times. These ideas seemed like pure science fiction just 10

years ago and now theyre closer than ever to becoming a reality. It's interesting to see how

private companies effect and influence things like this.

SpaceX is already gearing up to tackle the future. They have plans to send two citizens on

a trip around the moon in late 2018. With a partnership with NASAs Commercial Crew

Program, which helped fund the development of SpaceXs Dragon 2 spacecraft, SpaceX can

send a crew to the moon for the first time in 45 years. For this launch, SpaceX will also be using

its Falcon Heavy rocket, which is the most powerful vehicle to reach orbit after the Saturn V

Moon rocket [7]. Once all preparations have been made and all testing has been completed, the

rocket will launch from Kennedy Space Centers pad 39A near Cape Canaveral. This is a huge

deal and one with great symbolism because it is the same launch pad that was used by the Apollo

program.

SpaceX also hasve huge plans of getting the first humans onto Mars and ultimately

establish a permanent, self-sustaining colony on the Red Planet. For a while, Elon Musks plans

to get to Mars just seemed liked big talk from a rich CEO. This all changed on September 27,

2016. At the 2016 International Astronautical Congress in Australia, Elon Musk unveiled

SpaceXs latest game-changing project, the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS). The future

is vastly more exciting and interesting if were a space-faring species than if were not, said

Musk, Its about believing in the future and thinking the future will be better than the past. The

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ITS will utilize the most powerful rocket ever built with a spaceship that is designed to hold 100

people per flight. The ITS will have a whopping 42 Raptor Engines powering it. For comparison,

SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket, the companys first breakthrough design in reusable rocket

technology, uses 9 Merlin Engines to power its boosters. Not only does it have more than 4 times

the amount of engines, each Raptor is roughly 3 times more powerful than a Merlin. With these

impressive engines, the ITS is capable of liofting 300 tons to low-Earth orbit. This is more than

double the capability of NASAs Saturn V rocket, the previous record holder for the biggest,

most powerful rocket. The ITS, when combined with its spaceship, stands at a staggering 400

feet tall, nearly 40 feet taller than the Saturn V. While all this is truly groundbreaking, the most

impressive aspect of the ITS is its reusability. The rocket will be able to send the spaceship to

Mars and then return to Earth to do another mission. This feature is critical to the longevity of

the program since the price tag to get one person to Mars with todays technology is about 10

billion dollars. The reusability of the rocket could theoretically bring this price down to 200,000

dollars per person.

The spaceship that pairs with the booster will be 162 feet tall on its own and sport 9

Raptor engines of its own. The spaceship will launch into low-Earth orbit with little to no fuel to

help maximize the payload, whether it be cargo, people or a combination of both. ITSs booster

rocket would then meet with the spaceship in orbit so that it can refill its fuel tank. Then, when

the Earth and Mars are in the ideal alignment for missions between the planets (this alignment

occurring once every 26 months), the spaceship will engage its boosters and set a course for the

Red Planet. Elon Musk says the ship will feature movie theaters, restaurants, and other simple

amenities. "It'll be, like, really fun to go," Musk says, "You'll have a great time."

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The Raptors would be able to get the spaceship to the red planet in record time; just 80

days. This is an astoundingly short travel time; it takes roughly 6 9 months to get spacecraft to

Mars with current technology. Musk also shares his hopes that the ITS will eventually be able to

complete the journey in just 30 days. Musk doesnt plan on stopping with just one or two ships,

he envisions having 1,000 or more ships going to and from Mars every 26 months.

Space X also plans to build a solar-powered factory on Mars that will transform the

carbon dioxide and water ice on the planets surface and in its atmosphere to generate oxygen

and methane to make the propellant used by the Raptor engines. The ITS spacecrafts could then

be refueled on Mars and get sent back to Earth to be reused. Musk estimates that each ITS rocket

could fly at least a dozen times, with each booster being able to be reused many more times. He

says he hopes to have the first development of the spaceship completed within four years, then

start suborbital testing shortly thereafter. If everything goes really well, Musk said, the ITS could

be launching on its first Mars mission "within the 10-year time frame." Musk hopes to transport

1 million people to and from Mars within the next 50-100 years with his ITS program.

While SpaceX is making massive, impressive strides in innovation, NASA refuses to be

left in the dark. Theyre not sitting idly by and letting SpaceX take all the glory of exploring the

red planet for themselves. NASAs newest rover, the InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic

Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a Discovery Program mission that will place a

single geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior. NASAs InSight mission statement

reads : It (InSight) is a terrestrial planet explorer that will address one of the most fundamental

issues of planetary and solar system science - understanding the processes that shaped the rocky

planets of the inner solar system (including Earth) more than four billion years ago. By using

sophisticated geophysical instruments, InSight will delve deep beneath the surface of Mars,

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detecting the fingerprints of the processes of terrestrial planet formation, as well as measuring

the planet's "vital signs": Its "pulse" (seismology), "temperature" (heat flow probe), and

"reflexes" (precision tracking) [8]. The InSight mission seeks to understand the evolutionary

formation of all rocky planets, including Earth, by investigating the interior structure and past

geologic processes of Mars. InSight will also investigate the dynamics of Martian tectonic

activity and meteorite impacts.

All previous unmanned missions to Marts have only studied the surface of our red

neighbor, studying geologic features like volcanoes, canyons, caves, rock and soil composition

and other easily observable features. No one had ever attempted to investigate the interior of the

planet so the evolution of the planet is largely unknown. Mars is known to be significantly less

geologically active than the Earth, so it contains a far more complete record of its planetary

building blocks, like its core, mantle and crust. The InSight mission will study the size,

thickness, density and overall structure of the Red Planet's core, mantle and crust, as well as the

rate at which heat escapes from the planet's interior, which will provide glimpses into the

evolutionary processes of not only Mars but all of the rocky planets in the inner solar system.

The InSight mission is similar in design to the Mars lander that the Phoenix mission used

to study ground ice near the north pole of Mars in 2007. The reuse of the design and technology,

developed and built by Lockheed-Martin Space Systems will provide a low-risk gateway to Mars

without the added cost of designing and testing an entirely new system from scratch. The InSight

lander will be equipped with two scientific instruments that will conduct the first study of the

Martian interior; the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), provided by the French

Space Agency (CNES) and the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), provided by

the German Space Agency (DLR). The instruments will measure Marss "pulse", or internal

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activity; its temperature; and its "reflexes" (the way the planet moves when it is pulled by the

Sun and the gravitational relationship it shares with its moons).

Space exploration as once again become a source of excitement, innovation and thriving

scientific curiosity. Both private and public interest in space exploration is challenging us to dig

deeper into the unknown. The notion of making new discoveries or even life for humans on

another planets now doesnt seem like science fiction but a distant reality. Now more than ever

technology is advancing faster than anyone could have imagined and the implication of these

advancements should excite anyones curiosity. With private companies gaining more and more

public support and support form investors, the notion of a multi-planetary human race seems like

it can be a reality. As it stands currently, with NASAs space program, SpaceX and other private

companies, space travel is reinvigorated once again.

Formatted: Space Before: Auto

Space has always been in the background of human thought. Since the space race, interest

in space had declined, as well as government support for the program. However, human curiosity

prevailed as entrepreneurs are pushing past boundaries and making their way into space. Its very

interesting hoe private companies are cementing themselves in the quest to reach space and the

relationship they share with government entities like NASA. These companies have changed the

how people view space travel and will undoubtedly change the future. Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

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Works Cited Formatted: Indent: Left: 2.5"

Achenbach, Joel. Which Way to Space? The Washington Post, WP Company LLC. 23 Nov

2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2013/11/23/which-way-to-

space/?utm_term=.b69d31c7a400 Accessed 12 Oct 2017.

Al-Rodhan, Nayef. THE PRIVATIZATION OF SPACE: WHEN THINGS GO WRONG.

Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Geneva Centre for Security Policy. 14 Aug 2015.

http://www.gcsp.ch/News-Knowledge/Global-insight/The-Privatization-of-Space-When-

Things-Go-Wrong Accessed 17 Oct 2017.

Frost, Robert. The Pros And Cons Of Privatizing Space Exploration. Forbes, B.

C. Forbes. 04 Apr 2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/04/04/the-pros-and-

cons-of-privatizing-space-exploration/#6958ffed3319 Accessed 17 Oct 2017.

Redd, Nola Taylor. Scientists See Big Rewards (and Risk) in Private Spaceflight Space.com,

Purch. 22 Jan 2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2013/11/23/which-way-

to-space/?utm_term=.b69d31c7a400 Accessed 7 Nov 2017.

Rees, Martin. Mars needs millionaires. Foreign Policy, (137), 90. Carnegie Endowment for

International Peace. July/Aug 2003. Retrieved from

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.librarylink.uncc.edu/docview/224032865?accountid=14605 Accessed 14 Oct 2017

Fernholz, Tim. The Complete Visual History of SpaceXs single-minded pursuit of rocket

reusability QZ, Quartz Media LLC. 01 Jul 2017. https://qz.com/1016072/a-multimedia-

history-of-every-single-one-of-spacexs-attempts-to-land-its-booster-rocket-back-on-

earth/ Accessed 7 Nov 2017

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Works Cited Formatted: Indent: Left: 0", First line: 0"

Achenbach, Joel. Which Way to Space? The Washington Post, WP Company LLC. 23 Nov

2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2013/11/23/which-way-to-

space/?utm_term=.b69d31c7a400 Accessed 12 Oct 2017.

Al-Rodhan, Nayef. THE PRIVATIZATION OF SPACE: WHEN THINGS GO WRONG.

Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Geneva Centre for Security Policy. 14 Aug 2015.

http://www.gcsp.ch/News-Knowledge/Global-insight/The-Privatization-of-Space-When-

Things-Go-Wrong Accessed 17 Oct 2017.

Frost, Robert. The Pros And Cons Of Privatizing Space Exploration. Forbes, B.

C. Forbes. 04 Apr 2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/04/04/the-pros-and-

cons-of-privatizing-space-exploration/#6958ffed3319

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Accessedhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/04/04/the-pros-and-cons-of-

privatizing-space-exploration/#6958ffed3319 Accessed 17 Oct 2017.

Redd, Nola Taylor. Scientists See Big Rewards (and Risk) in Private Spaceflight Space.com,

Purch. 22 Jan 2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2013/11/23/which-way-

to-space/?utm_term=.b69d31c7a400 Accessed 7 Nov 2017.

Rees, Martin. Mars needs millionaires. Foreign Policy, (137), 90. Carnegie Endowment for

International Peace. July/Aug 2003. Retrieved from

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.librarylink.uncc.edu/docview/224032865?accountid=14605 Accessed 14 Oct 2017

Fernholz, Tim. The Complete Visual History of SpaceXs single-minded pursuit of rocket

reusability QZ, Quartz Media LLC. 01 Jul 2017. https://qz.com/1016072/a-multimedia-

history-of-every-single-one-of-spacexs-attempts-to-land-its-booster-rocket-back-on-

earth/ Accessed 7 Nov 2017

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