NSSC CASE STUDY

ROUND 1

SPACE TOURISM

TEAM: SAGITTARIUS A*

PARTICIPANT DETAILS:
1. Vaibhav Krishna 2. Yash Vinod,
Singh Raghav,
PI 2181 PI 2202
Indian Institute of Indian Institute of
Technology (BHU), Technology (BHU),
Varanasi Varanasi
Phone: 9309582025 Phone: 9789865301
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Space Tourism
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Vaibhav Krishna Singh Raghav, Yash communicating. Likewise, space tourism can be
Vinod, Indian Institute of Technology viewed as a new and exciting segment of the
(BHU), Varanasi already enormous and ever-expanding world
tourism industry. Conducting case studies of the
future tourism industry necessitates the
consideration of space as a popular tourist
Abstract
destination too. Space tourism is as such a new,
Space tourism is an area which is yet to be incomplete and untested market niche. Few
explored by us, much in part due to the lack in resourceful people can call themselves a space
available technology in the past. However, now, tourist, mainly due to the fact that the trips they
quite a few private companies have pitched took were way beyond the monetary reach of any
themselves into the race to make the field their average tourist. However, with some companies
monopoly. While launching humans into space bringing forward their plans to bring space
has been performed since the 1960s, launching tourism to the mainstream and to make it more
them for tourism has been seldom done in the affordable towards the common population, this
past, and has more or less been a money-intensive field looks to gain traction, and could even
gig, with only a few high-paying individuals become a major role player in the future economy.
willing to shell out the huge sums needed to
finance their flight. Space tourism is a new,
incomplete and untested niche of the tourism
market, and thus, we do not have extensive rules
governing it for now. A few millionaires have
sponsored trips for themselves to the International
Space Station in the past. Despite being a niche
field, space tourism has the potential to be
profitable as a long-term business, provided it is
sustained by a reliable business model and
adequate technology and safety precautions.

I. SCOPE AND PLANNING

Figure 1: Artist's rendition of SpaceX's proposed Starship

A. SCOPE spacecraf

The tourism industry is one of the driving forces

of the global economy today. The industry
recorded an investment of USD 882.4 billion for
the fiscal year 2017-18 – a figure projected to rise
to around USD 1408 billion by the year 2028! It B. PLANNING
contributed around 10% to the global GDP in
2017, rising from 5.8% in the previous year. Now, space tourism isn’t something we can just
[ CITATION Wor \l 1033 ] set out to do and accomplish with the blink of an
eye. Space flight is in fact one of the very
As the figures say, the world is progressing complex feats that we have accomplished,
towards spending more and more on tourism as primarily due to the paramount need to shelter
each year passes. On analyzing the potential humans from the harsh effects of outer space.
market, space tourism can be seen as a new Also, it is a very cost-intensive business, so
concept, or as an improved way of doing without a proper business model, the venture
something that is already being done. The satellite would fail at the mere beginning of the journey.
communications industry is booming because it
provided a new and improved method for people
to do something they were already doing --
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The various steps that would be involved in and hence earn better profits. Many big
making the idea of a space tourism business into entrepreneurs have considered investing in this
reality, are: venture.

1. Research into the field. Understanding
how the current economy is running and
how the trends are going around is a key
element in planning a space tourism
business. Starting such a business during
times of recession will result in huge losses,
so to prevent this situation from happening,
market analysis is essential.
2. Possessing the technology necessary to
launch and sustain humans in space is the
most important requirement. This
technology can either be self-developed or
can be borrowed from another agency.
Most private companies in the field are
developing their own unique technologies
that they can use to conduct space tours.
3. Creating a proper business model to
sustain the venture. This requirement is also
just as important as the technology
requirement. It would not be a business if it
didn’t bring in any profits by the end of the
day.
4. Marketing the venture. While space
tourism is anyway a costly proposition,
marketing it to the masses will ensure
increased participation, and will guarantee
more revenue.
Some of the leading organizations and respective
entrepreneurs that are making great progress are:
1. Space X | Elon Musk
2. Virgin Galactic | Richard Branson
3. Zero 2 Infinity | Jose Mariano Lopez
4. Blue Origin | Jeff Bezos
5. World View | Jane Poynter
ZERO 2 INFINITY
This is a company led by Jose Mariano Lopez
which has been working on sending humans to the
near-space environment for the last decade. The
vision of this company is that they are looking
forward to providing a space trip at an affordable
price and in a quick way.
“Space should not just be for big companies.
Small companies, schools, universities and lovers
of our Earth and space should be able to
contribute.”
Bloostar technology has been developed by this
company for short trips to space in pods designed
for up to 6 individuals. The pressurized capsule is
attached to a very large helium balloon which
would take the pod up to the upper atmosphere,
from where the pod will launch and propel itself
further upwards.

II. PAST TRIPS AND COMPANIES

IN THE FOLD

A. ORGANIZATIONS

Space tourism is seen as a profitable business by

many organizations. There is a lot of competition
in providing the best services and they are all
trying to make it as affordable as possible in the
future so that they can reach out to a larger market

Figure 2: Schematic diagram showing the Bloostar technology in
action
VIRGIN GALACTIC
One of the first organizations to successfully
perform a space flight for commercial use, their
idea is to use a spaceflight system. They are
developing a cost-efficient, environment-friendly
and safe system. Their vision was to pursue
reusability, in order to cause lesser harm to the
environment.
Their spaceflight system is designed such that one
of its vehicles will take it to a specific height, and
the other will be launched from there for the
further journey.
The WhiteKnightTwo is a custom-built, carrier
aircraft which used to carry SpaceShipTwo, a
passenger-carrying spaceship.
The aircraft releases the spaceship at around
50,000 feet and then the spaceship is launched
further into space.
Figure 3: White Knight Two carrying SpaceShipTwo
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BLUE ORIGIN
This organization was founded by Jeff Bezos in
2000 with the idea of allowing private
organizations and individuals to have access to
space. Their vision is to make space flight safe
and reliable. Their idea is to send humans above
an altitude of 100km in a capsule. The New
Shepard uses the concept where the capsule is
attached on top of a reusable rocket that will
descent on the landing site after launching the
capsule further in the sky (basically an RLV). This
will all occur within the duration of 11 minutes
where the capsule will come to Earth’s surface
safely with the help of parachutes.
Figure 4: The New Shepard vehicle being tested
SPACEX
It is one of the most famous and successful private
aerospace organizations. It was founded by Elon
Musk in 2002 with the vision to reduce space
transportation costs and provide associated
services reliably. SpaceX has been part of this race
for very long. They have been successful in
developing RLV technology which is instrumental
in reducing the cost of spaceflight. SpaceX has
been planning their project dearMoon to facilitate
lunar space tours in the near future. They are
planning to use their Falcon Heavy rocket to
launch the Dragon 2 spacecraft which would help
in long distance space flights.
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B. PREVIOUS TRIPS especially girls in Middle Eastern countries. She

conducted a few experiments on behalf of the
European Space Agency. The experiments were
We all know very well about some of the famous based on research on anaemia and consequences
trips that have been made to space, starting from of space radiation on the crew members of ISS.
the first one by Russia, when they sent Yuri
Gagarin into space. This of course was the start of
the “Space Race’’. In response to this, the USA
sent a group of people to the moon and in the
process, Neil Armstrong became the first human
to ever set foot on the moon. Since then we have
come down a long way forward, as now we are
not only talking about going to Mars but also
sending tourists to space which would have
sounded absurd a few decades ago.

The first tourist into space was Dennis Tito. He

bought a ticket to the Mir space station through
MirCorp, a Russian commercial spaceflight
company. Ultimately, Tito had to work with Space
Adventures to transfer his ticket to the
International Space Station (ISS) because Mir was
decommissioned in 2001. In April 2001, Tito
became the first private citizen to purchase a
ticket to space. He spent a total of 8 days on the
ISS.

Some of the other private tourists that have been

to space are:
 Mark Shuttleworth | Entrepreneur | 2002
 Gregory Olson | Engineer | 2005
 Anousheh Ansari | Businesswoman | 2006
 Charles Simonyi | Software Architect |
2007 & 2009
 Richard Garriott | Game Developer | 2008
 Guy Laliberté | Artist | 2009

Thus, in the last decade, more than half a dozen

private space flights have taken off and many of
them were for personal gain. People who could
shell out that kind of money took the opportunity
and went for the most amazing tour in their lives.
Gregory Olson performed some remote sensing
experiments during the trip. Charles Simonyi and
Richard Garriott were amateur radio operators, so
they had conversations to earth for social causes.
Guy Laliberté dedicated his journey to space to
cause social awareness and performed artistic
performances across the globe and on ISS. The
journey for Anousheh Ansari was very hard and
inspiring. Not only was she the first Iranian to
space but also the first self-funded woman into
space. She hopes to inspire young people,
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