December 2009
Space Tourism
The first "private" spacecraft to ferry tourists to the edge of space is two years behind schedule. NASA's space shuttle is the first "commercial" spacecraft.
The Virgin Galactic owned SpaceShip Two is a 60-foot long, all-composite spacecraft designed by pioneering aerospace engineer Burt Rutan. It is capable of carrying a crew of two plus six passengers on sub-orbital flights. The goal of Virgin Galactic, the company founded by Richard Branson is to promote two-hour tours offering the "experience of space”, including weightlessness and 1,000-mile views, sixty miles above earth at a cost of $200,000 per passenger. An estimated 500 paying passengers will be transported in the first full year. So far, an estimated 300 customers have purchased tickets or put down deposits.
In the longer term, it is proposed that spacecraft would transport passengers from continent to continent.
Safety
Safety issues and other factors will delay the start of scheduled commercial trips from 2010 to 2012 at the earliest.
Cost
According to the WSJ, "some industry officials have estimated that Virgin Galactic may end up spending more than $600M to build and test its full fleet of aircraft and space vehicles." Branson sold a 32% stake in Virgin Galactic to Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments for a reported $380M. The funds are to be used to build a spacecraft and to develop technology to launch small satellites from the spaceship.
Schedule
The flight schedule is based on an average of one flight transporting six passengers every four days. This schedule is down on the projected 50,000 passengers over a ten-year period.
Competition
Virgin Galactic faces competition from XCOR Aerospace based in New Mexico.
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Travel Frustrations Dip
…Except over Costs
The quarterly barometer that tracks traveler frustrations with such headaches as cost, safety and service found movement in both directions during the past summer though, overall, the "frustration factor" stood at 55.1 percent, dipping 2.4 points since March 2008 but still above the 53.9 point level reported last summer. (Graphic: Business Wire) Travel Frustrations Dip…Except over Costs.
About the survey:
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted Aug. 11-19, 2008. For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 2,006 Americans (including 1,025 recent travelers) was interviewed by telephone via Ipsos’ U.S. Telephone Express omnibus. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within ±2.2 percentage points (3.1% for recent travelers), 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data was weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
AviationRegister E-Xpert Witness Journal
Global hotel room rates at their lowest for five years.
The average price of a hotel room around the world fell by 17% in the first six months of 2009, driven by price drops across every continent according to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index.
Hotel prices in June 2009 were one sixth lower than they were the year before and room rates were just 1% above their level in January 2004.
HPI is based on prices actually paid by customers at 78,000 hotels across 13,000 locations around the world.
The Hotels.com HPI tracks the real prices paid per hotel room rather than advertised rates.
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Shuttle vs. commercial aircraft.
NASA's space shuttle is the first commercial spacecraft.
It is about the size of an A320 or B737 and it is fitted with three engines plus boosters.
It takes four days to prepare the shuttle from countdoown to launch. It burns 12 tons of fuel per second.
The shuttle is launced in a vertical position. Two minutes after lift-off, the shuttle reaches a vertical distance of 28 miles and travels at about 3,000 mph. It takes the shuttle approximately forty-five minutes after lift-off to reach its orbit.The shuttle assumes a low-Earth orbit, typically 150 to 250 miles above sea level, where it travels at about 17,600 mph.
It takes the shuttle 22 minutes to travel from Florida to Europe and/or Africa. The typical mission is 180 days from take off to landing.
