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This is definitely useful tech for space tourism. We can debate the size of the market and the exact demand curve, but I’m sure there are a decent number of peo

This is definitely useful tech for space tourism. We can debate the size of the market and the exact demand curve, but I’m sure there are a decent number of people who will pay the expected sticker price of a few hundred K to go to space. And prices will only go down.

uoaei 5y ago
Down to what? Branson advertises it as "democratizing space" but surely you can't expect even 99% of the world's population to comfortably afford space travel in the next 50-100 years?
- dwaltrip 5y ago
  I’m 31 and I’d wager I’ll be able to go to orbit for $10k or less (in 2021 dollars) in my lifetime. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens in the next 20 years. I would leap to do so :) Hell I would probably be willing to pay a bit more. It’s not that cheap but many people go on vacations for a similar price every few years. Of course, that is a step up from these sub-orbital flights. They are related though. Progress in sub-orbital tourism will help pave the way for orbital tourism and beyond. Many signs are pointing to the space ecosystem and related technologies growing and developing in an incredible way in the coming decades, after multiple decades of relative stagnation.
  - krapp 5y ago
    Bear in mind that the world is entering a state of environmental collapse, and that automation, AI and globalism are going to render many millions of people without work in the near future. The disparity between rich and poor is only going to widen, and the middle is going to disappear. By the time this materializes, only the rich will be able to afford it, because only the rich will have $10k free to spend on anything. Everyone else will be gigging in the wasteland for autonomous corporations, up to their knees in radioactive iodine, for subsistence wages in femtobitcoins.
    - dwaltrip 5y ago
      I agree we have monumental challenges ahead of us, and that we will have to work hard together to overcome them. I’m hopeful the outcome won’t be as dire as you describe.

uoaei 5y ago

Down to what? Branson advertises it as "democratizing space" but surely you can't expect even 99% of the world's population to comfortably afford space travel in the next 50-100 years?

dwaltrip 5y ago
I’m 31 and I’d wager I’ll be able to go to orbit for $10k or less (in 2021 dollars) in my lifetime. I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens in the next 20 years. I would leap to do so :) Hell I would probably be willing to pay a bit more. It’s not that cheap but many people go on vacations for a similar price every few years. Of course, that is a step up from these sub-orbital flights. They are related though. Progress in sub-orbital tourism will help pave the way for orbital tourism and beyond. Many signs are pointing to the space ecosystem and related technologies growing and developing in an incredible way in the coming decades, after multiple decades of relative stagnation.
- krapp 5y ago
  Bear in mind that the world is entering a state of environmental collapse, and that automation, AI and globalism are going to render many millions of people without work in the near future. The disparity between rich and poor is only going to widen, and the middle is going to disappear. By the time this materializes, only the rich will be able to afford it, because only the rich will have $10k free to spend on anything. Everyone else will be gigging in the wasteland for autonomous corporations, up to their knees in radioactive iodine, for subsistence wages in femtobitcoins.
  - dwaltrip 5y ago
    I agree we have monumental challenges ahead of us, and that we will have to work hard together to overcome them. I’m hopeful the outcome won’t be as dire as you describe.