December 15, 2030 - There's no doubt what the most popular
Christmas present will be this year. Influenced by the launch of
the first manned mission to Mars next month, you will most
likely get a present with stars, a gift card for a spacetrip.
The interest in the suborbital trips (100 km above the surface
of the Earth) have grown steadily since the launch 20 years ago,
but the market has basically exploded this year since the
official announcement of the Mars mission. More low cost
spacelines have entered the market and you can now find
suborbital flights for as low as US$ 3,495.
Space tourism is one of the markets that have developed the most
during the last decade, with the opening of the Starbright Hotel on the moon, as well as the
low orbital hotels that started accepting guests. However,
accommodation in space is still expensive for the average
household, so the suborbital flights with thirty minutes
weightlessness during the three-hour flight, with four hours
preparation, will for some time be the most popular trip.
The spacelines might however in the future face fierce
competition from space elevators, like the one that are
projected for construction start within a couple of years. Once
it is fully functional it will start to ship cargo to space, but
it will as soon as possible accept passengers to get back the
giant investment. Even though the elevator become successful, it
will take several years before there will be more elevators in
the world, to get in the competition for the space traffic with
the spacelines.
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