29 July 2012
Added "Space Debris and Its Mitigation" to the archive.
16 July 2012
Space Future has been on something of a hiatus of late. With the concept of Space Tourism steadily increasing in acceptance, and the advances of commercial space, much of our purpose could be said to be achieved. But this industry is still nascent, and there's much to do. So...watch this space.
9 December 2010
Updated "What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace" to the 2009 revision.
7 December 2008
"What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace" is now the top entry on Space Future's Key Documents list.
30 November 2008
Added Lynx to the Vehicle Designs page.
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Media / General (Good)
10 September 2005 by Patrick Collins
Makes case for lunar development
The DVD "Gaia Selene: ...saving the Earth by colonising the Moon" by Screenwriter and Producer Charles Proser makes an unanswerable case that investing in developing space-faring capabilities such as large-scale solar energy and wireless power transmission, helium 3 collection and utilisation, and the use of other non-terrestrial resources including near-Earth asteroids and comets would pay a good return in the longer run.
/ General (Good)
15 January 2005 by Patrick Collins
...to Be Followed by an Even Better 2005?
For advocates of space tourism, the year 2004 can be conveniently summed up in one word: "SpaceShipOne". That project could hardly have gone better: after just three powered test-flights, starting on the centenary of the Wright brothers' first flight, SpaceShipOne reached space three times in 2004, thereby winning the Ansari X-Prize of $10 million.
News / Tourism (Good)
27 September 2004 by Patrick Collins
First Commercial Parabolic Flight Services Available in the USA
After taking eight years to get licenced to provide parabolic flight services to the general public, Zero Gravity Corporation finally started its long-awaited service on September 14.
Announcements / Power (Good)
27 June 2004 by Patrick Collins
June 30 through July 2
For the first time since the Paris conference in 1991, an international conference on space solar power is being held in Europe, sponsored primarily by the European Space Agency, ESA.
Opinion / Tourism (Good)
17 June 2004 by Patrick Collins
Space Future's View
There is considerable controversy about the June 21st flight of SpaceShipOne, with some commentators saying that it is of little importance. So here is Space Future's view.
News / Tourism (Good)
3 June 2004 by Patrick Collins
SpaceShipOne to Reach for Space on June 21
Scaled Composites has announced that SpaceShipOne will make its first flight to space on June 21, 2004 – a date that will live in the history of space flight along with those of other epoch-making flights, such as the first ever flight to space, by Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961, and the first private flight to space, by Dennis Tito on April 28, 2001.
Announcements / Tourism (None)
8 March 2004 by Patrick Collins
Promotes passenger space travel
On Thursday, March 4, 2004, the US House of Representatives approved legislation which is designed to promote the development of the emerging commercial human space flight industry.
News / Tourism (Good)
12 February 2004 by Patrick Collins
Aim to fly to space in 2006
In a characteristically stimulating presentation at the session on Space Tourism of the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF-2004) on Monday February 9, Chuck Lauer, Vice President for Business Development at Pioneer Rocketplane Inc, confirmed that the company had finalised an agreement with Spaceport Oklahoma (officially OSIDA, the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority) to develop the passenger-carrying XP Rocketplane, which will be capable of sub-orbital flights, at Burns Flat in Oklahoma. The XP is an adapted Learjet, with a rocket engine being developed by Orbitec Inc. It is not primarily targeting the “X Prize” but the sub-orbital passenger market, including tourism. “But if no-one else has won the X-Prize by 2006, then we will” Lauer said.
Publications / General (Good)
20 January 2004 by Patrick Collins
Identifies space tourism as important new possibility
The publishers’ blurb says it well:
/ General (Bad)
16 January 2004 by Patrick Collins
NASA’s economic madness continues
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