http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete....html?ITO=1490

Might be a game changer

Alex

i wonder who the financier is.... not that many people can afford to put 1,8 bill behind a project just like that.

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It's amazing how any of these ventures try to make it sound like it's going to be a weekend trip affordable to everyone.

And; they always tie Spaceport into this. I doubt spaceport will ever get to the realm of orbital flight.

I'm sure more than 200 people have expressed an interest. That's probably 200 from those that can afford it.

Is it promising? Sure. In fact, I don't doubt that it might be doable in the time frame for that kind of investment.

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They will once they have money-paying customers lining up at their door.

Hasn't happened yet, though.

If they limit the velcro to the fingertips and toetips, sure. Otherwise, this will happen. "Wall-removal attendants available for a small additional fee..."

Orbital?
It's an inland launch site.
One thing Spaceport has going for it is the room for up and down. But; once you get those things on a trajectory over populated areas for orbital flight, I think there's going to be problems.
Just going sonic is a problem already.


Anyway; MSNBC's article has a (tiny) bit more.
Of course, transportation is extra...

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Do we have a launch vehicle to get the guests there?

If they turn it into permanent apartments, can I buy one? Hey, archeologists are only in the field half the year...

And don't worry, I have plenty of time to save up money.

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iirr, "Russian rockets" are to be used from a newly constructed 'spaceport' upon a Caribbean island I'd love to know if Russia has already agreed upon the use/purchase of their 'tech hardware' - or if its just wishful thinking so far. I'd bet that Russia would not shy away from guaranteed cash, though Could help pay for some of the recently announced stuff, 'eh?

Alex

Russia certainly never shies away from cash, but still 2012 timeframe sounds VERY soon.

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How does this old vaporware project constantly attract media attention? They haven't shone any evidence of anything, at all. No hardware, no planning, no contractors, no FUNDING, it's just a web design template as far as I can tell, nothings changed since 2007. The 2012 date is laughable.

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Could it be that this "russian hardware" is the Almaz / TKS capsule that has recently been bought by private investors?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excalibur_Almaz

There *is* FUNDING, per se. See that announcement again -> They now apparently have almost two Billion 'pounds' of financing, and have four different 'contractors' employed/committed It does appear that progress is being made well above the initial '07 concept announcement.

If you go to galacticsuite.com and click on #7, you can see the list of the four 'designers'/contractors. I have no idea as to how much has been done or whatever, but there is more to it now than before from what I can tell - and two billion gets a great start, IMO...

I agree the 2012 date seems VERY fast, unless there is some secret base already in progress, LOL.

Alex

Interesting, thanks. Quite the roster of persons 'onboard' at that company, too. Since the plan is to have four passengers with two astronaut-pilots per flight (iirr), does not fit the announcement, though (unless two launches at once?) Might be a fallback option?? Their site indicates that they, too, aim for 2012/2013 operations - seems 2012 keeps popping up as a date, LOL.

Alex

I'd like to point out that this group is in no way affiliated with my own organization's plan to find gullible rich people and brainwash them into thinking they have been into space.

Most of those are just planning organizations. The site says ""its construction plan requirements are currently underway".
I read that as there is no plan, and they are just trying to figure out what should be in the plan.

They also seem to not be using any launch technology that is in the works (or at least an orbital version of anything in the works).

It's all a fancy website with pretty pictures and no information.

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Wonderful idea. I could go back offshore and commute from orbit. It would be a rare case of home being more remote than the wellsite.

Sorry, but I'll believe it when I see it. (Or at the very least when I see something like Blue Origins test flight.) Such announcements had been made before, by other companies, and turned to be the case of "almost provided the money". Not exactly lying, but wishful thinking.

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Yeah, I don't think there are any billionaires who will give 1.7 Billion pounds to a project like this without seeing some real evidence that it will follow through.

Compare this with SpaceX, Bigelow, heck even Virgin Galactic. They obviously aren't serious, or have no idea what they're doing.

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I remember when PanAm was selling tickets way back when to eager space tourist. I have yet to see any of those people go into space! I'm with you, Ilya on this one. I'll believe it when I see it. But even if comes to pass, only the rich will be able to afford to go anyway. So, I don't see what all of the excitement is about.

A little dose of reality here: for every pound of payload (and that includes the weight of the fuel itself!) it takes 3 lbs of fuel to launch it into space.

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Hilton said 20 years ago they were going to be building an orbital hotel. Anyone taken a trip there? I think not. Bigelow is supposed to be working on an inflatable hotel, and Rutan certainly has concept drawings for one. I'm not holding my breath for any of this happening.

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It would be one heck of a commute, but the views would be great and it would be a good, quiet place to focus on my writing.

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I want to go back to the moon.
I don't care which rocket you use, whichever one you pick, I'll like it, I swear.
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek

If they couldn't save Concorde, and make it profitable, even refusing to
sell it for ready cash, it makes one wonder how shall they ever manage to
assemble an floating hotel in low earth orbit for fun and profit?
The costs of boosting the material alone are staggering.

Best regards,
Dan

for short stays the capsule delivering the tourists and pilots can contain all the supplies needed. the hotell then only has to contain power generation/storage enugh to power it. during times when nobody is around.
The rest is done by the capsule and it's environment control unit. (they need one annyhow to get to the hotell)

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Yet danscope's question are asking solid questions involving cash yet your answers are pie in the sky responses.

no. it was a response to the fact that boosting the hotel itself is staggering. I am showing that the hotel need not be big/massive nor does it need to take more than one launch to get it there. using falcon 9 that is a 100 mill launch cost or thereabouts. not exactly staggering in financial terms

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You are suggesting that the "hotel" is just one big playroom with some attached solar panels. But that's not what the actual company seems to be designing. The link in the OP shows artists impressions and a scale model which includes multiple docked modules. Something that seems unlikely to be launched on a single rocket.

Unless of course it's actually a 1:1 scale model.

And of course, the words in the article clinches it.

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More links on that here: Commercial orbital flight venture announced

Another promise with no delivery. Yawn. Call me when they actually open the doors on one of these Vaporwarehouses.

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lol. sad but true. without a real drop in launch costs then even a half inert playhouse is unlikely to happen. the only thing atm i think is going to hapen is that SpaceX is going to get the Dragon man rated at some point in the not too distant future. that will put them in business for making orbital joyrides for the very very rich. not that the market there is all that big

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