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Reid Fisher
Dr. Erin Mclaughlin
WR 13300
November 15th, 2014
Commercialized Space Travel: A Giant Step for Mankind
Outer Space has been traveled by man since the early 1960s. Space travel originated
after World War II in the infamous space race between Russia and the United States. Both sides
pushed each others technological limits to the point where mankind was accomplishing amazing
things. The first satellite Sputnik sparked the beginning of the space era and led to mind boggling
trips to the outer edges of the atmosphere and beyond. Soon after the first satellite came the first
man in space leading up to the first man in orbit. The climax of the Space Race came on July 20,
1969 when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. This moment showed what mankind was
capable of accomplishing in such a short time and with limited technology. The most amazing
part is that it was accomplished almost half a decade ago.
The technology used in 1969 is unparallel to the advancement of technology in the world
today. The technology only accessible to top Government programs like NASA no longer exists.
Space exploration is a whole new ball game now. The multimedia technology developed in
private companies makes government funding of low earth orbit satellites unnecessary unless
they serve some security or military purpose. These new private companies can relieve some of
NASAs responsibilities involved with satellites allowing them to extend its boundaries in space
accomplishing more amazing things. With access to incredible audio and visual equipment
private companies trips to space are much more plausible.

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Private space exploration companies are still on the rise which begs the question of who
will be the new big players in space with NASA out of the question. The biggest company out
there is called Space Exploration Technologies Corporation also known as SpaceX. Led by the
ambitious Elon Musk, SpaceX talks of one day enabling life on mars. Landing man on mars still
seems far into the future but much will be accomplished along the way. There are many more
short term and feasible goals that can go along with private space companies.
Some of these smaller goals include things that could be accomplished in the near future.
With the new Falcon 9 rocket design, Musk claims SpaceX is on track to sending passengers up
to the International Space Station. While making public trips to space is very intriguing and
could take off in the near future, the debate remains whether the government should be
participating in something like this. Do American tax-payers want their money going toward
space travel still? All it may serve is an interesting trip for the wealthy general population who
would want to travel to space. Another issue up for debate is how the government will plan to
regulate commercial space travel.
Steven Freeland, Professor of International Law at University of Melbourne, claims that
there are many legal concerns with private and tourist space travel. There are many holes the
government needs to fill before public trips to space quickly become available to the general
public. Unfortunately, not many governments are acting on this pressing issue. In order for
private companies to achieve the goal of taking over present satellite launches there needs to be
more legal action on what companies can and cant do. Soon Earths orbit will seem like another
highway for companies to put satellites and maybe even transport things which is why the
government needs to regulate how private companies take charge in this endeavor.

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The United States government has been recently advocating for installment of private
space travel. Their first big move toward this was the cancellation of the Constellation, which
was the Space program that was going to replace the shuttle. The Obama administration recently
announced that NASA will leave manned space flights to the private sector. According to David
Freeman, senior science writer for the Huffington Post, NASA will write off most of the $9
billion invested so far in Constellation and the agency will provide seed money to start-ups such
as SpaceX, then agree to buy tickets to the space station on their rockets. If the government
goes through with this then this will be a huge boost to these fast growing firms. These
companies are growing substantially fast and have access to the best technology out there.
Switching from the public to private sector is not as challenging as one may think. NASA
already outsources all of its parts to private contractors. John Edwards, a space systems analyst
for research firm Forecast International claims The nuts and bolts of commercial space travel
shouldnt be hard to put together. The expertise is already put together with companies like
Boeing, Lockheed, and Northrop Grumman. Edwards is making the point that not all the
brightest rocket scientists and engineers are working for NASA anymore and neither are the
contractors making parts strictly for NASA. Now companies like Boeing are capable of
producing products for private companies allowing them to catch up with the huge head start
NASA had. Back in the early 1960s and 1970s, parts to the rockets NASA used were made
strictly for them. This levels the playing field for private companies as far as technology for lowearth orbit goes. NASA should use its government funding to branch out on bigger projects that
will lead to bigger strides in space exploration. Charles Beichman, executive director of the
Michelson Science Center at the California Institute of Technology says NASA should focus on
bigger projects like returning to the moon and going to Mars. There isnt much more to be

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accomplished for NASA in low earth orbits. Commercialization of low earth orbit in turn
contributes to the economy, which should be a big reason why commercialization should be
urged.
Sending satellites into low earth orbit serves as greater benefit to the economy when it is
performed by private companies. What has the potential of kicking off private space companies
and the space economy is microgravity manufacturing. When satellites and spacecrafts orbit the
Earth they are experiencing free fall. When experiencing free fall it is the equivalent of feeling
weightless and being in zero-gravity. The benefit of zero-gravity is that it enables the production
of unusually large crystals, perfect ball bearings and other spherical products. Although the
likelihood of this is slim, its still another reason why private companies deserve a shot. The
greatest chance private companies have of taking off is if space tourism catches on.
The issue over whether space tourism will catch on has been up for debate for years.
Most Corporate space officials typically look at space tourism as the goal. The problem seems to
be the amount of money it would cost a passenger to go up there. There already have been
passengers paying for a trip to the ISS (International Space Station), but the costs were between
thirty and fifty million dollars. Costs like this are simply unfeasible at the moment. Space
companies must find a way to bring this down in order to have a big impact on low-earth orbit
satellites and they will in the near future.
There are many reasons to believe NASA could go farther and make more exciting space
accomplishments in our lifetime. NASA claims on their website that one of their more recent
goals is to land humans on an asteroid in the next decade. This would be another monumental
step for mankind similar to landing on the moon. The logistics of this trip are still being studied

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and whether or not this will actually happen within the next decade is still up in the air. This was
not the only intriguing trip NASA is already discussing about their programs future.
Also mentioned by NASA was a manned flight to mars. A trip to Mars wont happen
until much farther in the future because of the treacherous living conditions. Several launches
have successfully landed on Mars with robots roaming the surface. Unless a one way rocket is
sent soon chances are very slim in the near future. NASA claimed a trip to mars wouldnt happen
until the 2030s at the soonest. The mere fact that NASA is already looking into this makes it
quite obvious that they should no longer have to focus on low earth orbit missions.
One may argue that there isnt as much monetary benefit for NASA to be making these
amazing trips therefore they should continue with low earth orbit. Landing man on an asteroid
would be really cool but its possible that the costs would outweigh the benefits. This is hard to
prove because we are unsure of the possible materials that could be found on the trip as well as
the popularity of a successful trip in multimedia and all over the world. The main concern for the
US government seems to be how this may affect taxes and if this will upset American citizens.
NASA announced that its federal budget for the fiscal year of 2015 is 17.5 billion
dollars which is barely less than the budget for 2014 whichs was 17.6 billion. For those
concerned that NASA is taking up too much of the US government budget need to look at some
of the statistics. The United States spends 757 billion dollars on defense alone, while spending
32.6 billion on housing and urban development. Making further advancements in space should
be a concern for the US government which is why the budget should not be diminished but what
the money goes toward should change. As stated earlier, money from the government budget
should not be going toward more missions in low earth orbit, but too much more advanced
missions. Some of what is being developed in private companies is actually contributing to some

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of NASAs future missions, which causes many to believe private companies and NASA should
partner up.
In order for NASA to accomplish some of these far fetched missions they must team up
with private companies such as SpaceX. Teaming up with SpaceX may keep costs down for the
government while boosting the private companies success in space. With each institution
focusing on what it does best, they can work together to generate greater total value by providing
a necessary service while reducing the overall cost (Anderson.) This could be the best solution to
NASAs scrutiny over budget issues. This is an innovative method which instead of putting
NASA up against private companies like SpaceX, it teams them up giving a far greater result.
This partnership will benefit SpaceX because trying to build a space program from the ground up
in a purely commercial environment is extremely difficult. NASA will no longer need to waste
its budget under low earth transportation and by working with multiple commercial partners the
US government will maintain some level of control over pricing changes (Anderson.) The
groundbreaking outcome will result from a much greater amount of brain power than there was
when both were separate.
NASA is looking into a proposal called Red Dragon that would use a SpaceX rocket for
less expensive unmanned missions (Patterson.) The attraction to this plan is merely the lack of
cost. Pete Warden, director of NASAs Ames Research Center, stated A Dragon Capsule on a
Falcon Heavy (rocket) could go to Mars for hundreds of millions of dollars, not billions.
SpaceX is already planning its launch of the Dragon capsule to dock on the International Space
Station. SpaceX plans to keep upgrading this rocket for further trips with NASA.
Technologys rapid growth causes many to believe private companies are ready for
making low Earth orbit missions on a consistent basis. We landed on the moon before word

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processors, hand held calculators, and cassette tape recorders were invented. Low earth orbit
satellites should seem like a walk in the park with the amount of amazing technology access to
the world. With access to such amazing technology there are still many concerns about the safety
of private missions. The big issue with flights to space is one small mishap can cause
catastrophic results. When simply in an airplane there are much simpler techniques to avoid
problems during flight. Test runs for rockets are way more expensive and wont make sense from
a business perspective. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, says the risks need to be communicated
clearly, and the public then will know enough to accept or reject space travel (Dignan.) To the
common citizen it may seem like a risk, but if one observes the ground-breaking things NASA
and other private companies are accomplishing they will notice just how jaw-dropping these
innovations are.
A new satellite technology called Spiderfab includes the construction of large and
significantly light-weight structures that will reduce launch mass and will allow them to be
launched with much smaller and inexpensive rockets. Robert Braun, principal investigator for
NASAs Propulsive Descent Technologies project spoke of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket saying
This is the first high-fidelity data set of a rocket system firing into its direction of travel while
traveling at supersonic speeds within Mars-relevant conditions. Not only is the technology of
SpaceX capable of sending low earth orbit satellites, but is also capable of contributing to
NASAs big plans of landing man safely on Mars. With access to 3d printers, engineers are able
to use 3d printed rocket engine parts that can withstand extremely high temperatures. One of
NASAs most recent technological developments was the Curiosity Rover/Robot on Mars.
Curiosity is powered by a radioisotope generator and includes several instruments allowing it
analyze samples of materials found on Mars (Patterson.) It will spend another two years roaming

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the surface of Mars looking for signs of life. The technology is available to make this next step
of sending private rockets consistently and advance mankind even further into the amazing
mystery that is outer space.
A new and different type of space travel is upon us. The NASA of the 1900s that
everyone grew up with is changing for the better because of private space companies. Allowing
the private sector to take up a majority of near earth orbit opens up so much more for NASA.
This allows for people to finally see the benefits that can come of space travel. Commercialized
space companies are speeding up NASAs pursuit of landing man on mars. Through the
combination of innovative minds at companies like SpaceX and NASA, people should expect big
things to happen over the next couple decades similar to mans landing on the moon. The
technology available in the present-day is extremely innovative and groundbreaking. Whats
most exciting is engineers are improving on this technology everyday. The government no longer
needs to budget for low earth orbit satellites with the existence of commercial space travel. Space
is no longer exclusive to government programs. Soon everyone will have an opportunity to be an
astronaut. Space experts will make the claim that commercialized space travel is the extra boost
mankind needs to further advance our boundaries similar to the day Neil Armstrong landed on
the moon.
Works Cited Page
Freeman, David H. "Jump-Starting the Orbital Economy." Scientific American, Jan. 2009. Web.
Chandler, David. "The Rockets Are Coming: A Flurry of Launches Makes 2006 a Big Year for
Private Spacecraft." Technology Review, Sept.-Oct. 2006. Web.
Freeland, Steven. "Fly Me To The Moon: How Will International Law Cope With Commercial
Space Tourism?" Melbourne Journal of International Law. University of Melbourne, 1 Nov.
2010. Web.

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"Http://search.proquest.com.proxy.library.nd.edu/docview/213356391?accountid=12874."
Baseline. Ziff Davis Media, 17 Sept. 2005. Web.
Dubbs, Chris, and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom. Realizing Tomorrow: The Path to Private
Spaceflight. Lincoln, Neb.: U of Nebraska, 2011. Print.
Patterson, Tom. Mars Rover: Is this really necessary? Cnn.com. Cnn, 7 Aug. 2012. Web.
Klotz, Irene. A Budget Trip to Mars: DNews. Discovery News, 2 Aug. 2011. Web.

We landed on the moon before word processors, hand held calculators, cell phones, video games,
walkman, and cassette tape recorders were invented