Catch-Up: Rocketplane Needs More Funding

Well, it was reported in mid-October (thanks again, NBC) that Rocketplane Global is having a few funding issues, possibly due to the economic downturn.

Specifically, The Journal Record, a newspaper from Oklahoma where Rocketplane is based, interviewed the company's CTO, Dave Faulkner. Among other things, Faulkner seemed to indicate that development on the Rocketplane XP had halted completely until more funding is found. Specifically, he stated:

"Rocketplane has scaled way back to the point where the company is now dedicated solely to fundraising, recently letting go of a few more part-time workers."

Rocketplane hasn't made any significant announcements since then. However, it's really no surprise that luxuries like space tourism would have to be put on hold during this economic downturn.

Progress: 4.03%  Flight Time: 0:06:05

Rocketplane Announces Space Weddings

Well, it was inevitable, but now it's official. Rocketplane Kistler, creator of the upcoming Rocketplane XP spacecraft, has announced the availability of space weddings.

The cost of the weddings will be about $2,200,000, and will include everything from the reception to the wedding dress to a ride into space. Because the "space" part of the flight only lasts a few minutes, most of the ceremony will be held on the ground, with the final vows being completed during the flight. The first space weddings are expected to take place in 2011.

And on the space honeymoon front? Well, a NASA adviser has a few things to say about that. Yes, that is inevitable too.

Progress: 4.03%  Flight Time: 0:06:05

Rocketplane Acquires a New Test Pilot

Wow, what a week for space tourism!

And what a week to not have time to write about it!

Seriously, folks, I feel kind of pinned down here! This week has been a treasure-trove of news about space tourism, but at the same time, I have a new roommate moving in, I'm in the beginning stages of starting a new business, and several other changes have been occurring with my life (more on all those later), and I have had no time to write about any of this! But I intend to turn that around, one piece of news at a time. I'll start with a bit of news I learned about Sunday; Rocketplane Global has made some organizational changes, including having Paul Metz join the company as Vice President and Chief Test Pilot.

Rocketplane Global was founded in 2001 in Oklahoma City, OK, and they opened their first office in May 2004. Since then, they have grown to over 60 people, mainly designing the planned Rocketplane XP spacecraft. If you think that's not enough people, I would remind you that SpaceShipOne was designed and built by around 120 people, so it's definitely possible.

Rocketplane's immediate plans are the design of the XP, but their long-term plans involve the development of a fleet of various vehicles for suborbital and orbital tourism, and also ultrafast point-to-point travel. The XP itself is expected to be a single craft design, with jet engines that allow it to take off and climb into the atmosphere, and a rocket engine to allow it to climb into space.

Rocketplane is also in development of Spaceport Oklahoma, located near the town of Clinton. Spaceport Oklahoma, located on the Clinton-Sherman air force base, includes the third longest runway in North America and serves as an alternate landing site for the space shuttle.

Paul Metz, before becoming Rocketplane's test pilot, was a test pilot for Lockheed Martin, and earlier in his career, he was a US Air Force fighter pilot.

Beyond these items, information about the company's progress in developing of their space program is sparse, but it appears to be active and advancing, so I'll keep an ear out for more!

Progress: 3.89%  Flight Time: 0:05:50

Even More Space Tourism Companies

I can hardly believe it myself, but after the two lists of space tourism companies that I originally wrote up, I still missed a few! I'm completely astounded at the sheer number of these companies that I have found since starting research for this site! You can see my original list of nine here, and my additional list of five here. So without further ado, in no particular order this time:

PlanetSpace
PlanetSpace is a Chicago-based company that intends to provide many different kinds of spaceflight services, including satellite launches, crew and supply transfer to the International Space Station, (interestingly) global travel, and last but not least, space tourism. They have a very unique and cool-looking spacecraft design in mind called the Silver Dart, which will have the capability to be reconfigured for a variety of purposes, from payload delivery to extended manned orbital missions. Their space tourism craft, however, is called the Arrow. The Arrow is a two-stage rocket that will carry passengers to the brink of space, then will re-enter the atmosphere and slow itself with parachutes and a two-stage descent system. I could find few details on any sort of timeline or development progress, but they claim they will be taking reservations soon.

Alltra
Alltra (short for All Transport) is a German company interested in constructing a huge space habitat called The Space Hotel Berlin. Currently, they only appear to be involved in promoting space tourism, and in a hybrid rocket propulsion project, but if ambition is a driving force of innovation, who knows? They really could put their plans to practice.

The da Vinci Project and The DreamSpace Group
The da Vinci Project was founded in 1996 to participate in the Ansari X-Prize competition. They had a unique design involving lifting a rocket to 70,000 feet with a helium balloon before igniting it. Their vision has always involved a goal of space tourism. They now participate in the annual X-Prize Cup. Their planned design involved a nine-person sub-orbital craft, with future aspirations of orbital flight and beyond. More recently, they partnered with the DreamSpace Group, a company founded by the founder of The da Vinci Project, to design the XF1, a realization of The da Vinci Project's original design. However, no new news has come out of these companies recently; the 2007 expected test date for the XF1 has come and gone without a peep, and DreamSpace's website seems to have disappeared.

G.A.P Adventures
This us a rather unorthodox space tourism company. Most space tourism endeavors begin with a company that already has some sort of atmospheric or spaceflight capabilities to build from. G.A.P Adventures takes the opposite approach; they're a tourism company seeking to add space to their extensive list of destinations. They announced these intentions last November, and they are starting with three options that simulate spaceflight in various ways (though they don't offer true spaceflight yet). They plan to allow passengers to fly to 60,000 of space aboard a Russian MIG-31 fighter jet, they will take passengers on parabolic flights to simulate zero-gravity, and they will send tourists through five days of Cosmonaut training. These may be good options for those who have no wish to shell out the money for true spaceflight, but are still interested in a similar experience.

Incredible Adventures
So long as we're going to mention companies offering simulated spaceflight experiences, we should mention Incredible Adventures. Like G.A.P Adventures, they offer several forms of space-like experiences, including parabolic flights simulating zero gravity, cosmonaut training, and aircraft flights to the upper atmosphere. However, they have current plans to offer suborbital spaceflight as well, via the Rocketplane XP spacecraft currently being developed.

Interorbital Systems
Interorbital Systems is a company based in Mojave, California, and is currently in the process of developing systems capable of carrying tourists into orbit. They have been working with various spaceflight technologies since their founding in 1996, and they believe they have sufficient technology to construct an orbital spacecraft and begin regular tourist orbital operations by late 2009. Their starting cost is $2 million, but to infuse some extra money in their development project, they have a special "free trip to space" offer. The deal is this: you give them $250,000 now (an eighth of the expected standard price), they take you to space when they begin operations, and two years after your flight, they give your money back. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me! If I was able to get my hands on hat kind of money, I would seriously consider going for it. There's only 9 more tickets available in this offer, so if you like the idea, you had better contact them soon.
Price:
Proposed orbital flights: $2,000,000

Masten Space
How could I forget Masten Space? And twice, no less? I've been following this company for ages! Masten Space is a company that has a very organized planned process for designing spacecraft for multiple applications, including extra-orbital activities, extra-planetary landing and takeoff, and of course, space tourism. Specifically, they have an interest in transferring crew to the International Space Station for governments and tourists to the space complex being designed by Bigelow Aerospace. Currently, they are designing the systems necessary for the vertical takeoff and landing capabilities that their spacecraft are planned to have.

Micro-Space
The details I've managed to gather about this one are rather sketchy, but in short, Micro-Space fully intends to develop technologies to bring space travel (specifically orbital and deep-space travel) down to the $10-$20 million range. Though the details, again, are sketchy, they do seem to have something to back their claims, because they successfully tested two of the ultra-light rockets that they plan on using for these purposes back in 2004.

I'm afraid I'll have to end it here; I've stumbled across so many more companies, I've literally run out of room to label this post with all their names! Probably best that I break this up into two posts anyway, so look for more tomorrow!

Progress: 3.24%  Flight Time: 0:04:51

More Potential Space Tourism Companies

Okay, okay, I missed a few, I admit it! There are just so (surprisingly) many space tourism companies out there, it's hard not to miss a few. If you want to read my original list, it's here, but here's details on a few more companies that might have a future interest in sending you to space!

LiftPort Group
The LiftPort group is a corporation that is affiliated with several companies with the common interest in building a space elevator. That's right, folks, a space elevator! They plan on developing the technology required to suspend a satellite in orbit and tether it to a platform floating in the South Pacific with a couple of ribbons made from carbon nanotubes thousands of miles long. These ribbons will support lifters (powered by ground-based lasers) that will be able to carry loads into orbit and back. Quite an endeavor! However, they have most of the physics worked out, and it seems quite feasible. So far, they have successfully suspended a tethered platform a mile up (via propellants) and had prototype lifters climb up and down the tether. They plan to have their first full-scale lift launch on October 27, 3031. Tickets are available now! (However, each ticket is only good to have one ounce lifted into orbit.)
Price:
Proposed orbital lifts: $25 per ounce

Armadillo Aerospace
Armadillo Aerospace was founded in the year 2000, and has a stated goal of sub-orbital space tourism, and log-term goals of orbital manned space flight. Their organization is relatively small, but they have had some success in the design and construction of proof-of-concept space vehicle components. They were a competitor in the original Ansari X-Prize, and they compete today in the X-Prize Cup. Armadillo's creations rely on computer-controlled stabilization systems instead of being aerodynamic, and can therefore be quite unique in design. In 2004, they demonstrated the third unmanned vehicle in history capable of vertical takeoff and landing. They are currently researching solutions for lunar-lander and orbital launch vehicles. And they have a really cool little mascot named Widget.

ARCA
ARCA (Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association) is an organization financed by a group of European companies. Like Armadillo Aerospace, they were one of the participants in the original Ansari X-Prize competition, and they are competitors today in the X-Prize cup. Like Scaled Composites, they specialize partly in composite materials, and in fact built and launched the first rocket constructed of composite materials. They have a couple of manned space-related projects in the works, and while I haven't seen any officially announced plans for them to venture into space tourism, it remains a possibility.

Rocketplane Global
Rocketplane Global was founded in Oklahoma in 2001. The company's sole purpose is the development of commercial space travel. They are currently developing the XP, a spacecraft that looks strikingly like a business jet; the main difference is the giant rocket built into the back. It will carry a pilot and five passengers, and unlike SpaceShipTwo, it will be capable of powered flight after re-entry. The vehicle's design was announced late last year, along with a rough timeline of flight tests in 2009 and initial tourist flights in 2010.
Price:
Proposed sub-orbital flights: $250,000

XCOR Aerospace
XCOR designs rockets and vehicles for space agencies all over the world. Among their current projects is a design for a methane rocket engine to be installed on the lunar return vehicle that will be used by NASA when they return to the moon. More to the point, though, they are developing the Xerus, a low-budget sub-orbital space plane that will carry one pilot and one passenger to the edge of space and back. They intend this vehicle to be used for space tourism.

And well, those are all of the potential space tourism companies I am aware of. Those, along with my original list of nine, bring the number up to no less than fourteen companies actively developing systems that could enable tourists to take to space! Imagine, if even two or three of these companies succeed in their efforts, we could have all sorts of options for different forms of spaceflight, and a lot of competition four our space tourism dollars. These are exciting times indeed!

Progress: 3.24%  Flight Time: 0:04:51