History and Innovation

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In air banking. Conceptual image of VMS Eve SpaceShip Two in flight - Virgin Galactic

Are ventures like Virgin Galactic nothing more than an expensive joy ride for the rich?

Virgin Galactic has booked over 500 passengers on a trip to space, which costs $200,000 per ticket. The price includes 2 days of flight preparation, and a trip to space and a feeling of weightlessness that lasts about 4 minutes...

What? 4 minutes? That's it? For $200,000 I get 4 minutes in space?

Although it is much cheaper than what it costs to send a NASA Astronaut to space (which hovers somewhere around $50 million), $200,000 is still expensive to say you were in space for 4 minutes. Although it is very subtle, the fact that the price has been dropped so low, and you don't have to be deemed a government approved astronaut to go is a big deal. We must look at companies like Virgin Galactic, XCOR, Space Adventures, and other space tourism companies in the context of history and innovation.

In this post, we will look into the development and history of great things that have changed the way we lived, and why we can be optimistic that space travel will fall along the same progression.

History can't tell us everything, but it helps.

We tend to forget how many things we take for granted in this world. We especially forget about the things which, when they were initially conceived, were too expensive for everyone but the rich. Let us run through some examples and refresh our memory...

Automobiles

This is my steam powered tricycle with pneumatic tires...Ladies... ;)

Automobiles have been around since the late 1700's. The steam-powered locomotive had been around for some time, so naturally engineers tried to find ways to use smaller, cheaper versions that may propel a wagon or passenger car.  In the beginning of the 1800's, the automobile had a top speed of 2-4 mph, which is the average speed you walk. It could not travel far, and was only affordable by the rich. Near the end of the 1800's, automobiles were reaching speeds close to 100 mph with the invention of the 4 cylinder, 4 stroke engine, and the carburetor. Not until Fords Model T was introduced in 1908, more than 100 years after the first steam powered automobile, were automobiles cheap enough for the middle class.

Aircraft

 The Douglas DC-3 - Boeing

Although it is still not that cheap today to own and maintain your own private aircraft, commercial air travel to anywhere in the world has come down drastically. Aircraft that were successful enough to travel such long distances would take a while to develop even after the first successful flight in 1903. The U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission website had a great essay which discussed the rocky start of the commercial aviation industry:

"When Orville and Wilbur Wright flew history's first airplane for 120 short feet (36-1/2 meters) in North Carolina in 1903, the significance of their new invention was of course not yet apparent. The first passenger planes, barely 20 years later, did little to change that view. Several airmail services flying for the Post Office added a few seats for extra revenue, but their planes were noisy, cold, and uncomfortable. They couldn't fly over mountains, so passengers took trains for part of their journey. Nor could these planes, such as the Ford Trimotor, carry enough seats to make passenger traffic profitable. The train was still the way to go." (Source)

The first flight from New York to Paris was successfully accomplished by Charles Lindbergh as part of the Orteig Prize in 1927. This greatly eased the mind of the public when it came to flying safety. Commercial aviation would not take off until the 1930's, with the introduction of the Douglas DC-2, and DC-3, which helped ease passengers safety concerns through noise and vibration dampening techniques, and a larger passenger cabin. People flying in the 1930's either were rich, or had their ticket paid for by a company they worked for. Also, people who chose to fly in the 1930's only amounted to about 7-8% of the total travelers who went by train, which was still a lot cheaper, and reliable (source). 

Computers

The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

If we take anything for granted in this world, it is the invention of the personal computer. The amazing amount of knowledge and power we have in devices that fit in our hands, is truly a page of science fiction come to reality. Although there may have been other computers at the time, most historians say the first all purpose computer was built in 1946, and it was known as the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). This computer weighed over 30 tons, and was filled with 19,000 vacuum tubes and 6,000 switches. During this time computers could not be mass produced, which meant that a computer was one of a kind, and very expensive, and not used at all by the public. The limited ability of the vacuum tube to make computers smaller led to the discovery of the transistor, and years later, the microprocessor. As years progressed, many different variations of vacuum tube or transistor filled computers made their way out. As companies adopted better, smaller technology, handheld calculators became available to the public, and a couple of years later, we had the personal computer introduced by Apple in 1976. Even with the introduction of the personal computer, it was not capable of much for the first couple of years, and still was relatively expensive. If you would like to see more on the history of the computer I would suggest these following sites:

http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/

My Final Thought - Luxury and Imagination

Up until 1908, what practical purpose did the car serve anyone, other than being a carriage for the rich, and being used in highly dangerous races? Why did people find it necessary to focus their attention on a vehicle which would not prove itself useful in speed or cost until more than 100 years later after it was first conceived? When aviation started, why would you want to trust your life to such a risky vehicle, when the train was cheap and reliable?  

It is easy to see why the questions above are absolutely ridiculous to ask now. We know the impact it has had on our world, and we know how much we depend on these things. But ALWAYS REMEMBER, there REALLY was a time when it was not ridiculous to ask these questions. The impact of these modes of transportation were not obvious. If we had denied our imaginations too early, then all the doubt we initally had about their impact would have become the truth.

There are things which we call luxury, defined as "an inessential, desirable item that is expensive or difficult to obtain." It is easy to say that space travel for the rich is not necessary, and it is desirable simply because of the fact the rich can brag about going to space. However, the long term effects that companies like Virgin Galactic, and other new space tourism companies have on our world we can't begin to imagine. No matter what happens with space tourism companies, the research done by them in the fields of aerodynamics, rocket propulsion, positioning and guidance systems, composites and many more fields will have long term impacts on our view of air and space travel.

By allowing those who have the money now to invest in a joy ride, we can assure that it does not just stay a joy ride, it will become much more to all of us. Research continues, breakthroughs will emerge, and the prices will fall dramatically. 

Thank you for reading!

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