can somebody with personal funding go into space?

Hi, it got me thinking if a multi-billionaire e.g. bill gates, warren buffet or some sheiks ect wanted to spend billions of there own money would it be possible for them to go into space?, or even possible exploration to the moon or mars?. i mean they would probably have to build a completley new lauch pad ect?, and then there is the contractors to build the rockets?, and also the training to go into space. but with the right funds shall we say would it be possible for the individual to do so?, or get a bunch of astronauts to do the mission on your behalf. and if you could build the launch pad, have the contractors build a rocket ect; would the governemnet actualy allow the individual to go into space? or be against the idea?.

reply to post by apollospeed


Hello!

I believe that this is very possible. As a Christian, even I know that money is the true god of these ages. Not for me, but for the world in general. I would venture that enough money could buy you a Seat on a Shuttle or other craft.

I also read a post that there is a new Reality series, in which people actually try to win a seat in Space.

Thanks & Good Luck!

reply to post by apollospeed


yes they would. But they wouldnt build it themselves they would just buy already existing tech becuase its much much cheaper than developing everything yourself. Cheapest launch to LEO is the russian proton rocket at about $90million per launch.

Thats what private firms do when they want to launch a satellite.

[edit on 18-1-2010 by yeti101]

Richard Branson, of Virgin Mobile, is going for it

www.guardian.co.uk...

On a barren airstrip tucked into the edge of the desert, the 59-year-old billionaire will pull back the curtain on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo (SS2) – the carbon-composite craft about the size of a Gulfstream jet (and a third of the size of the Space Shuttle) which aims to carry paying passengers out of the Earth's atmosphere to the brink of space.

Already, 300 wealthy adventurers are said to have signed up for the proposed $200,000, two-and-a-half-hour flights – among them scientists Stephen Hawking and 90-year-old James Lovelock, and celebrities such as X-Men director Brian Singer and former Dallas star Victoria Principal. In stark contrast to the complexity of an astronaut's training, a flight with Virgin Galactic will only require three days' pre-training. It is rumoured that the very first passengers will be Branson himself, along with his two children and parents.

reply to post by Mr Headshot


thats sub orbital to 65 miles though. A long long way off LEO

Nobody provides a launch system to that altitude becuase its fairly useless. Thats the only reason they designed & built it themselves. But yeah nobody is stopping them.

[edit on 18-1-2010 by yeti101]

reply to post by apollospeed


NASA is already encouraging private industry to create and launch spacecraft.

Through NASA's C.O.T.S. Program (Commercial Orbital Transport Services), NASA is hoping private companies will be able to launch supplies to the space station -- than eventually payloads and even people into orbit.

The C.O.T.S. Program is pretty far along, and two companies -- "SpaceX" and "Orbital Sciences" -- are hoping to have a viable launch vehicle in a few years that would be able to send supplies to the Space Station.

C.O.T.S. - nasa.gov
C.O.T.S. - Wikipedia

The construction and launch of these spacecraft would be done totally by the private firm -- not a government agency.

[edit on 1/18/2010 by Box of Rain]

reply to post by yeti101


Fair enough, but even so; this technology will eventually be in the hands of billionaires such as branson, and then in the hands of the middle class sometime down the line.

It is possible I guess, although I have a question about the militarization of space, who "owns" the space up there?, and what about the classified satellites that orbit earth, any unwanted observer could be a potential danger to the industrial military complex and to national security. Virgin Galactic's spacecraft only leaves the atmosphere for a short period of time, not long enough to make exact obersvations, yet when space hotels find their way into orbit, wouldn't you think some people/governments would have a problem with that?

Maybe a silly question, but I heard there are several satellites equipped with nuclear warheads and other classified technology.

reply to post by Clairaudience


The Outer Space Treaty entered into force on the 10th of October 1967. It's a very, very interesting read.

reply to post by davesidious


I thank you a lot, this helps! Although part of my question will still remain in the open, will space tourism conflict with the militarization of space?!

James Lovelock is going into space....boy..how much CO2 will i have to be made not to use..or pay for...to make up for this green activists space trip?...

sure all you need is about 3 billion and youre set!

Originally posted by Air Force Ron
reply to post by apollospeed

 

I would venture that enough money could buy you a Seat on a Shuttle or other craft.

NASA does not sell rides to tourists on the shuttle. If they want to go to the ISS they have to go with the Russians. However a few years ago the Russians said they would quit selling trips because with the retirement of the shuttle the Russians would be pre-occupied with serious work.

So, NO!!!
You can't hitch a ride on the shuttle no matter how much money you have and unless they have changed their policy the Russians arn't offering rides either.

As far as building your own stuff and going to the Moon or something it is a difficult question. I remember when Spaceship1 went to the technical barrier of space hearing an interview with Burt Rutan where he stated his concerns for private space flight. He said that the laws and regulations for such craft do not exist and that the FAA can be very hard to deal with. He said that he could build a craft and then have the FAA tell him that the craft doesn't meet the requirements, but that they often don't tell you what would be acceptable. So in other words he could make redesign after redesign and get rejected time and time again without knowing what he would need to do to make it acceptable. Spaceship 1 won the Xprize in I think 2004 and Spaceship2 is supposed to start taking paying coustomers to the edge of space (not even close to LEO) in I think 2012 (or was it 2015, I forget at the moment). That's a long time to just take a proven vehicle sclae it up a little and ad some fancy leather seats. It makes me wonder if the gap between the two ships is because of regulation and government red tape (but that's just speculation on my part)

In addition you would need facilities around the world in order to track and communicate with you craft. and you may want landing areas in foriegn countrys. Currently we have strickt rules that forbid companys from exporting space tech to forign nations. This presented a problem when Richard branson formed Virgin Galactic in order to sell rides on Spaceship 2. Our laws wouldn't allow for this tech to be transfered even to our closest friends in the UK on even something as innocent as Spaceship2. I'm not sure how they got around this or if the laws were relaxed, but I remember it was a big kink in the plans for Virgin Galactic and almost certainly contributed to the delays in it's debut.

The point is that if for what ever reason, if the government wanted to keep you out of space or away from the Moon they could do it no matter how much you have in your bank account. They could simply tell you that your craft doesn't meet the required standards. Standards that don't even exist!!! They could toy around with you like this untill you have spent all your money and have gone out of bussiness.

I guess the real question is if the government has a reason to keep you out of space or not. I'm beggining to think they do.

Just so you know......

Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty deals with international responsibility, stating that "the activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty" and that States Parties shall bear international responsibility for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities.


You need permission from government to leave the planet.:shk:

reply to post by apollospeed


Already civilians with millions to spare has gone into space, no long ago last year a young women sold her business and used the money to get a trip into the space station.

It was in the news, I will try to find the article but I don't have her name.

BTW she said that it was worth every penny she spend.



[edit on 28-1-2010 by marg6043]

reply to post by marg6043


There have been several that have done this but as I said above they have all gone with the Russians and the Russians have stopped taking reservations.

reply to post by fieryjaguarpaw


Sorry I didn't catch the Russina connection, I thought that The guy from virgin enterprises was doing just that, getting enough money to launch a USA venture.

check out this link, Richard Garriott, creator of Ultima Online did this very thing, and was on the ISS.

en.wikipedia.org...

Yes this is definitely possible. When I was in college, some guy came to my school to speak who paid the Russian government to take him into Earth orbit. It only cost about $5 million if I remember correctly. I can't for the life of me remember his name, but I think his last name was Tito.

So yes, with enough money, it's definitely possible.

Originally posted by paradigm619
Yes this is definitely possible. When I was in college, some guy came to my school to speak who paid the Russian government to take him into Earth orbit. It only cost about $5 million if I remember correctly. I can't for the life of me remember his name, but I think his last name was Tito.

So yes, with enough money, it's definitely possible.

Dennis Tito was his name.

He wanted to go again and the Russians said."Nyet".