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RSS FeedRichard Branson's commercial space travel Mothership: Bound for success or failure?
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| Success | 60% | 32 votes | Total: 53 votes | |
| Failure | 40% | 21 votes |
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Add to Favorites"Branson's Mothership Succeeds!"
A far more likely headline than, "Virgin Mother(ship) fails to take!"
It has been a long time coming. Ever since small children sat transfixed in front of the history making broadcast and saw, in varying shades of grey, those weightless bouncy steps leave their first imprint in the moondust, they have held to belief and desire for space adventures of their own.
That July in 1969 birthed a reality that hadn't existed even though Yuri Gagarin had already travelled in space for to watch the live broadcast gave the concept an authenticity that, at the time, was disputed by none.
Children all over the world began to play space ship games. Building their imaginary rocket ships out of the woodpile. Sitting in the confined spaces to 'practise' being in small places, and stocking their ships with sultanas and water, dehydrated ice-cream a distant thought. These same children are now the tail end of the baby boomers generation. On the whole they are cashed up or capable of liquidating assets to treat themselves to their childhood dream.
Richard Branson is the poster boy of this generation. Bad boy who still climbed the success ladder, did all those things his peers had wanted to do but weren't game and now titled in a gaining of respect few bad boys ever achieve. Put on his pedestal by the very things parents warned against, sex drugs and rock and roll! An innate business sense saw his fortunes spiral as he stepped into the literally high flyer realm of the airline magnate. Branching into communications was a natural step for what is an empire if it isn't self serving and self sufficient? Branson's empire tends to insulate its occupants from the restrictions of the other more accountable world.
The step into the realm of space adventure may not be instantly understood by the non-lateral thinkers but to those who understand the box it just another wall to climb over, the concept is not only feasible but a natural and logical progression.
Branson, who turned a rarely spoken word into a world wide label, it the ultimate rebel. Give him an inch to succeed and he will run a mile. Branson has the means and ability to make this venture more than a success. He has the willfulness to refuse failure. It won't be a matter of initial costs or mundane aspects. It will be a matter of whether it jacks up the pedestal to a height not before attained. When one has done everything on earth it is time to move off into the wider universe.
The success is almost inevitable with Branson at the helm and the desire of those once small children now middle aged to finally experience their long held dream of space travel. Yes the mother-ship will fly and perhaps even be the precursor to finally establishing those long talked about space cities on a planet far far away.
Learn more about this author, D K Mitchell.
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Failure
Space tourism? Really? I've been loosely following the Virgin Galactic project for a quite a while. I'm all for exploring the final frontier and going where no one has gone before. As tantalizing as it sounds though, I believe it is destined for failure. Don't get me wrong here. I can only imagine how fascinating it would be to see the limitless depths of space. To be able to see the Earth from a perspective shared by only a handful of people would be a chance of a lifetime. Star Trek Trekkies around the world will jump for joy when it launches.
But as cool as it sounds, I don't exactly have $200,000 burning a hole in my pocket. I doubt the Trekkies can afford that kind of luxury either. This eliminates the average joe from even considering such a wondrous voyage. Although I'm sure there will be plenty of wealthy folk beating down Mr. Branson's door and begging to don an astronaut helmet, I foresee the pool of potential customers drying up quickly. I believe this is going to end up as merely a brief fad for the well-to-do. Even with the rich and famous, fads have their highs. But they invariably disappear faster than they appeared.
This will leave a lot of empty seats on the spaceship, and a sizable deficit in Virgin's wallet. The only option I can think of is to create a reason for repeat business. I've even done Virgin a favor and came up with the solution: they can offer up visits to the newest chic salons and exclusive clothing stores on the International Space Station. Paris Hilton may end up on board every flight. What celeb wouldn't want a designer handbag from the moon?
This is all assuming that Virgin's plan is to make it a solid profitable venture, as opposed to the personal hobby of a bored billionaire. Nothing against Mr. Branson, but even his money (and attention span) have to run out at some point. The cost of maintaining a commercial spaceship is beyond my scope of knowledge, but my common sense tells me that when the cost is that high, it's not simply a matter of lowering the price to sell more seats. Unless rocket ship engineering and architecture come way down in price....this is doomed to fail.
What saddens me most is that the millions of dollars being spent here could be put to much better use down here on Earth. Space tourism seems a low priority on the list of planetary achievements we should be focusing on. Let's cure cancer and AIDs before we decide to go gallivanting around the solar system.
Learn more about this author, Will Goodwell.
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