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Assignment 2 Research Paper: Commercializing LEO

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Erik Arntsen Erika Harnett ESS 102 1/23/15 Research Paper: Commercializing LEO In the year 2015, a young entrepreneur named Tom Jennings dreams of traveling to space all his life but decides to enter the business world for job security and his vast array of connections to guarantee his success. After a successful 10 years in the industry, Tom pursues his dreams of space by developing a company to compete with the giants of private space travel including Space X and Orbital Sciences. Tom angers some very powerful businessmen when the quick emergence of his company takes business from other major corporations. Tom deals with the wrath of rich and powerful businessmen who are not happy about the business he is taking from them. In selecting …show more content…

Since the company started in 2002 it has completed multiple notable achievements in space travel. In 2008 SpaceX launched the Falcon 1 which was the first liquid fueled rocket to reach orbit put there by private funds (4). In 2010 the spacecraft Dragon was launched with the help of Falcon 9 and recovered by the company being the first of its kind to be successfully recovered by private funds (5). Dragon was made in response to the need for a vehicle to supply the international space station with needed cargo and in 2012 became the first private industry space craft to reach the station (5). The next step for Dragon in development is altering the vehicle to allow passengers in flight. SpaceX is known for its shockingly low costs involved in the development of its vehicles. The company takes a unique approach to production in order to reduce these costs by doing a majority of work in house instead of outsourcing labor to other companies (4). Merlin, Kestrel, and Draco rocket engines are used on the major space vehicles and a great example of the design and fabrication of components within the company. Keeping a majority of production in house saves not only costs involved but also results in the record development time of rockets. SpaceX has not gone unrecognized with those concerned with space travel as it has been offered a number of …show more content…

The company has announced that they will launch the first crewed mission to the ISS in the Dragon vehicle using falcon 9 rockets by the year 2016 (3). By next year SpaceX hopes to incorporate a certified human launch escape system in Dragon. With much of the hardware already developed to transport cargo to space it should only take a year to add the necessary attachments to the craft that would allow human passengers. SpaceX is also working on the concept of reusable rockets and has semi-successfully tested and retrieved rockets in past years. With Dragon soon gaining the ability to carry passengers I see a lot of market potential for privatized space travel’s progress. A ship with such relatively low production and maintenance costs would result in lower costs to space tourists. As it stands today a ticket to space can cost up to $250,000 which is far out of the average Joe’s travel budget (2). However if the trend that SpaceX has set of lowered costs continues along with the emergence of competition, we can expect to see ticket prices continue to fall as it becomes easier to send people to

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