Chronicles of space tourism: from story to reality, from sky to space from Icarus to Elon Musk

- Eyesight-Hershal Pushkarna

- The adventure and science of space travel across the celestial sphere 100 km above the surface - Article-1.

- The Wright brothers opened the third direction (sky) of travel for mankind in the twentieth century, now the fourth dimension of travel is going to open. The name is: Specs Tourism!

Is. Remember a character named Icarus from a 19th century Greek myth? He was imprisoned on the island of Crete in Greece. It was impossible for Icarus to escape from prison because of the roaring sea. Since the only way to freedom was celestial, Icarus, with the help of his father Didelas, made wings of feathers intertwined with wax. He tied two wings with his hands and back and tied two didels. One day, after paying attention to the prison guards, the father and son flew away fluttering their wings like birds. In a short time, Daedalus reached the nearby island of Sicily, but Icarus was so close to the rising sun that he began to melt the wax of the wings. The feathers fluttered and fell, and Icarus slammed into the sea.

Let's test this legend through the lens of science now? To fly in the air like a bird, a human being needs at least 3 meters (2 feet) long wings ... to wield them, half of the body's muscles must be in the arms as well as the back ... to keep them functioning together, the body needs to release energy. Instead it should be like Niagara Falls. None of these conditions can be met by the human body, so the wings that fly Icarus and Daedalus in the sky cannot possibly be made of any other 'material' except the Kalpar.

But let go of all such logical discussion. The story of a legend should not be associated with a solid reality like science. The story of Icarus here is just a tank to tell that mankind dates back to AD. Legend has it that the dream of becoming a sky-bird like a bird has been serving since the 18th century BC. This pink dream was partially fulfilled in the early twentieth century when the Wright brothers of America successfully flew a plane called the 'Flyer'. Then came the age of air travel in the world known as air travel. For at least five million years, the dream of a human being bound to the earth by an invisible chain of gravity has come true. In the twentieth century the Wright brothers opened the third direction (sky) for mankind (after water and land), now the fourth dimension of travel is about to open in the days of reckoning. The name is સ Space Tourism! Space travel across the sky 100 kilometers above the earth.

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Since Soviet Russia's Yuri Gagarin became the first astronaut to leave space on April 13, 191, more than five and a half hundred astronauts have traveled to space. So space travel is not a new subject for mankind. But one fundamental difference is worth noting here. The space voyage, carried out by astronauts, including Yuri Gagarin, was for scientific research and the construction of the Hubble Telescope as well as the International Space Station. All the passengers were scientists, astronomers, engineers and technicians. Not the travelers who went to enjoy the instincts of the journey. On the other hand, the purpose of space tourism is very different. Not scientific, but commercial. In the name of research, instead of spending a lot of money, one has to earn a lot of money through tourism.

If this last sentence had been written two decades ago today, it would have been a two-hour joke. But today it has to be taken seriously. This is because modern technology has changed the economic equations of space travel, which is considered a 'business' of loss. Of course, how? We have to go back some years in the past to understand that.

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Let's start with the example of the space shuttle program started by the American space research organization NASA in the 150's. NASA had to spend પ 53,600 per kilogram to deliver anything (e.g. a satellite or a spare part) in a space shuttle that could travel between Earth and space to a 150 km high orbit called Low Earth Orbit / LEO. If this calculation were to be applied to a 60-kilogram astronaut, NASA would have to bear the burden of ભા 25 million on its fare. If space travel is even higher, that is, to the International Space Station, which can orbit at a distance of 200 km, then double the cost per passenger!

There is no question of making two bucks through space tourism amidst such futile equations of space travel. Who finally buys a ticket worth four to seven million dollars? As a result, all similar space trips organized by NASA were limited to scientific research.

Russia was the first country to make this change. It so happened that in April 2001, two of its astronauts were to go to the International Space Station, 200 km above the Earth, for scientific research. One seat in Yan's cabin was vacant, so the Russian government adopted a "do se bhale teen" philosophy. Announcing that if someone wants to take a 12-day trip to the red space, they can pay બે 20 million to fill the vacancy. Seeing the huge cost of the trip, the third seat of the Russian rocket seemed to be left empty. But Dennis Tito, an American millionaire, paid 30 million. On April 4, 2001, they embarked on a space trip via the Soyuz rocket and returned to Earth on May 4, 2001. Thus, Dennis Tito, who enjoyed a 12-day vacation, became the world's first Spathas tourist.

This incident made some private companies besides NASA interested in space tourism. An award competition was organized by an American organization in 2006 with the aim of privatizing space travel in the future. The participants in the competition were to perform a total of two successful simultaneous space travels in a span of fifteen days using a man-made spacecraft. It was not a challenge to cross the celestial 'roof' 100 km above the surface of the earth and go back into space. Therefore, the amount of prize money to be received by Sherdil who crossed it was not the same, it was a total of 10 million dollars.

With 40 astronauts killed in an accident in the four-decade-long history of similar space travel, the element of adventure seemed more important than adventure in Challenge. In addition, NASA's space shuttle Columbia caught fire a year ago (February 1, 2009), killing seven pilots, including Kalpana Chawla.

Despite the dangers posed by the same space travel, a total of 30 entrepreneurs came to take part in the competition, especially Bert Rutten. With his engineering ingenuity, this aeronautical engineer built a spacecraft called 'Space Ship One' with a wingspan of 6 long and 12 feet long. In the flight held on September 6, 2009, half of the ground was killed in the 'Spells Ship One' competition. Half because, as a rule, he had to show another successful flight.

For this, on the 4th of October, 'Specks Ship One' left the earth, left the sky and reached a height of 115 km, and returned to the earth after remaining in gravity-free position for 2 minutes. Mission successful! The creator of the spacecraft, Bert Rutten, was declared the winner of the competition and won a prize of કરોડ 10 million. In the field of space tourism, he expressed optimism that there is no need to rely on government sectors like NASA to penetrate the celestial boundaries into space. Similar trips can be arranged by preparing spacecraft on a private basis.

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The first initiative in that direction was the use of modern technology by the American dreamer Elon Musk. In 2011, the second year after NASA abandoned a white elephant-like space shuttle with ન 1.5 billion worth of antiquated green fodder per trip, Elon Muskie's Space-X company built a lightweight (as well as affordable) Falkjan rocket. Also successfully launched rocket into space. The Falcon was a reusable rocket.

This means that a satellite or an astronaut could land lightly on the earth at an altitude of 500 km. New fuel fills his tank, so ready for a new flight! This technology became as sharp as a samurai sword in spatial history. In one fell swoop, he cut the space bill by one-twentieth. Years ago, the cost of carrying a kilogram of goods by shuttle was પ 53,600, which brought the Falcon straight to 2.50. What a wonderful cut!

Elon Muskd's idea of ​​reusing the rocket brought Speedus Tourism's fast-moving cart to the speed of a bullet train. A total of three commercial companies have ventured into the ના 200 billion (and ૮ 200 billion in ten years) business this year. One is Elon Musk's Space-X, which will take tourists on a space trip via the Falcon, a non-rocket-mounted dragon. Another company is Virgin Galatic, owned by British millionaire Orichard Branson. The company plans to launch regular space trips by the end of this year, for which it has already sold a large number of advanced Galactic tickets worth ૨ 450,000 per person.

Number three in the competition, but the first company to take the initiative in sky travel is America's Blue Origin. The co-founder of this company is Jeffrey alias Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. If all goes well, they will soon embark on a space trip with some fellow travelers. An interesting description of how heartwarming this tour will be next Sunday in 'Ek Njar A Taraf'.