Space Tourism - Term Paper Example

This cannot be ignored. Businessmen and government must come together and work out a technology that will lessen the carbon emission and also design a program for these space tourism companies to offset the carbon they are emitting. There is an unspoken mantra in technological space: build it and they will come (Taylor, 2006). For years, technological companies spend billions of dollars on research and development of new products and services with no clear market. It’s a risky move but one that almost always pays off.

That, in essence, is the business principle followed by space tourism. Vienna has expressed plans on building a spaceport in Asia, Singapore and United Arab Emirate. It will tap Russia in building five space crafts to shoot man into space. Building it will cost anywhere between $115 million to $265 million to build (Malik 2008). The numbers, obviously, are big risks and the obvious concern is whether it is worth pursuing. This paper will examine space tourism from three angles: economic, environmental and cultural.

Specifically, this paper will answer the following questions: A qualitative method will be used to collect information about the topic. Published articles, news articles, and published statements will be the main references to analyse the economic, environmental, cultural and educational potential and impact of space tourism. Figures on the target market and potential revenue will be gathered and analysed. The same procedure will be applied to environmental impact. Several studies have already been done that quantifies who space tourism’s economic potential will impact the environment.

These numbers will be collected and interpreted. The first space tourist went to space in April 2001. Dennis Tito paid $35 million for the experience of seeing Earth from the space. Since then, only seven people