Commercial space flights: companies, problems and solutions

Have you ever dreamed of visiting space and looking down at Earth? This sounds like a science fiction movie and was just a dream for most people. But now, with the invention of commercial space flights, it might become a reality. This article will define commercial space flights, explore the problems facing space flight industries and look into companies and approaches to solve these problems.

1. What are commercial space flights?

In 2021, commercial space tourism became real. Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic both launched the first flight with participants on July 10 and July 11, respectively (Logsdon, 2024). Commercial space flights are a type of space tourism. These flights are trips to space by private companies that want to make space travel available for all people not only for astronauts. These flights offer a few minutes of free-fall experience and an amazing view of Earth (Logsdon, 2024).

Commercial space flights are made for people who like adventure and luxury experiences in a special and exciting environment (Florom-Smith et al., 2022).

2. Problems with space flight

Commercial space flights are recently developed, therefore, many challenges and difficulties may face this new type of tourism and should be taken into consideration. Here are some of the main challenges:

2.1. Health challenges:

The space travel can affect the health of people in many ways, by making changes in the body during flight. The special space environment (such as acceleration, pressure, microgravity, radiation, noise, vibration, temperature, breathable air and ventilation), can cause medical emergencies or even death during the flight (Antuñano et al., 2021).

2.2. Safety concerns:

Space objects (e.g. rockets) and satellites can sometimes reenter the atmosphere without control, which can be dangerous for people in flight. This can cause personal injury, physical damage and economic risks. Space is dangerous, therefore companies need to make sure their flights are safe for all travelers (Aviation, 2023).

2.3. Environmental impacts:

Modern space launches show a negative impact on the ozone (O3) layer and climate. The heating emissions of rockets significantly change atmospheric composition and impact the environment. Therefore, it is important to develop international rules to minimize environmental harm caused by the launch and re‐entry emissions of space flights (Ryan et al., 2022).

2.4. Technical challenges:

A spacecraft in space could face technical problems, such as issues in air quality, water supply and propulsion system. These problems affect the safe return of people on Earth. The absence of immediate resupply or repair options for critical systems (e.g. navigation or communication) is enough to leave travelers in critical danger (Mark A. Garcia, 2018).

2.5. Legal issues:

Space tourism poses some important legal issues such as registration and control problems. It’s unclear whether space tourists should be called "astronauts" or "people in space", which could change the rights and protections they get. Another issue is that space insurance rules are still not completely developed. Additionally, there aren’t enough rules to protect the environment from space debris and atmospheric pollution in the atmosphere. In the future, who owns things like space hotels or structures is also a big question, as space law says no one can claim parts of space as their own (Padhy & Padhy, 2021).

3. Space flight companies

Several companies work on commercial space flights or space tourism. These companies are trying continuously to make this opportunity a reality and to give participants the best and safest experience (Davidian, 2021).

SpaceX: Founded by Elon Musk, SpaceX focuses to reduce the cost of space travel and work on sending people to Mars. Teh company already succeeded in sending the crew to the International Space Station (ISS). Now, it is working on including normal passengers (Michael Greshko, 2016).

Axiom Space: Wants to build the first private space station and sending private individuals to the ISS. The company is developing commercial modules to create a form of a free-flying station after the ISS retires (Josh Dinner, 2023).

Space Adventures: Facilitate private space trips since 2001. They partner with Roscosmos to send civil people to the ISS on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft (Shelley, 2019).

Blue Origin: Founded by Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin focuses on making space travel more affordable with reusable vehicles. Their New Shepard spacecraft offers special space tourism experiences (Sims, 2023).

Virgin Galactic: Led by Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic offers passengers short trips to space using SpaceShipTwo vehicles. The company also aims to make space accessible to the public (Elizabeth Howell l, 2021).

Boeing: Using its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, Boeing is working on sending crew to the ISS. The company is developing commercial spaceflight capabilities. Boeing’s spacecraft is for both NASA missions and private clients (Luscombe, 2024).

NASA: NASA is trying to partnerships with private companies to include commercial spaceflight. NASA is permitting Spaceflight Participants (SFPs) to visit the ISS for up to 30 days (Florom-Smith et al., 2022).

4. Solutions for space challenges

Many solutions are taken into consideration to address the aforementioned challenges faced by the commercial space flight industries.

Medical evaluations: Companies are implementing careful medical evaluations of prospective commercial space vehicle occupants before allowing them to participate in spaceflights. This helps address the medical challenges posed by the space environment (Antunano et al., 2008; Antuñano et al., 2021).

Advanced technology for reentry prediction: There are efforts to promote the development of advanced reentry prediction capabilities for unavoidable uncontrolled reentries of space objects that exceed determined risk thresholds. This addresses safety concerns related to objects reentering the atmosphere (Aviation, 2023).

Creation of reusable vehicles: Companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX are developing reusable launch vehicles and spacecraft. This reduces costs and makes space travel more affordabile and accessibile (Rausser et al., 2023; Sippel et al., 2019).

Collaboration with NASA: Several private companies are partnering with NASA to develop commercial spaceflight abilities. This helps them to benefit from the expertise of NASA and to make space open for more people and the public (Rausser et al., 2023).

Flight for short duration: Companies like Virgin Galactic are offering short trips to space. This gives them space experiences. However, these companies are working to offer longer trips that could let people spend more time in space (Florom-Smith et al., 2022).

Experimental missions: Companies like SpaceX and Boeing send astronauts to the ISS as part og NASA missions. This helps them improve technology and prepare for future commercial passenger flights (Barten, 2024).

5. Conclusion

Commercial space flights are making it possible for normal people and citizens to travel and fly to the space. However, we need to be aware of the many challenges faced by this experience, such as health risks, safety, environmental impacts, technical problems, and legal questions. Companies are currently working hard to solve these problems and make space travel safe, accessible and enjoyable. With the improvement of technology and regulations worlwide, space tourism and commercial space flight will soon become a common and exciting experience for a lot of people.

So why focusing only on earth tourism? Who knows? Maybe one day, you'll tell your friends that you’re going on vacation... to space!

6. References

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Barten, M. (2024, January 2). Space Tourism: 7 Space Companies That Will Make You An Astronaut. Revfine.Com. https://www.revfine.com/space-tourism/

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Josh Dinner. (2023). How Axiom Space plans to build a private space station in orbit | Space. https://www.space.com/axiom-space-private-station-iss-2026

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Mark A. Garcia. (2018, July 30). Top Five Technologies Needed for a Spacecraft to Survive Deep Space—NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/orion/top-five-technologies-needed-for-a-spacecraft-to-survive-deep-space/

Michael Greshko. (2016, September 27). SpaceX Wants to Go to Mars. Here’s Why Humans Aren’t There Yet. Science. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/elon-musk-mars-spacex-human-mission-space-science

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