Space hotels

What will space hotels offer?
Space hotels will offer basically the same as hotels on Earth. That is to say, there will be private rooms, you'll get your meals and there might even be bars and wellness areas. However, despite the incredibly high costs, staying in a space hotel will scarcely be a five-star luxury. For example, the meals space tourists will get will be prepared on Earth and reheated in microwave ovens in space. What is more, showers will be carefully sealed affairs to prevent water from floating around the hotel's interior. Nevertheless, there will be much compensation.
Space tourists will be able to enjoy the stupendous view over the Earth and space, they will profit from new kinds of entertainment, such as specially created space sports adapted to zero gravity or even walking around in space, and - of course - they will profit from the possibility of experiencing zero gravity. Space tourists will experience zero gravity during their whole stay in a space hotel unless artificial gravity is provided which might happen at some point using rotating structures as the basis for space hotels. However, this idea still far from becoming reality. Space tourists will also be able to see 16 sunrises and sunsets a day considering that space hotels are intended to orbit around the Earth and that one orbit around the Earth takes 90 minutes.

What will space hotels look like?
Space hotels will develop over time. In the beginning space hotels will most likely look like lodges and only a few guests will be able to be accommodated. 

However, within time they will probably grow bigger in size and look more and more like the hotels we know from Earth. Thus, more guests will be able to be accommodated. Interestingly, basic accommodation in orbit was already designed in 1973. The 'Skylab' space station looked like this: 

Today various designs of possible space hotels look like this:
 

What I find really interesting is that zero gravity will allow architects to build space hotels in almost any shape, size and direction. So, I guess being an architect in the future will be really fun as architects will be able to take their creativity to the next level. Nonetheless, they will also have to come up with some pretty good ideas about how to build, for example, showers or toilets, in the weightless environment of space hotels. (Galactic Suite planned on building a spa filled with water bubbles drifting through the air instead of traditional showers.)
  
This all sounds really great, but how realistic are space hotels?
In 2007 a company from Barcelona called Galactic Suite Limited announced that they were planning on realizing the first space hotel ever in 2012. Today, two years after the originally announced opening, there is still no space hotel in realistic sight.
In 2011 Russian engineers revealed their plans to put a space hotel into orbit 200 miles above Earth by 2016. The hotel would only consist of four rooms and would house up to seven guests. I guess we will have to wait and see how that goes.  
What's for sure is that a lot of progress has been made over the last few years and that most of the technology needed to realize space hotels is available. Thus, someday someone will most likely bring tourists to space, but it may be farther off than we think. Unfortunately creating space hotels requires a lot of money, expertise and careful testing. All of these factors are significantly setting back the realization of space hotels. 

Will staying in space hotels be affordable for ordinary people?

I am sorry to disappoint you, but unless you are a millionaire or are going to win the lottery you probably won't be able to visit a space hotel any time soon. Rich people will be the privileged ones to travel to space for recreational or leisure purposes until the commercialization of space tourism because staying in space hotels will not exactly come cheaply. 
The Russian engineers who plan on realizing a space hotel by 2016 announced, for example, that space tourists will have to pay 500,000 pounds to travel on a Soyuz rocket to get to the hotel before paying another 100,000 pounds for a five-day stay. In comparison to the Galactic Suite offer which will cost you at least three million euros, the Russian offer is quite cheap.


(http://www.spacefuture.com/tourism/hotels.shtml, http://science.howstuffworks.com/hotel-orbit-earth.htm, http://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/aug/27/space-hotel-rich-thrill-world)

The importance of space tourism

Experiencing microgravity, relaxing in a space hotel, looking at the Earth floating in space - travelling to space for recreational or leisure purposes really does sound like a unique adventure. But why would anybody want to create a space tourism industry in the first place and how does society benefit from it?

There are a lot of assumptions about the potential importance of space tourism:

1. Space tourism might become a very lucrative and quickly growing business industry which would generate millions and millions of dollars. 
2. The commercialization of space tourism would significantly decrease the high costs for travelling to space and would not only allow rich, but also ordinary people to travel to space. 
3. Achieving the technological and operational advances required to serve the market of space tourism would allow creating new activities and programs, such as space solar power, space sports, human solar system exploration and settlement.
4. Space tourism is a large industry that would create numerous new job opportunities. 
5. It would give rise to new ideas about what to do in space and how to go about doing them. 
6. Space tourism might be a profitable market to expand life throughout the solar system. With space tourism falling in price and continuous advancements being made in technology, space migration and colonization would become more and more realistic.

To sum up, space tourism is a potentially very lucrative industry that would generate a lot of money. However, money is not the only reason why people are motivated to create this kind of industry. The technolgy necessary for space tourism would also allow creating new activities and programs and may eventually even allow migrating to space permanently. Society would benefit from space tourism in that a lot of new jobs would be created and the human species might be saved from extinction by expanding throughout the solar system.

(http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/space_tourism_its_importance_its_history_and_a_recent_extraordinary_development.shtml)

Abstract CAJ - Space Tourism

Space tourism describes a concept suggesting that ordinary people may sooner or later be able to travel to space and back for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The purpose of this CAJ is to discuss when, how and under which conditions space tourism will come into existence with the focus on the ethical side of space tourism. This is done by discussing existing and planned tourism options of numerous companies and by analysing factors which may delay the realization of space tourism, especially health issues. The information stems from intensive internet research. It has been shown that space tourism will most likely become reality in the course of the next few years assuming that safety, health and legality issues will be resolved. In conclusion, this CAJ demonstrates a possible development of space tourism and shows how it would change people’s lives in the future.

144 words

Health requirements and health risks for space tourists

When the first humans travelled into space in the early sixties, these men and women were carefully selected on their resistance to extreme physical and mental strain. So, only very few people which had the manual skills, physical constitution, stress tolerance and health needed for the job were chosen to become astronauts or cosmonauts. Even today NASA astronauts have to pass strict medical exams. The introduction of space tourism will change everything. All of the skills mentioned above will not be required anymore, at least not from the space tourists.  Any human will be able to go to space providing he is physically and mentally healthy enough to go and come back with a minimum risk to be hurt. The question is - what does 'physically and mentally healthy enough' actually mean? 

For the time being there is no answer to this question. Doctors are unsure about how to set medical standards and some argue that standards should not be set at all, as they would disturb the development of the space tourism market.

  
Health requirements:

In terms of age there will probably be no general upper limit, that is to say every person that has sufficient physical fitness will be able to go to space, regardless of his/her age. The limit at the lower end of the age scale will probably be oriented at the ability of persons to follow strict safety rules and to use a certain kind of technology in case of an emergency, for example. 

Physical requirements for human space flight dropped with the advent of the space shuttle and with knowdlege about the reduction of g-loads. Nowadays spaceships can be limited to less than 3g's maximum acceleration. (Fyi: G-force is a measurement of acceleration felt as weight. On Earth 1g is equal to the force of gravity at the Earth's surface, which is 9.8 meters per second per second.) Excessive g-loads can cause serious damage to one's health depending on its duration. Psychological and educational requirements remain on a high level, not to say that they actually increase. This is connected mainly to longer stay times in the orbit and because of the necessity of performing complex tasks on board. 

Although some argue that potential health risks associated with space tourism are not more severe as for comparable tourist activities like diving, potential health risks should not be underestimated.

Health risks:

Inherent health risks in space are associated with vacuum, micro-gravity and high energy radiation:

Spacecrafts, space hotels and space suits will be designed for operation in vacuum. If the structure of any of these happens to be damaged, space tourists will be in acute danger. Damage may come from micro meteorites and space debris. If people are exposed to space without protective clothing and beyond the Earth's atmosphere in a vacuum they can suffer from ebullism (formation of bubbles in body fluids), hypoxia (rapid de-oxygenation of the blood), hypocapnia (reduction of blood carbon dioxide levels) or decompression sickness (gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body).    

Exposure to high energy radiation is also a major health risk for space tourists. There are different kinds of radiation in orbit, namely Solar Cosmic Radiation (SCR), Solar Flares and Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR), all of which have different biological effects. Whereas space hotels will probably provide protection against normal radiation, protection against radiation events like solar flares may not be guaranteed. Consequently, space tourists might have to be evacuated to Earth. Radiation loads of up to 0.5 Sievert can be tolerated by humans. Any radiation above 0.5 Sievert can cause serious damage to one's health starting with nausea and severe symptoms of radiation sickness, such as loss of appetite, diarrhoea and minor bleedings, and eventually leading to strong symptoms of radiation sickness, such as fever, bleedings, emaciation and even death. 

Micro-gravity imposed risks vary depending on the stay times in orbit. That is to say, space tourists who only stay in space for a very limited period of time are exposed to other risks than, for example, the space hotel personnel which spends longer periods of time in orbit. Generally, tow categories of g-force-imposed problems must be considered - medical and comfort aspects. 

 

Medical aspects include short duration effects, such as the space sickness syndrome (which is similar to seasickness or general travel sickness on Earth) which usually begins shortly after reaching micro gravity. The symptoms include dizziness, increased perspiration and nausea. Luckily they normally disappear after a few hours or a few days and can be treated medically. Long duration effects include loss of bone and muscle mass which is caused by the adaptation of the body to the lack of gravity and the lack of use of bone and muscle mass. These effects are usually accompanied by a decrease of physical and mental performance in orbit, as well as by cardiac arrhythmia. It has been shown that humans loose about 10% (!!!) of bone mass within a year in space under the influence of g-forces. The loss can only partly be avoided by regular training. After staying in space for more than half a year, the loss is not fully reversible. Thus, the space hotel personnel must not stay in orbit longer than six months. Avoiding long duration effects would only be possible by providing artificial gravity. 
This leads us to comfort aspects. Providing artificial gravity in, for instance, a space hotel is essential for passenger comfort, notably in order to enable efficient hygiene. Artifical gravity, however, is only possible in a rotating space station. This rises the question of how the centrifugal acceleration may influence passenger comfort which may, for example, disturb the passenger's sense of orientation and balance.

It has also been shown that astronaut's hearts become spherical in space. This basically means that hearts change their shape during long periods of microgravity. You probably wonder how this is possible. Well, in space the heart does not work as efficiently as on Earth. This is what can cause a loss of muscle mass and consequently change the heart's shape. Luckily the rounder shape is only temporary and the heart returns to its original, normal, elongated shape shortly after the return to Earth. However, the change of shape may lead to cardiac problems later. Yet, the doctors are uncertain about the long-term health effects of this kind of change. They do agree, however, that regular exercise can keep the heart healthy and is crucial to guarantee safety on long missions in space.    

Other health issues to worry about in zero gravity include  anemia, blurry vision and kidney stones. The only good news is that it has been found that thyroid cancer cells become less aggressive in space.

http://www.space.com/6693-move-mars.html

http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/human_factors_and_health_in_space_tourism.shtml

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/astronaut-hearts-become-spherical-space  
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50274240/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/fit-flight-space-tourism-lacks-any-medical-standards/#.U4Wu9RCnFc4 

Zombie Abstract

This paper shows the first mathematical analysis of various scenarios of a possible outbreak of a zombie infection. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the flexibility of mathematical modelling and to show how modelling can respond to a wide variety of challenges in ‘biology’. That is to say, the paper is instructive to develop mathematical models for an unusual outbreak. Different models are being used which show various scenarios of a possible outbreak of a zombie infection. They are all based on a specific type of zombie which is slow moving, cannibalistic and undead. First of all, within the Basic Model three individuals are considered - Susceptible (S) - humans who have become zombies, Zombie (Z) and Removed (R ) - susceptibles who deceased through a (non-)zombie-related-death. Secondly, the Model with Latent Infection suggests that susceptibles first become infected and only then turn into zombies. The third model is called the Model with Quarantine which assumes that the quarantine of zombies may contain the outbreak. According to another model, the Model with Treatment, a cure might allow zombies to return to their human form again. Lastly, the Model of Impulsive Eradication, shows that the zombie population can be controlled by strategically destroying the zombies. The use of different models led to different results. However, the outbreak of zombies infecting humans is likely to lead to the collapse of civilisation, unless extremely aggressive tactics, such as aggressive quarantine or sufficiently frequent attacks with increasing force, are employed against the undead. In conclusion, all of these scenarios demonstrate the flexibility of mathematical modelling and show that the modelling of an outbreak of zombie infection is useful for measuring infectious diseases.

What is keeping space tourism from becoming reality?

The technology that allows people to go to space has been developed years ago and the number of commercial enterprises for space tourism is steadily increasing. Therefore, it is only logical to presume that space tourism will soon, that is in the next few years, become reality. However, one very important question remains unanswered: What is taking so long? If the technology already exists and people actually want to go to space (which is confirmed by numerous surveys), then what is keeping space tourism from becoming reality? 

In order to answer this question we first have to think about what space tourism, or for that matter tourism in general, is all about. Tourism is generally acknowledged to be 'the commercial organization and operation of holidays and visits to places of interest'. Space tourism describes 'the practice of travelling into space for recreational purposes'. So, basically tourism and space tourism are the exact same thing. The small, yet significant, difference is that space tourism takes place in space and tourism takes place on earth. What they both have in common is that people offering various (space) tourism options want to earn money with it. On earth every country has its borders which clearly encircle every country's area of acitvity. In space, however, the restriction of areas of activity poses a huge problem, not to say the biggest one.

As we already know from my previous blog posts, space tourism will most likely include space hotels where people will be able to spend their orbital holiday. So, who decides who can claim which area? Will individuals be able to buy certain areas, for example space on the moon or on the Mars? If so, who is going to get the money? And, most importantly, how do you restrict areas in space? There are so many questions which are yet to be answered and all of them present a big problem, especially regarding the ongoing suspiciousness between the two main agents in space, the Russian Federation and the USA. 

For the time being the Outer Space Treaty forbids nations to claim a celestial resource such as the Moon or a planet and declares all kinds of celestial resources as common heritage of mankind. However, any nation that wishes to launch space objects is allowed to do so. The treaty which is formally known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies entered into force on October 10th, 1967 and was signed by more than 100 countries. Nevertheless, any country can withdraw from this treaty whenever it wants to. What is more, it unfortunately does not specify whether indivuals are allowed to buy property in space to build space hotels. The question concerning the legality of acquiring property in space and of space tourism in general will probably result in numerous lively debates and consequently delay the realization of space tourism for yet another couple of years.

What is more, notably the high costs are keeping space tourism from becoming reality. Travelling to space is simply too expensive for ordinary people. So, I am sorry to disappoint you, but unless you are a millionaire, you will probably not be able to afford going to space in the next few years. The main reason for the high costs is that the vehicles created for flying people to space are either expendable entirely, like satellite launchers, or partly, like space shuttles. The creation of reusable vehicles would significantly decrease the costs. 

A great deal of safety issues is also considerably setting back the development of space tourism. It is important to clearly understand the risks of flying to space before actually doing so. Accidents caused by overly hasty production could seriously trouble the industry if the public sees it as too dangerous. Alltogether, space travel, while desirable, is just too hazardous to become a major tourist activity at the moment. 

Moreover, space toursim still lacks medical standards for the time being. Casual space travelers present new questions for doctors who are uncertain about how to assess somebody as fit enough for flying to space or not. However, it is unlikely that only completely healthy people will be allowed to fly to space, as is the case with professional astronauts. Furthermore, there are a lot of health issues to worry about in zero gravity, such as bone loss, blurry vision and loss of slow-twitch muscles. All of these hazards need to be clearly understood  before flying people to space.   


http://www.space.com/24249-commercial-space-travel-blasts-off-2014.html
http://www.spaceportassociates.com/pdf/tourism_history.pdf
http://www.space.com/25181-private-space-travel-risk-cost-debate.html

How to go back in time and kill Hitler

Required material:

• Time machine
• Loaded gun

Warnings:

The following instruction requires the use of a dangerous weapon.  

Following the instructions may lead to legal prosecution.

If you are a youngster, get an adult to help you please!

1.     Build a time machine. If you do not know how to build a time machine, buy one on Amazon. Choose whichever time machine you like best, press the ‘order’ button and wait for your order to arrive. Hint: As long as the time machine allows you to travel back and forth in time it does not matter what it looks like. It may look like the following ones:

        

2.       Once your order from Amazon has arrived, read the instructions carefully. Hint: If you built your own time machine, you probably know how it works and can skip reading the instructions.

3.       Try out the time machine to make sure it works properly.

4.       Now decide whether you want to kill baby Hitler or grown-up Hitler.

5.     In both cases go buy a loaded gun and make sure you know how to use it by reading the instructions carefully.

6.     Option A: If you decide to kill baby Hitler enter the date 20/04/1889 and the address Salzburger Vorstadt 15. Option B: If you decide to kill grown-up Hitler enter the date 27/08/1910 and the address Meldemannstraße 36.

7.     For option A search a picture of baby Hitler and for option B search a picture of grown-up Hitler. Print out the picture. Hint: The picture serves as confirmation of the right target and should look like the following ones:

  

8.       Grab your loaded gun and the picture.

9.       Press the ‘GO’ button on your time machine and travel back in time.

10.    Search the location you have chosen until you find Hitler. Use your picture to confirm his identity.

11.    Kill him by shooting him in the head and in the heart several times until you run out of bullets.

12.    Take his pulse to make sure he is dead. Hint: The pulse is best taken at the radial artery on the  thumb side of either wrist.

13.    Travel back home immediately. Congratulations! Mission completed.

303 words

Space tourism options - Startup companies

Now that I have introduced you to my CAJ, I would like to give you more detailed information about space tourism and the numerous existing startup companies. Only fifty years after sending the first human to space (the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin) more and more startup companies are developing tourist vehicles for suborbital and orbital flights to space. Various space tourism options are available already and there are more to come in the near future.

Before informing you about space tourism options and startup companies, I would like to explain the difference between suborbital and orbital flights. 

In order to understand the difference you should know that an orbit describes the path followed in space by a body around another body as a result of gravity. For instance, the Earth orbits the sun just like these days many satellites orbit around the Earth. 

The main differences between suborbital and orbital flights are velocity and height. The velocity required for orbital flights is called orbital velocity. It depends on the altitude of the orbit. To give you an example, orbital flights at an altitude of 200 km require an orbital velocity of 7 780 m/s (~28 000 km/h). Orbital flights are placed on a trajectory where they could remain in space for at least one orbit. They fly along the curvature of Earth and never fall back to Earth on their own. (One orbit around the Earth takes 90 minutes.) 

Suborbital flights require a flight speed which is about 8 times smaller than the orbital velocity (~950 m/s) and peak at an altitude of 100 to 160 km. Any flight outside Earth's atmosphere with a maximum flight speed below the orbital velocity is called a suborbital flight. The spacecraft only leaves the Earth's atmposphere for a few minutes during which the engines are shut off. Within these minutes passengers experience weightlessness. Then the spacecraft falls back to Earth and re-enters the atmosphere. The duration of microgravity depends on the altitude which is reached during the flight. To give you an example, 3:10 minutes of weightlessness can be experienced at an altitude of 100 km. 

Due to this tremendous difference in required flight speed the vehicle design for suborbital and orbital flights varies greatly. Thus, suborbital vehicles are smaller in size and mass, technically simper and therefore cheaper in design and operation. 

The leading companies at the moment are Virgin Galactic, Space Adventurers and Blue Origin.  
 

Virgin Galactic is an American commercial spaceflight company. The British entrepreneur Richard Branson plans to provide suborbital spaceflights to tourists via Virgin Group. Virgin Group consists of more than 400 companies worldwide with its core business areas travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Galactic is currently running a test flight program with Space Ship Two, the successor of Space Ship One from 2004 (designed by Burt Rutan). Contrary to Space Ship One, whose only purpose was to fly to space twice and return undamaged, Space Ship Two is intended to actually take tourists into space one day. As the test results are very promising, commercial flights are expected to begin around 2015 and more than 530 people have already signed up. The flights will be launched from New Mexico’s Spaceport America. The space jet will carry six passengers for $200,000 each. It will reach an altitude of 110 km and take about two and a half hours. Space Ship Two will allow its passengers to feel weightless for about five minutes.

(http://www.space.com/19021-spaceshiptwo.html)

Since 2004 Space Adventurers, a space tourism company from Virginia, offers the experience of various states of microgravity (for instance, gravitational state on Mars or the moon) starting at $4,950 per passenger up to §165,000. The states of microgravity are achieved by doing aerobatic maneuvers known as parabolas with a specially modified Boeing 727, called G-Force One. It all happens between an altitude of 24 000 and 34 000 feet. At the altitude of 24 000 feet the aircraft is gradually being pulled up by the pilot to reach an angle of about 45° to the horizon until reaching the altitude of 34 000 feet. During this pull-up 1.8 Gs are felt by the passengers. Then the spacecraft flies back to the altitude of 24 000 feet at an angle of 30° to the horizon which takes about 20 to 30 seconds during which passengers experience weightlessness. This maneuver is repeated 12-15 times. To experience Lunar (one sixth your weight) or Martian (one third your weight) gravity a different arc over the top of the parabola is flewn.

(http://www.spaceadventures.com/index.cfm)

Blue Origin, which is founded by Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, is currently developing a fully reusable suborbital vehicle called New Shepard, which will fly a minimum of three passengers to space.The development of reusable vehicles is intended to significantly decrease the costs associated with flying to space.

(http://www.blueorigin.com/)

Besides the three leading companies at the moment there has been a significant increase in startup companies over the last few years which increasingly gain importance. Logically, different companies have different ideas about how to transport people to space and they have different intentions.

World View, for instance, a Tucson-based company (Arizona), wants to take tourists to near-space by 2016 - not with a rocket, but with a high-altitude balloon. Customers paying $75,000 could spend two hours floating 30 kilometers above the ground. The passengers would not experience weightlessness. Yet, they would still have a magnificent view of the blackness of space against the curvature of Earth - a sight usually only afforded to astronauts. The first launch site is probably going to be Page, Arizona. The weather there is perfect for launching balloons and it happens to be fairly close to Las Vegas which will probably result in many tourists passing by.

 (http://www.space.com/25221-world-view-space-tourism-balloons.html)

SpaceX, a private spaceflight company owned by Elon Musk, wants to launch missions for the United States Air Force using its new Falcon rocket as soon as in 2015. They are creating private space taxis and cargo ships to launch astronauts and supplies into space. 

(http://www.space.com/24942-spacex-ready-air-force-launches.html)

EADS (the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company), now called Airbus is at present preparing its commercial space plane prototype for a drop test. The business-jet sized space plane that is intended to bring tourists into space sooner or later will go up 100 km allowing the passengers to experience zero gravity. 

 (http://www.space.com/24901-europe-space-plane-drop-test.html, http://www.uniktourspace.com/en/sub-orbital-experience) 


All in all, many companies are planning to offer suborbital flights very soon, but so far no suborbital space tourism has occurred yet. However, tourists already have the possibility to go on an orbital holiday. Currently the only vehicle taking tourists to orbital space is the Russian Soyuz which belongs to the Russian Federal Space Agency, commonly known as Roscosmos. In cooperation with Space Adventurers, Roscosmos has sent seven tourists to space so far and they have all travelled to the International Space Station (ISS):

1.       Dennis Tito (American) – 2001, 8 days, $20 million

2.       Mark Shuttleworth (South African/British) – 2002, 11 days, $20 million

3.       Gregory Olsen (American) – 2005, 11 days, $20 million

4.       Anousheh Ansari (American/Iranian) – 2006, 12 days, $20 million

5.       Charles Simonyi (American/Hungarian) – 2009, 14 days, $35 million

6.       Richard Garriott (American/British( - 2008, 12 days, $30 million

7.       Guy Laliberté (Canadian) – 2009, 11 days, $40 million