Remote space tourists

OK, here's the scenario:

A few minutes before the scheduled flight of the SuperStar suborbital space tourist vehicle owned and operated by Acme Spacelines, I direct my browser to their website where I open the Virtual Passenger Interface page. An interactive display appears that shows an instrument panel with gauges for altitude, speed, tracking, fuel, etc. and two viewing windows at the top with a choice of hi-def cameras for each.

I can select external views looking forward and backward, a view of the vehicle from the ground, and a view of the interior where I see the pilot and some excited looking passengers. I have an audio channel that allows me to hear either the communications between ground control and the pilot or the chatter going on in the cabin.

I paid $XX for the password that will allow me to participate in Y number of flights vicariously. Each flight has several thousand virtual participants from all over the world. We don't experience the thrill of the takeoff acceleration or the wonderment of the period of weightlessness but we do get a strong sense of "being there" that is fun and well worth the admission price.

Such a scenario shouldn't be too expensive to implement. Probably the vehicles will have Ecliptic Enterprises cameras installed anyway (or operator owned cameras as with SpaceX) and it should be straight-forward to stream the flight data as well. In fact, Ecliptic or some other firm could offer a software package to the vehicle companies so they don't have to create such a system at the same time they are developing their rockets.

If a vehicle company had such a service available during the test flight phase, they could staring making money from the start. (No insurance problems to worry about!) If they got, say, five to ten thousand people to pay $40 for a flight, that would be $200k-$400k. Comparable to that from a real passenger or two. (I suppose there may be regulatory problems with regard to whether experimental flight permits during the test phase allow them to make money even with only virtual passengers.)

This sort of service could also be offered to museums and science centers where they could have theater rooms with the flight views projected onto a large screen.

Just a suggestion. Haven't heard of any company saying they will offer anything like it but I'd be surprised if at least one or two don't have it in development. I would definitely participate in such a service occasionally.

Posted 05/23/07 | 05:20:57 by TopSpacer | Filed under: Private spaceflight, space tourism

Comments

If I'm a passenger who has paid the full $200K fare for my joyride, there is no way I'm going to let every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the Internet intrude on my experience by paying $40. Acme can send them all the flight data and crew chatter they want, but if they send one millisecond of audio or video from me, I'll sue them into oblivion. Now if they offered me a ride for only $100K, with the condition that I agree to audio/video transmission from the passenger seats/cabin, we might have something ...

Posted by Kathy Rages at 05/23/07 10:28:40

I don't see how such a setup can intrude on anyone's experience of the real thing. The cameras and microphone are almost certain to be there regardless of whether the feeds are offered to anyone for a fee. Most rockets these days include the Ecliptic type of video downlinks during their launches. I expect that a DVD with all the video views will be keepsake for the passengers.

If a passenger, who bought a ticket before such a virtual passenger service was instituted, ever did complain, the service could be shut off for that flight or at least the interior camera view not made available. I think even in the US, a lawsuit over such a service would be considered frivolous.

Note that this sort of service could also be used with unmanned systems such as UP Aerospace's sounding rockets or Masten Space's VTOL vehicle.

- Clark

Posted by TopSpacer at 05/23/07 11:41:48

"I don't see how such a setup can intrude on anyone's experience of the real thing."

You don't see how the knowledge that your every word, gesture, and facial expression is being observed by several thousand complete strangers could be inhibiting/daunting/generally unpleasant?

"I think even in the US, a lawsuit over such a service would be considered frivolous."

On the contrary. "Unauthorized use of personal likeness for profit." Such lawsuits have already been filed, and won.

Posted by Kathy Rages at 05/23/07 13:31:39

The view of the passengers is a minor aspect of the system and, as I said, could be turned off on request. I doubt many would since people these days love to show off. A view of just the pilot as with SS1 would suffice to give a sense of what is happening inside.

The frivolousness I was referring to is for a passenger to complain that "I had to pay $200k and they only had to pay $40". The gap between the actual flight experience and watching videos, even live ones, is simply too enormous to take such whining seriously.

- C.

Posted by TopSpacer at 05/23/07 13:52:04

"The frivolousness I was referring to is for a passenger to complain that "I had to pay $200k and they only had to pay $40". The gap between the actual flight experience and watching videos, even live ones, is simply too enormous to take such whining seriously."

Well, yes. That wouldn't be the basis for the complaint (not for my complaint, at any rate).

The basis would be "After I paid Acme $200K for my ride, Acme tried to make even more money off me by marketing the video they made of me without my consent." (That's without consent to the marketing, not the video itself. The video itself is likely to be part of the $200K package.)

Posted by Kathy Rages at 05/23/07 15:29:22

OK, that's reasonable. I agree that they would have to get permission to broadcast the view of the passengers.
- C.

Posted by TopSpacer at 05/23/07 17:12:55

How about doing it this way instead?

External views can be participated in remotely. Low quality feeds are used for "give-away" promotion on youtube or similar. The PR value of those are far higher than the "loss" of posting it for free with added information on the availability of higher quality recordings etc.

Single flight high quality live feeds are sold for non-commercial use at a very affordable price comparable to buying a book. $40 sounds too steep to me unless one gets remote participation in more than one flight or a dvd with the recordings or other combinations.

A hundred thousand views at $5 beats ten thousand at $40.

The above presupposes that fairly high quality recordings can be achieved at a reasonable cost - that might not be the case.

I would stress that this has to be seen as a complimentary revenue possibility rather than anything primary.

Internal views are given (not sold) to the actual passengers as keepsakes adding value to their experience (who wouldn't like some proof that they've actually floated in zero g?). Those passengers also receive the high quality external feeds as well. The internal camera views would not be for sale (or resale) to the general public (each dvd might even be uniquely watermarked to resolve future issues).

If the above part concerning the internal views is implemented it would still have to be included in the contract with the passengers and some thought has to go into protecting the passengers privacy of the experience, no doubt about that - Kathy Rages concerns would still be present and valid otherwise.

I have a somewhat similar idea posted somewhere in relation to ARCA's Stabilo vehicle but that situation is different since it's a one-person vehicle. I hope every provider of space experiences will do some serious thinking about the topic.

Anyway love your writeup TopSpacer; note that Acme Spacelines are not certified for coyote use ^_^

Posted by Habitat Hermit at 05/24/07 03:07:20

Yes, I expect there will be experimentation with different packaging and pricing. I think real-time data info on altitude, speed, and so forth will be an important extra.

I agree that this sort of thing will be complimentary to the primary payloads but even a small additional revenue stream-let can help the bottom line for a small company.
- C.

Posted by TopSpacer at 05/24/07 04:32:45

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