Reference News Network, February 5 report. According to the Singapore Straits Times website, on February 2, it was reported that on January 22, Beijing Transcend Space Human Spaceflight Technology Co., Ltd., a Chinese space startup company, announced plans to send tourists to suborbital space in 2028, with each ticket priced at 3 million yuan, which has sparked heated discussions on Chinese social media.
The flight duration is expected to be about 2.5 hours, with the destination being near the Kármán line, located 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface, which is recognized as the boundary of space.
It was reported that more than 20 people have already signed up for this potentially historic flight journey.
The enthusiasm for commercial space travel in China continues to rise. Ordinary people who have received almost no professional astronaut training will have the opportunity to experience brief weightlessness.
In recent years, China has been striving to catch up with the United States, and the two competitors are competing for technological leadership and international prestige.
Craig Colen, president of the Depry Travel Group in the United States, who has been involved in space tourism for 16 years, is a seasoned observer in the industry. He said that China's current development stage in commercial space travel is equivalent to that of the United States 10 to 15 years ago. However, he believes that China may not need that long to catch up.
He said that the high value of space tourism is not simply sending tourists to space, but rather the driving effect on the national industrial base and supply chain, such as in advanced materials, precision manufacturing, and specialized software fields.
He said: "The success of space tourism requires all these technologies, and companies must develop related technologies outside of government-led projects, and create demand through the tourism industry."
Suborbital space travel is the mainstream form of commercial space tourism, which is more economically viable compared to orbital flight. Orbital flights are much higher in altitude and last longer - SpaceX has sold private seats for trips to the International Space Station, with prices exceeding 50 million dollars each.
Because the ticket price is still extremely high, some people have criticized space tourism as a pastime for the wealthy, but the industry hopes that as the frequency of spacecraft launches increases, the cost will eventually decrease.
Lei Shiqing, CEO of Transcend, said that the company hopes to develop China's first reusable commercial crewed spacecraft, which would significantly reduce the ticket price.
Lin Cheng (音), a Singaporean space business entrepreneur, said that although the United States currently leads in the space tourism field, China is rapidly improving its capabilities and cost competitiveness.
He said: "China has the potential to be competitive in suborbital tourism pricing, and even dominate the market, especially in the regional or domestic market." He said that such space exploration can not only reduce costs, but also accelerate the innovation of reusable vehicles, increase public participation, and inspire the next generation of talent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Clayton Swope, senior researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States, said that in the foreseeable future, due to cost issues, space tourism will remain a niche market. (Translated by Guo Jun)
Original source: toutiao.com/article/7603336964352131590/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.