Theme:  

  • In July 2022, Science & Technology minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is developing the capability to launch humans on quick space tourism flights.

What is Space Tourism?

  • Space tourism is enabling humans to travel to space for recreational or leisure purposes. Space tourism attempts to increase accessibility to space for persons who are not astronauts and wish to visit space for non-scientific purposes.

Progress in Space Tourism:

  • Dennis Tito, an American entrepreneur, became the first private individual to tour space in 2001 on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
  • So far only the super-rich individuals have been sent to space tourism.
  • According to US and NASA standards, the Karman Line marks the beginning of space, however, very few space tourism businesses have succeeded in crossing it.

Opportunities:

  • The space tourism industry will create a large number of job opportunities in India.
  • It will help in creating new private businesses and entrepreneurs which will cater to the needs of the industry.
  • India can make space tourism affordable yet reliable.
  • Advancement in space tourism will help India to become self-reliant in space travel for future endeavours.
  • The space tourism industry will also attract a lot of foreign direct investments to India.

Challenges:

  • Space travel requires an extensive amount of training as the body has to deal with abnormal conditions in space. There is a potential danger for a passenger to develop health problems as they could face motion sickness and disorientation, which can affect vision, cognition, balance and motor control.
  • In the event that a space tourist is injured while on the journey, there is no treaty or a well-defined law to defend his rights.
  • When rockets or space shuttles are launched, a significant amount of pollution is released. The massive amount of pollution emitted when the space tourism sector takes off will be too much for the planet to handle.
  • Space travel is very expensive, and because of this, it will only be afforded by the rich. This can lead to a lack of public interest and raise the question of whether the government should use tax money to provide luxury only to the wealthy.
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Initiatives:

  • ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission will be India’s first human space mission to Low Earth Orbit. For the Gaganyaan mission, ISRO is working on modifying its cargo carrier GSLV Mark III rocket and making it dependable enough to carry astronauts. The Gaganyaan mission has yet to take off.
  • IN-SPACe is an autonomous nodal agency, approved by the Union Government that aims to ensure increased participation from the private sector in India’s space activities.
  • Department of Space (DOS) has allowed the transfer of matured technologies developed by ISRO to private Indian industries.
  • India has signed documents on space cooperation with 60 countries.
  • In order to create cutting-edge technology, ISRO has extended its cooperation with other space organisations of other nations.

Conclusion:

The world will see a boom in space tourism in the upcoming future. Space tourism has the potential to bring huge amounts of investment to India. It is important for India to not be left behind in this industry and try to gain an edge by developing an affordable yet reliable space travel alternative and attracting tourists from all around the world. But we also need to make sure that the space tourism industry stands for the safety of its passengers. To do so, we must create laws and legislation to govern issues concerning space tourism and private players.

Photo by Pixabay

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4 Comments

  • Deep, Dec 14, 2022 @ 12:37 pm Reply

    In my opinion , Investing in Space Tourism in 2022 is not worth it , its a waste of tax-money and I don’t think space tourism industry will attract a lot of foreign investments to India “Sending humans in space for recreational or leisure purposes” even Rich will think twice before investing in such leisure activity.
    Secondly, making Space-Tourism affordable and reliable will require a huge ” breakthrough ” in Space & Environmental Sector. Of all initiatives mentioned above ,”Gaganyaan Mission” {sending 1st human in space} won’t payoff , as other initiatives focus on advancement and collaboration of Privates + recent ‘Mission PRARAMBH’ in which a private sector aerospace company, ‘Skyroot Aerospace’ launched its first rocket into space this was the first there where private company launched a full scale rocket into the sun synchronous orbit. { like SpaceEX of Elon }.
    Coming to well-defined law to defend tourists rights. we already have weak and ambiguous space law OST( outer space treaty) which blurred the boundaries that seperate civil and military space assets and failed to hinder US, China & Russia from militarising space..Theirs a immediate need to lay down specific provisions for fair use of space.
    Need of an hour is to militarisation and weaponisation of space in order to facilitate land,sea,air operations .Space is becoming new frontier of war, America & China have already established space dedicated commands and launched military satellites , intalled with anti-satellite weapons.

  • Deepak Negi, Dec 8, 2022 @ 8:32 am Reply

    I don’t think that at this time we should take any decision about going to space also because this time our country should have a lot of development and not to go to space and anyway this initiative is very useless from my side because we all know We humans have this dirty habit that when we see something, the desire to get it is awakened, then this desire will become very dangerous for our earth in the coming future, so this initiative is not right at all. It is my thinking that it should not be taken forward, because taking it forward means the destruction of our earth is confirmed.

  • sp, Nov 21, 2022 @ 10:36 am Reply

    Many people have dream’t of becoming an astronaut and travelling to the space. But many might have not achieved it. Many want to admire the beauty of earth from space. Many others want to enjoy the beauty of stars a lot more closer. A tour to space is a mind-blowing idea and can fulfill the wishes of people. But, doesn’t it feel expensive? Yes, Of course. Global warming, the fitness of the tourists, services that have to be provided in the space vehicle play an important part. Today we are facing a big global issue, global warming. We and already trying to control the amount of pollution released into the atmosphere by using eco-friendly fuels. So if this idea of space-tourism has to be implemented, it has to be made sure that the mechanism and the fuel used does not emit pollutants into the atmosphere. Moreover, the tourists have to be examined for health issues. The tourists should be physically and mentally fit for travelling in space. The loss of gravity in space could make a person faint. So, proper medical help facility should be provided in the space vehicle. The tourists should be accompanied with a well experienced astronaut and a medical assistant in order to ensure safety. Those days only the rich were able to take a flight. But today, mostly everyone can atleast afford a thrid class seat. We may hope that, in the future, space tourism will be open to all and everyone could afford to watch the beauty of earth from space.

  • Rupal, Nov 17, 2022 @ 8:00 pm Reply

    space tourism indeed a very big thing in the upcoming era . If humans can visit space just for fun ,it would we a remarkable thing for the human kind, and this encourage humans to not just stop here and explore
    more. As everything has its merits and demits ,space tourism also has its own . First of all, this will be so expensive (from my opinion only billionaires can afford) ,normal or we can say middle class people only dream of it.
    Secondly ,it has many demerits , as the above article say health issues , requires so much training and of course who will be responsible for mishaps. For travelling once it will cost crores and if it will be success full than it will happen often. Spending large amount of money on a so called fun activity when there are many problems to solve like hunger, poverty, pollution and many more.

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