Recently, the sale of China's first commercial space travel tickets has attracted attention. Is it safe and feasible to spend millions of yuan to experience a few minutes of space travel? When can ordinary people afford it? What else can space tourism bring besides fulfilling the "flying dream" of a few people? Many industry insiders believe that space tourism has a certain technological foundation, but it still needs to continue to make efforts in areas such as safety, cost, and market. One question: Can ordinary people safely ascend to space? As the 001 tourist of Beijing Voyager Manned Space Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Voyager"), Qiu Heng told a reporter from Economic Reference Daily, "As long as we fly to that place, experience the real weightlessness, lie at the window and seriously look at the Earth and space, I think it's enough." In November 2023, he signed a contract with Voyager and became the first paying passenger for commercial space travel in China. According to the person in charge of the Transcender, the company's current main promotion of space travel is suborbital flight experience, which involves crossing the "Carmen Line" at an altitude of 100 kilometers, allowing passengers to experience 5-10 minutes of weightlessness and observe the curvature of the Earth. But due to not reaching the first cosmic velocity around the Earth, the vehicle will return like a parabola, taking about 20-30 minutes for the entire journey. For space tourism, safety issues are highly concerned. Shi Xiaoning, Vice President of Beijing Zhongke Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd., stated that space tourism can be divided into three levels: suborbital, orbital, and deep space exploration. At present, due to relatively low technological barriers and more controllable costs, domestic enterprises mostly use suborbital tourism as the primary entry point into the space tourism market. Shi Xiaoning told reporters that the physical requirements for commercial space travel are far less extreme than those for astronauts. At present, the overload of space travel does not exceed 3.5G (gravitational acceleration), and the physical sensation is similar to riding a roller coaster, which may reach 4G in a short period of time. After short-term training and testing, as well as some basic psychological testing and practice, most people can withstand it. ”Previously, there have been instances of commercial space travel overseas. According to statistics from Love Space Technology, in the past 5 years, SpaceX、 Blue Origin, Virgin Atlantic and other companies have transported a total of 136 tourists to complete space travel, and all have safely returned. However, safety and reliability remain the core challenges. A partner from a domestic venture capital firm bluntly stated that manned spaceflight requires extremely high reliability, and private enterprises find it difficult to have sufficient trust in the short term. Reliability is one of the core challenges for project implementation. Overall, space tourism is still in the stage of technological validation and accumulation, and the core should focus on improving reliability. Technical reliability and safety must be prioritized. Question 2: When will the million ticket price decrease? According to a survey conducted by reporters, there are various expectations in the industry regarding the development pace of the emerging space tourism industry. At present, the price of around 2 million yuan is still relatively high. In the future, as the number of reusable rockets increases, it is expected to drop to the tens of thousands of yuan level. ”Shi Xiaoning stated that through technological optimization and launch scaling, the ticket price for suborbital space travel is expected to continue to decrease, thereby significantly expanding the customer base. Industry forecasts suggest that the global space economy, including space tourism, is expected to reach $300 billion by 2030. The person in charge of the time traveler also believes that with reference to the pricing of high-end adventure travel, luxury cruise ships and other markets, there is huge potential for the average passenger price of space tourism. At present, the price of commercial space flight has significantly decreased from the initial tens of millions of dollars. If ticket prices further decrease, the potential global market size will significantly expand. However, the relevant responsible person of Orient Space (Shandong) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Orient Space") believes that a considerable part of the existing launch stations, launch vehicles and satellite resources are being invested in various key aerospace projects planned by the state, while commercial aerospace is currently mainly focused on the large-scale networking of low orbit satellite Internet constellations and other fields, and the space tourism branch is not superior in infrastructure resources. Companies engaged in space tourism must follow market rules to ensure profits, which may result in high prices for this business for a long time, coupled with limited transportation capacity, which may limit the development of the market size. ”The above-mentioned person in charge stated. Bai Ruixue, director of Love Space Technology, also told reporters that China has not yet established a high-frequency, reusable suborbital and orbital level manned space system. The cost of space travel in the short term is still high, and further progress is needed in related technology verification and cost control. Three questions: What else is there besides tourism? Although the market is still in its infancy, the symbolic significance and driving force of space tourism are still receiving attention. Bai Ruixue believes that the ultimate goal of space travel is to achieve the continuation of human species in the vast universe, so mass space travel will be an inevitable trend. From the perspective of practical conditions, this field has initially formed a certain market demand, and commercial space flight is expected to become the first segmented track in the aerospace industry to run a commercial closed loop. In the view of Professor Wu Wenzhi from East China Normal University, space travel will be a new direction, new scenario, and new product for future travel exploration. In the short term, the focus of space travel should be on "travel" rather than "space". Around space travel, it is expected to extend a series of space travel services, such as space hotels, space weightlessness amusement parks, space science museums, etc., gradually forming a space travel service industry chain. The driving effect of space tourism is also reflected in its overall impact on commercial aerospace. Due to personal participation, such activities can enhance public awareness of aerospace in a more vivid and intuitive way, stimulate sustained attention and enthusiastic participation at the social level, and promote the diversification of business models, bringing positive impacts to the sustainable growth and ecological construction of the entire industry, "said Bai Ruixue. The person in charge of the Transcender said that space tourism is the only direct to consumer (To C) track in China's commercial aerospace industry, and its large-scale demand will strongly drive the entire industry chain, and is expected to achieve significant cost reductions through reusable and flight based operations. The person in charge of Dongfang Space believes that in order to form a commercial closed loop, commercial aerospace cannot always rely on countries as customers, but needs to find more application scenarios to achieve broader participation. Several industry insiders have stated that 2030 is a time point worth paying attention to, with breakthroughs expected in both commercial suborbital flights and high orbit residency. With the gradual maturity of commercial space travel, the space economy, including space manufacturing, space biology, space pharmaceuticals, and space breeding, will also flourish. (New Society)