With Virgin Galactic taking reservations and the New Mexico 'Spaceport America' nearing completion, it seems to me that we are nearing a new era of private space travel.<p>What impact will private space travel have on society and how can we, as entrepreneurs, be a part of that change?
Here are some of my thoughts (sorry, I wrote them word vomit form):<p>1) Concierge services -- Early space travelers will undoubtedly be wealthy and have numerous needs, from planning how to get them from their home to the nearest Spaceport, to scheduling training exercises to prepare for their trip.<p>2) Airport logistics -- Virgin Galactic is already planning 3 flights per day at the Spaceport America in New Mexico. Spaceports will get busy and technologies to manage busy spaceports will need to be developed.<p>3) Online booking -- As providers emerge and flights become more common, people will want to look online to learn about the various space travel offerings that are available to them (and price shop).<p>4) Freight/science travel -- While tourism is clearly the sexy side of space travel, it stands to reason that there will likely be a significant industrial need for this service.<p>5) Maintenance -- Space travel wears heavily on the equipment involved. As more companies offer private space travel, new services and technologies will be needed to maintain their fleets.<p>6) Post-flight -- Early civilian space travelers will belong to an exclusive club of thrill seekers that have similar interests. There are countless services that could be targeted at this group, from private club memberships, follow-on adventures.
I think that taking off on one side of the Pacific and landing three hours later on the other, while spending some time in space, in zero g, would be an amazing product that could, conceivably, scale a lot.