Tourism on the moon is it really 2019?

Atlantico: A former senior NASA team embarked on a business travel to the Moon, turning to loans to pay 1.5 billion dollars to send two people to the lunar orb country. Space adventures are possible for astronauts specifically trained, but is this the case for the common man?
Bertrand Comet: It's always good to check the tolerance of people preparing for a trip into space, but in this case this type of experience is much more accessible than you think physically.

So people of a respectable age have been able to go for several days in the stars as American astronaut John Glen who stayed in orbit for more than 8 days at the age of 77.

Despite this successful attempt, the idea that space travel would be reserved for athletes in excellent health has a tough life. Yet, apart from the sick, this type of adventure is now open to a lot of people, provided that they can withstand the pressure loads on takeoff and during the release of the atmosphere, and the journey is not too long. Beyond a month spent in orbit may actually be subject to demineralization, but this does not apply to individuals making travel possible "tourist" whose duration should not exceed 24 or 48 hours.

This project is it technically feasible?
This is far from being a problem since landing on the moon is not really a scientific challenge today, even in a tourist perspective there is nothing impossible here.

The real problem is more financial than technological. My experience in this field allows me to say that we are talking about absolutely huge investments: to give you a scale comparison, the space shuttle project Hermés would have cost the equivalent of 35 billion euros estimated . If Golden Spike Company manages to develop a more comfortable bus with a transfer vehicle for landing, we should imagine are approaching a hundred billion. This also raises another problem in terms of demand since as reported such a trip would cost about $ 1.5 billion for two passengers. Only a very limited clientele can afford a weekend on the Moon (note: there are now 793 billionaires on Earth).

While states are pulling more and more exploratory missions, can we say that there is a "privatization" of space experiments?
It actually assists over the last thirty years a significant divestment of states in the space adventure (the last trip to the Moon from 1976 with Apollo 17), and this can be understood when one knows how these projects require time, energy and considerable sums.

However, there is an exception, and not least with China. The latter has made space exploration a matter of national pride and now she spends a lot of ways to demonstrate its scientific expertise. This impressive catch was made possible in part through the acquisition of Russian technology, then perfected by the Chinese. They are also able to develop original projects on selected sectors (launchers, caps etc ...). They also currently developing botanical projects to successfully grow greenhouse plants, which seems to prove their commitment over the long term.

Regarding the private sector, I would say that there is an attempt of commercial exploitation of spatial opportunities although I am not convinced that these projects will work in a decade. I think of the Virgin Galaxy project that proposes to make a parabolic flight around the planet, although the CEO of Virgin, Charles Branson, claims to already have hundreds of bookings, we can afford to say that its realization concrete is not for tomorrow, mainly for financial reasons again. There is also the SpaceX project that offers something similar using a capsule. The origin of this proliferation of private projects there are many former NASA who think in terms of cost and security development of space tourism is quite possible.

This is far from being absurd, but do not project too quickly in my opinion.

Ultimately, the existence of a colony on the moon is it a fantasy or a realistic projection?
This is not impossible I think, although it should at least exploitable resources (mainly water) on site to ensure the sustainability of a stand-alone basis. Scientific advances in terms of recycling resources are now at a level such that it is not in my fantasy to imagine. We can cite the development of projects operating on the principle of closed systems and are baptized "Advance Environemental Life Media". If this results could include create oxygen from CO2 and recycle human waste internally.

Nevertheless, one must avoid projecting too fast, since it is clearly not possible before 2050, and only if there is a willingness to invest time and resources.

source : http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/tourisme-lune-est-vraiment-pour-2019-bertrand-comet-570276.html/page/0/1