Dubai: Could you buy a ticket to space for the price of a sports car?

UAE resident Hamish Harding, who blasted off to space on board Blue Origin’s fifth crewed flight, NS-21 on June 4, notes that the ticket prices of travelling to space is coming down gradually, almost akin to buying a sports car in the future.

Inspiring future space tourists who had gathered on Monday evening at the Arts Club Dubai, to learn more about the Zero G experience and what it entails to go beyond the horizon of the Blue Planet, Harding said, “The prices (of going to space) are already reasonable. It’s the sense they are coming down to a level where I think they’ll be more the price of a sports car that many people could aspire to (do).”

“This event is about creating awareness of Blue Origin’s private human space flight opportunity for UAE citizens and residents,” said Anna Hazlett, Principal of AzurX, the strategic adviser of Blue Origin for the Middle East region.

The Dubai-based businessman British expat who is an aviator, explorer and space tourist also reiterated on how the frontier of Space Tourism is a reality for private space tourists all over the world, as well as research institutes and startups looking to experiment in space.

Harding added, “I want to go to space for a longer period. So orbital space is something we are talking about. Blue Origin is developing an orbital reef as a space station by the end of the decade.” Orbital Reef is a planned low Earth orbit (LEO) space station designed by Blue Origin and Sierra Space, intended for commercial space activities and space tourism uses.

Harding: Want to spend longer period of time in space

“I want to be in orbit for a longer period. I would like to spend two weeks in space. Sleeping for the first week is a bit harder in space because zero G is not easy to sleep in. That’s [why] friends of mine who have [lived in] the space station recommend two weeks; the second week is better.

Training for this mission is obviously good because Blue Origin gives you so much training on the actual capsule. You are expecting everything when it happens. So it’s not a surprise. [The team] wasn’t competitive, it was cooperative. The training gave us the preparation to go up with zero nerves.”

Space infrastructure can help combat climate change on Earth

While Harding talked about his unique perspective of our home planet, Logan Ware, Director of International Business Development, Blue Origin offered an insight into the creative thinking that goes behind solving problems in space, and how the digital infrastructure in the sky can benefit several industries and help combat climate change.

Ware explains, “There is a lot [more] that the universe has to offer to protect our homes, to protect our Blue Origin. There are extensive resources in space, including asteroids with rare resources and the Moon with ice and regolith. There are useful elements within that soil that we use every day, here on Earth.”

"As we start to take these initial steps to improving the accessibility of space by reducing the cost of access through reusability and reusable launch systems", he sadds, "what that does is it enables more and more activity in space. The idea is if you can do more in space, you don’t have to do as much here on Earth.

What is damaging to Earth is [the] heavy industrial activity. So, maybe [we need] more of that in space to protect our planet. With these private experiences, we hope this is the first step [in inspiring] these astronauts (space tourists) the desire to protect our planet.”

As per a new report, it is said that the space economy is worth at least $469 billion. Highlighting how fibre optic cables have reached the limits of data transfer that are regrettable on Earth, Harding points out, “to get onto the next level we need more perfect crystal cables that will transfer data at much higher levels than we can do on Earth.

Apparently, those can only be created in Zero G. So, that’s [a] high value cable that can be created in space much better than on Earth to reach new levels of internet.”

World Marathon Challenge is coming to Dubai in 2023

Shedding light on his newest expedition, which is The World Marathon Challenge, the chairman of Action Aviation notes, “What it has changed after the space flight is that people tend to bring me more opportunities. My first reaction is always [to say] yes. One important thing that has come my way is suicide prevention and awareness – 7,000 veterans of the Iraqi Afghanistan conflict were killed in action, and 30,000 killed themselves after returning from [service]."

He adds, "A group of people are going around the world in February for charity. We are doing seven continents in seven days, [with] seven parachute jumps, seven marathons and seven swims in each continent in seven days. I am arranging the aviation side {where participants hop on a charter plane and set off for the next continent) – with a large aircraft going out of Antarctica first, that will be coming through Dubai as well in February next year.”

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