Space Future - What's New

WHAT'S NEW

29 July 2012: Added "Space Debris and Its Mitigation " to the archive.
16 July 2012: Space Future has been on something of a hiatus of late. With the concept of Space Tourism steadily increasing in acceptance, and the advances of commercial space, much of our purpose could be said to be achieved. But this industry is still nascent, and there's much to do. So...watch this space.
9 December 2010: Updated "What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace " to the 2009 revision.
7 December 2008: "What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace " is now the top entry on Space Future's Key Documents list.
30 November 2008: Added Lynx to the Vehicle Designs page.

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What's New

at Space Future

Space Future has been on something of a hiatus of late. With the concept of Space Tourism steadily increasing in acceptance, and the advances of commercial space, much of our purpose could be said to be achieved. But this industry is still nascent, and there's much to do. So...watch this space.


2012
July
29th	Added "Space Debris and Its Mitigation " to the archive.
16th
2010
December
9th	Updated "What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace " to the 2009 revision.
2008
December
7th	"What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace " is now the top entry on Space Future's Key Documents list.
November
30th	Added Lynx to the Vehicle Designs page.
October
29th	Added "Early Commercial Demonstration of Space Solar Power Using Ultra-Lightweight Arrays " to the archive.
September
20th	Added "Evaluation and Comparison of Space Solar Power Concepts " to the archive.
August
30th	Added "Elements for a Sustainable Lunar Colony in the South Polar Region " to the archive.
July
7th	Added "What the Growth of a Space Tourism Industry Could Contribute to Employment, Economic Growth, Environmental Protection, Education, Culture and World Peace " to the archive.
June
28th	Space Future gets a face lift - every page has been updated with a new look, improved navigation, contextual side bars, and many other tweaks. The Space Future Journal now lets you filter more easily by category or topic, as well as by author. You can also resize an entire page by increasing or decreasing the font size. We're not quite done yet, so please let us know what you think!
April
14th	Added "Flight Mechanics of Manned Sub-Orbital Reusable Launch Vehicles with Recommendations for Launch and Recovery " to the archive.
March
31st	Updated the Space Future Journal RSS feed with expanded content.
23th	Added "Economic Benefits of Space Tourism to Europe " to the archive.
21st	Updated the Logo!
February
29th	Added "Mex-LunarHab (MLH) - A Mexican Space Habitat Settlement on the Moon " to the archive.
January
14th	Added "Thomas Cook to Space Tourism - Are They Really That Different?" to the archive.
2007
November
19th	Added "The Moon as a Solar Power Satellite " to the archive.
August
16th	Added Astrium Space Jet and BSC SpaceShip to the Vehicle Designs page.
7th	Added "The Symbiotic Relationship between Astronaut Program and Space Tourism Development - A Third World Perspective " to the archive.
July
5th	Updated the Space Tourism timeline.
May
30th	Added "New Commercial Opportunities in Space " to the archive.
April
15th	Added "The Economic Benefits of Space Tourism " to the archive.
11th	Updated the Space Tourism timeline.
8th	Expanded SpaceShipOne entry to include SpaceShipTwo on Vehicle Designs page.
March
31st	Added New Shepard and Rocketplane XP to the Vehicle Designs page.
2006
November
6th	Added "Designing the Orbital Space Tourism Experience " to the archive.
February
18th	Added "Equatorial Low Earth Orbit, an ideal orbit for In-Space Construction; and Equatorial Spaceports, as Gateways for Orbital Construction " to the archive.
2005
December
5th	Added "Why Implementing the Space Option Is Necessary for Society " to the archive.
September
12th	Added "The Potential Importance of Passenger Space Travel Services " to the archive.
May
7th	Added "The "Signal-to-Noise Ratio" in Financing New Space Startups " to the archive.
February
17th	Added "Benefits of International Cooperation in a Low Equatorial Orbit SPS Pilot Plant Demonstrator Project " to the archive.
19th	Added "Synergies Between Solar Power Supply from Space and Passenger Space Travel " to the archive.
2004
September
30th	Added "Spaceport Business - Potential Markets Through 2020 " to the archive.
February
29th	Added "Space Tourism: Recent Progress and Future Prospects " to the archive.
2003
December
15th	Added "The Future of Lunar Tourism " to the archive.
November
1st	Added "Lessons of ASCENT - Messages for Industry, the Federal Government and Spaceport Authorities " to the archive.
October
30th	Added "Project and Test Engineering Methodology " to the archive.
28th	Added "Growing Popular Interest in Space Tourism: Challenge and Opportunity for Space Agencies " to the archive.
September
	No updates this month due to space consulting work and finishing the next edition of Professional Apache, now published by
August
10th	Added "Public Space Markets - What We Know And What We Don't Know " and "The ASCENT Study - Understanding the Market Environment for the Follow-on to the Space Shuttle " to the archive.
July
15th	Added "Space Tourism Market Demand and the Transportation Infrastructure " to the archive.
14th	Added "The First 100 Years of Public Space Travel " to the archive.
June
	Space Future migrated to a new server this month; normal service will be resumed bext month.
May
22nd	Added Black Armadillo to the Vehicle Designs page.
April
24th	Added SpaceShipOne and White Knight to the Vehicle Designs page.
10th	Added "How the 21st-Century Society Can Sustain the Implementation of the Space Option " and "The Prospects for Space Commerce in the Aftermath of 9-11 " to the archive.
March
31st	Added "New Credit Tools and Tax Concepts for the Opening of the Space Frontier " to the archive.
21st	Added "ASCENT Study Final Report - Executive Summary " to the archive.
February
28th	Added "The Copernican Evidence - Requirements for a Space Age Philosophy " to the archive.
January
28th	Added Alpha CX-1A to the Vehicle Designs page.
2nd	Added "A Code of Ethics and Standards for Lunar Development and Outer-Space Commerce ", "Lunar Ethics and Space Commercialization ", "From Earth to Mars: A Cooperative Plan " and "The Ethical Commercialization of Outer Space " to the archive.

2002
December
17th	Added "Developing Viable Financing Models for Space Tourism " to the archive.
November
28th	Added "On the Practical and Sporting Aspects of Football in Zero-Gravity " to the archive.
3rd	Added "How the West Wasn't Won " (also known as 'NAFA') to the Vehicles section.
2nd	Added "Japanese Rocket Society's Rocket Symposia 1995-2001 " and "The Cost to Taxpayers of Governments' Anti-Space Tourism Policy and Prospects for Improvement " to the archive.
October
14th	Added "Meeting the Needs of the New Millennium: Passenger Space Travel and World Economic Growth " to the archive.
4th	Added "$pace: The Final Financial Frontier ", "Space Tourism After Dennis Tito ", "A Code of Ethics for Off-Earth Commerce ", and "The Obstacles to Financing New Space Industries " to the archive.
September
12th	Added "Flight Demonstration and a Concept for Readiness of Fully Reusable Rocket Vehicles " to the archive.
August
29th	Added "Space Tourism and RLVs: You Can't Have One Without the Other!" and "The Business of Commercializing Space " to the archive.
8th	Added "Towards Space Tourism: The Challenge for British Space Policy " to the archive.
July
31st	Added "Interests of Japanese Airlines in Space " to the archive.
30th	Added the Xerus and Cosmopolis XXI suborbital spaceplanes to the Vehicle Designs page.
May
24th	Mozilla sidebar tabs are now available for the What's New and Space Future Journal panels - see the channels page for details.
21st	The Bibliography has undergone a comprehensive reorganization and is now much more detailed. In addition, a degree of sideways navigation between related topics is now possible.
April
28th	Space Future took a rest this month while working on Professional Apache 2.0. Buy a copy and make this webmaster very happy!
March
29th	Added "Designing Reusable Launch Vehicles for Future Space Markets " to the archive.
February
4th	Added "Changing the TransHab: An Orbiting Space Hotel " to the archive.
January
31st	Substantially updated the Space Tourism timeline for 2001.
28th	Updated "Demand for Space Tourism in America and Japan" with improved figures .

2001
December
31st	Added "Future Space Transportation Study " and "System Requirements for Commercial Passenger Travel to LEO " to the archive.
29th	Printable version and referee information links are now offered at the top of all papaers in the archive.
16th	Wireless Journal and Update channels are now available - try them out!
13th	Improved and rebuilt the Directory of Contents.
October
31st	The Space Future Journal has a new look to match the front page - tell us what you think. The topic areas, glossaries, and search page have also been rennovated.
24th	Updated the Vehicle Designs page with a new look and updated entries for Roton, X-33, and X-34.
11th	Added "A Celestial Body is a Celestial Body is a Celestial Body " to the archive.
9th	Added "The Space Settlement Initiative " to the archive.
2nd	Space Future was down over the weekend due to a total hard disc failure. Fortunately we keep good backups! However, if you sent us email and it bounced, please send it again.
September
18th	Added "Researching the Space Tourism Market " to the archive.
6th	Added "Hearing on Space Launch Initiative: Testimony by Tom Rogers " and "Hearing on Space Launch Initiative: Testimony by Steven Hoeser " to the archive.
August
30th	Added "Hearing on Space Tourism: Testimony by Buzz Aldrin ", "Hearing on Space Tourism: Testimony by Edward Hudgins ", and "Hearing on Space Tourism: Testimony by Dennis Tito " to the archive.
25th	Space Future has a new redesigned front page - let us know what you think of it!
16th	Added "Space Tourism - Its Importance, Its History, and a Recent Extraordinary Development " and "Evolution of the Modern Cruise Trade and its Application to Space Tourism " to the archive.
15th	Added "Space Flight Certification Requirements for Civilian Passengers " to the archive.
13th	Added "Dreams - About Space " to the archive.
12th	Added "The Prospects for Space Tourism " and "Why It Is Important To See A Potentially Large Space Travel And Tourism Business Created In The United States " to the archive.
July
30th	Added "Space Travel and Tourism: A Response to Continuing Decay in US Civil Space Financial Support " to the archive.
29th	Updated the Thunderbird entry and added Nova to the Vehicle Designs page.
26th	Added "Security Implications of Non-Terrestrial Resource Exploitation " to the archive.
15th	Added "Lunar Real Estate: Buyer, Beware!" to the archive.
June
4th	Added "Barriers to Space Enterprise " to the archive.
April
22nd	Added "How Much New Technology is Required for Future Reusable Launch Systems?" to the archive.
March
27th	Added Canadian Arrow to the Vehicle Designs page.
17th	Added "The Legal Regime for Private Activities in Outer Space " to the archive.
16th	Added "Real Property Rights in Outer Space ", "Implications of a Proposal for Real Property Rights in Outer Space ", and "Proposal for a Multilateral Treaty Regarding Jurisdiction and Real Property Rights in Outer Space " to the archive.
12th	Added daVinci to the Vehicle Designs page.
February
19th	Added "The Prospects for Passenger Space Travel " to the archive.
16th	As Mind-It now charges, email update notifications are no longer supported. To receive updates in the future please subscribe to the sf-announce mailing list.
15th	Added SpaceClipper to the Vehicle Designs page.
12th	Added "Space Hotels - Civil Engineering's New Frontier " to the archive.
10th	Added "Public Choice Economics and Space Policy: Realising Space Tourism " to the archive.
January
1st	Added "Orion's Laser: Hunting Space Debris " to the archive.

2000
December
29th	Added "Status Report on Space Tour Vehicle "Kankoh-maru" of Japanese Rocket Society " and "A Draft of Safety Standard for Designing Space Tour Vehicles " to the archive.
27th	Added figures for 'Orbital Considerations in Kankoh-Maru Rendezvous Operations ' and 'Orbital Considerations in Kankoh-Maru Return Flight Operations '.
22nd	Updated the Space Tourism timeline.
November
9th	Added "An Alternative Strategy Process for Planning Government Space Programs " to the archive.
7th	Added "Space Tourism for Europe: A Case Study " to the archive.
6th	Added "Investigation on the Economic and Technological Feasibility of Commercial Passenger Transportation into Low Earth Orbit " to the archive.
October
27th	Added "The Cost of Capital for Space Tourism Ventures " to the archive.
September
16th	Updated the Thunderbird image on the Vehicle Designs page.
12th	Added "Space Policy, Space Tourism and Economic Policy " to the archive.
August
30th	Updated the Space Tourism timeline.
June
16th	Added "Near-Term Prospects For Space Tourism " to the archive.
9th	Added "Inhabiting Artificial Gravity " to the archive.
May
21st	Added Kitten , Calico and Angora to the Vehicle Designs page.
15th	Added "Creation of an Accredited Passenger Regulatory Category for Space Tourism Services " to the archive.
April
30th	Added "Orbital Sports Stadium " to the archive.
February
28th	Added "The Space Tourism Industry in 2030 " to the archive.
15th	Added "The Space Tourist " to the archive.
January
20th	Added "Public Attitudes towards Space Solar Power " to the archive.
	Added Space Access to the Vehicle Designs page.

1999
December
11th	Added "Space Tourism and its Effects on Space Commercialization " and "Space: The New Tourism Market " to the archive.
November
16th	Added "The Future of Space Tourism " to the archive.
15th	Added "Single Stage to Orbit Vertical Takeoff and Landing Concept Technology Challenges " to the archive.
1st	Added "General Public Space Travel and Tourism Volume 2 - Workshop Proceedings " to the archive.
October
16th	Added "Mining Economics and Risk-Control in the Development of Near-Earth-Asteroid Resources " to the archive.
	Updated the Space Tourism in Science Fiction page.
15th	Added "An Equatorial SPS Pilot Plant " to the archive.
13th	Added "Collaboration with Aviation - The Key to Commercialisation of Space Activities " to the archive.
September
29th	Added "Global Cooperation for an Equatorial SPS Pilot Plant " and "Orbital Considerations in Kankoh-Maru Return Flight Operations " to the archive.
7th	Added Michelle-B to the Vehicle Designs page.
August
	No updates this month, I've been far too busy writing Professional Apache, due out in your local bookstore in November - buy a copy and make this webmaster very happy!
July
30th	Added "The Future of Commercial Airlines " to the archive.
18th	Added "An evaluation of the potential demand for Space Tourism within the United Kingdom " to the archive.
	Added "Getting to Low Earth Orbit " to the archive.
June
4th	Added "Considerations Towards the Legal Framework of Space Tourism " to the archive.
May
29th	Added Proteus to the Vehicle Designs page.
28th	Added "Phoenix M: A Small SSTO Launch Vehicle for Commercial Space Transport Missions " to the archive.
	Added HOTOL to the Vehicle Designs page.
27th	Updated the Roton image on the Vehicle Designs page with a photo of the Roton ATV, added HOTOL to the Past Projects section, and (grudgingly) moved DCX to the Past Projects section.
26th	Added "Human Factors and Health in Space Tourism " to the archive.
24th	Added "Space Hotels: The Cruise Ship Analogy " to the archive.
April
28th	Added "Some Aspects of Space Navigation Law " to the archive.
27th	Added issue 6 of Equatorial Times to the power section.
26th	Added "The Cultural Effect of Space Tourism on the Space Industry and Society " to the archive.
20th	Added "Space Activities, Space Tourism and Economic Growth " and "Space Tourism in Japan - the Growing Consensus " to the archive.
14th	Added "Concept of Operations in the National Airspace System in 2005 " to the archive.
March
24th	Added "A Cost Engineered Launch Vehicle for Space Tourism " to the archive.
February
9th	Added Star-Raker to the designs page.
January
26th	All new look and feel for the Space Future Journal - check it out!
10th	Added "Economically Viable Public Space Travel " to the archive.

1998
December
20th	Minor fixes and general housekeeping.
November
17th	Added "The Imminent Space Revolution - How the UK Can Take the Lead " to the archive.
12th	Updated the Space Tourism timeline.
10th	Added "Space Tourism - The Key to Low Cost Access to Space " to the archive.
3rd	Added "Report of Working Group No. 4 of the AIAA/CEAS/CASI Workshop on International Cooperation in Space " to the archive.
1st	Added "A Few Things You Occasionally Wanted To Know About Wireless Power Transmission ", "Beam It Down: How the New Satellites Can Power the World " and "Low Mass Solar Power Satellites Built From Terrestrial or Lunar Materials " to the archive.
October
31st	Added "The Technical and Economic Feasibility of Mining the Near-Earth Asteroids " and "Solar Power Satellites: An Idea Whose Time Has Come " to the archive.
29th	Fixed a problem with abstracts not appearing for some of the papers in the long library listing.
September
29th	Added "Progress Towards Space Tourism in Japan " to the archive.
25th	Added "Future Demand for Microwave Power from Space in China and Indonesia " to the archive.
24th	Added "Legal and Regulatory Issues for Passenger Space Travel " to the archive.
11th	Added "Zero-Gravity Sports Centers " to the archive.
10th	Added "Artificial-Gravity Swimming-Pool " to the archive.
	Fixed a problem with the library listing that caused less papers to appear in the list than are actually present in the archive.
4th	Added "Space Tourism: Exploring a New Industry " and "Space Tourism: A Flight of Fantasy or the Next Major Space Product?" to the archive.
3rd	Added "Reusable Space Transportation - The Key Infrastructure Element In Opening the Space Frontier To the Public " to the archive.
August
31st	Added "Humanity's Future in Space " to the archive.
12th	Added "Space Elevators, Space Hotels and Space Tourism " to the archive.
11th	Updated Space Tourism in Science Fiction - keep 'em coming.
July
10th	Added "Access to Space: SSX " to the archive.
9th	Added Barron Hilton's 1967 speech "Hotels in Space " to the archive.
3rd	New page Space Tourism in Science Fiction - contributions to this page are encouraged!
June
10th	Added "Decision Points " to the archive.
May
15th	Updated the Space Tourism timeline.
14th	New page The Business Case for Orbital Hotels in the Habitat section.
	Updated Orbital Hotel Design in the Habitat section.
13th	Updated Accommodation in Orbit in the Habitat section.
12th	New page Large Scale Structures in the Power section.
April
28th	Added issue 5 of Equatorial Times to the power section.
27th	Added "RLV Design Optimization for Human Presence in Space " to the archive.
24th	The library interface now comes in long and short versions.
9th	All new home page! Let us know what you think.
8th	New Library page, an alternative to the Bibliography for accessing (only) papers in the archive.
March
27th	Added "Tourism in Low Earth Orbit: The Trigger for Commercial Lunar Development?" to the archive.
26th	Added the joint NASA /STA study report "General Public Space Travel and Tourism " to the archive.
25th	Added Steve Bennet 's X-Prize contender Thunderbird to the Vehicle Designs page.
	Returned the mailing lists to full operation.
24th	Updated the Masthead.
February
25th	Changed the Papers & Publications database to list documents that are present in the archive before those that aren't, plus a few cosmetic improvements.
24th	Added "The SSX Concept " to the archive.
19th	Updated the Space Tourism timeline.
11th	Cross-linked all the articles in the Space Future Journal.
4th	Added "Comments on Certification Standards for New Reusable Launch Vehicles " to the archive.
January
30th	Added "A Fresh Look at Space Solar Power: New Architectures, Concepts and Technologies " to the archive.
26th	Updated and refreshed links for every paper and document on the site.
	Categorised papers into Habitat, Power, Tourism and Vehicles for the Directory of Contents
25th	Added the Rotary Rocket logo to the relevant archive papers.
9th	Added "GEODE - Commercial Space Production Facility " to the archive.
	Added issue 4 of Equatorial Times to the power section.
8th	Added "The Deimos Water Company " and "Historical Analogies Potentially Applicable To The Commercialization Of Space Activities " to the archive.
5th	Added the Pogo booster to the Vehicle Designs page and added a picture to the entry for Star Booster .

1997
December
19th	Added issue 3 of Equatorial Times to the power section.
	Added the JRS logo to those papers in the archive that originated from the Japanese Rocket Society.
2nd	Added "Some Views on Space Tourism from the United States " to the archive.
November
27th	Added issue 2 of Equatorial Times to the power section.
26th	Added "History of the Phoenix VTOL SSTO and Recent Developments in Single-Stage Launch Systems " to the archive.
24th	Updated the Roton entry in the Vehicle Designs page and provided it with a new image of the current design.
21st	Added the first issue of Equatorial Times to the power section. More issues to follow.
4th	Added "Conceptual Study of A Solar Power Satellite, SPS 2000 " to the archive.
October
31st	Added Space Cruiser System to the designs page.
30th	Added "A Common Cost Target of Space Transportation for Space Tourism and Space Energy Development " and "Throttling Dynamic Response of LH2 Rocket Engine for Verticle Landing Rocket Vehicle" to the archive.
16th	Added "European launch vehicle development: a commercial approach ", "Power From Space for the Next Century " and "An evolutionary satellite power system for International demonstration in developing nations " to the archive.
9th	Added several new items to the 1995, 1996 and 1997 sections in the SPS timeline.
	Collection of items added to the SFJ Press section. Many more to come (allegedly).
September
30th	Added "Artificial Gravity and the Architecture of Orbital Habitats ", "The Architecture of Artificial Gravity: Theory, Form, and Function in the High Frontier ", and "Funding the Development of a Space Tourism Industry " to the archive.
10th	Fixed a problem that prevented some pages from displaying properly on some browsers (seemingly Macs running Netscape 3).
2nd	Added Ascender to the designs page, and added pictures for Spacebus and Sanger.
August
29th	Added "Prospects for Inexpensive Space Transportation " to the archive.
22nd	Added "The Promise of Reusable Launch Vehicles for SPS " to the archive, albeit without pictures as of yet.
	Fixed all papers in the archive with wide pictures to use the margin. All papers should now fit in the standard 640 (580) pixels.
20th	25 new organisations complete with URLs added to the Who's Who.
	Added Space Van and SpaceCub vehicles to the designs page.
	Mailing list system tweaks. Unsubscribe footer text automatically added to all outbound list mail.
19th	Added Cosmos Mariner and CAC-1 vehicles to the designs page.
	Reorganised designs page into current and past vehicles
8th	Improved version of the Space Future Journal installed - the new version can navigate and search by date and link to related articles but still has a little way to go.
6th	Crossreferenced several new versions of documents in the topics areas.
1st	Added definitions and descriptions to all the terms currently defined.
July
29th	Added 3 papers from the ISCOPs conference - see the news for details. More to follow.
21st	Space Future opens!