Area Tourism Turns into The Ultimate Enjoyable-tier

Restrictions continue to cool the world when traveling around the world, cutting off popular locations on maps we are all familiar with. But what about places and travel experiences of the third kind?

We speak of bravely going where no tourist has been. Space, the last frolicking frontier. Encouraged that not one but three spaceships, put into the air by so many nations, are at this moment expanding the Red Planet to its future potential as additional Earth (you never know), it is shining a laser light on experiences outside of the World that are being commercialized quickly.

We are getting there step by step. The headlines brought congratulations to NASA’s Perseverance robot rover on February 18 landed safely on Mars America’s sixth Mars landing – even when China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft and the United Arab Emirates’s Hope spacecraft took orbit.

In other words, like the Hamptons, Mars is already overcrowded. But at least when “Mars Hotel” finally opens (as predicted by The Grateful Dead in 1974), there is already a way to pay.

Marscoin is a new cryptocurrency used by the Mars Society to not only fund missions but also to act as the reserve currency of the new world. Sounds far away, but it’s just the payments business that is looking for new opportunities. And like the Marscoin people sayFor “a new planetary settlement, a payment and value transfer / storage system like Bitcoin would primarily be useful. It is very unlikely that the first Martian settlers would start printing paper. “

Do not be so sure. Paper exams can survive in a vacuum.

In the absence of Fifth Element-style space pleasure cruises to Mars (yet), let’s take a look at some of the near-Earth activities that are now (or will soon be available) for zero gravity seekers.

Space tourism is taking off

Planetary forces like international trade and the obsessive need to post the best vacation photos on Instagram combine to break earth’s grumpy bonds.

In 2021, at least two companies will test high-altitude balloon flights to the edge of space. From the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Spatial perspective They just received $ 7 million in seed funding to get the Spaceship Neptune (ahem) project off the ground.

Founder and Co-CEO Taber MacCallum said in a December Explanation “Our ability to make space accessible in unprecedented ways is extremely important. We are grateful that this leading group of investors recognizes that space tourism has arrived and is a major driver of the future growth of commercial space travel. “

And there it is: space tourism. Everyone wants a piece of the soaring action.

In Spain startup Zero 2 infinity (Z2I) describes itself as an “emission-free space transport company” with its Bloon Space balloon gondola concept. Z2I not only wants to bring people to the edge of space, but also wants to place paid advertising up there. With the introduction of HAPS for “High-Altitude Platform, s,” Z2I intends to take advertising high up and potentially ushering in a new era in superbowl ads (and the strain on the neck of looking up).

What about Mr. Tesla himself, Elon Musk? On February 1st, the SpaceX Founder announced that the first purely civilian occupation is lifted aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. And who is leading this civilian occupation? It’s Jared Isaacman, Founder and CEO of Shift4 payments, a Pennsylvania-based payment processor. Talk about moving money around the planet – at 17,500 miles an hour.

Well played sir.

The room is officially open to business

Further commercialization of the near-earth environment will be profit over fun. But still funny.

Last October, NASA announced that it would fully commercialize near-earth communications for orbital and lunar missions by 2030. NASA’s reasons for turning to the private sector sound very similar Banks work with FinTechs.

“By moving to commercial communications services, NASA will free up manpower and resources to focus on technology development while strengthening the commercial space economy. This shift can also lower the overall cost of communications services while improving the responsiveness and availability of the network. ” announcement. Might be talking about RTP too.

“If NASA becomes just one of many customers in a commercial marketplace, missions can benefit from competitive pricing from a wide variety of service providers,” it said.

No discussion of the commercialization of space would be complete without visiting two other soaring high-rollers: Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson and Amazon’s Mr. Jeff Bezos.

Branson for his part Virgo Galactic is waiting for private individuals for a future visit to the International Space Station. The Company says “Under an agreement with NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Virgin Galactic is developing a new orbital astronaut readiness program for individuals interested in purchasing missions to the International Space Station. This program builds on Virgin Galactic’s experience in commercial space education and its position as the world’s premier space experiences brand. It will provide a unique turnkey approach to orbital flight, from sourcing transportation to delivering training, all delivered with an unparalleled and proven commitment to a personalized customer experience. “

If you’re wondering what Bezos is going to do with his free time since he’s no longer commonplace on Amazon, we bet he’ll be spending more time on it Blue origin, his own space company.

People are waiting for rides in Blue Origin’s reusable suborbital New Shepard Missile system of which the website offers “every seat is a window seat”. A trip includes a stay in the remote high plateau desert launch area in West Texas. It’s or will be an 11 minute flight, but we suspect it’s the 11 most memorable minutes of any earthly life.