Millenium Twain sent in this report from the Washington Post which might
have some bearing on this subject though it does not specifically
mention the http://www.powerofthedream.com website or any of the people
and his idea is that it will be for profit, since I don't have the URL
for it, I have to post the entire article;
Space Tourism's Boosters Start Countdown
Joel Glenn Brenner,
Special to The Washington Post; 07-25-1999
Like many who witnessed the glory and spectacle of the Cold War space
race, Robert Bigelow grew up devouring sci-fi novels, sketching rockets
in his schoolbooks and wondering when it would be his turn to fly to the
moon. Now, at 55, the Las Vegas multimillionaire still has dreams of
blasting into orbit--only he's going to do it in style.
The owner of the Budget Suites of America hotel chain is investing as
much as $500 million of his real estate fortune to design and build a
100-passenger luxury cruise ship that will permanently orbit the moon,
giving vacationers a week-long excursion they'll never forget. For
Americans waxing nostalgic about Apollo on the 30th anniversary of the
first moon landing, Bigelow may be the best chance, however remote, of
seeing lunar dreams fulfilled.
"It's up to private enterprise to get the general public into space in
our lifetimes," Bigelow said in a weighty tone, as though he alone were
carrying this burden. "It is imperative that we create user-friendly,
market-driven projects like this one or it will never happen."
The Las Vegas native, who made his fortune developing apartment
complexes and mid-priced hotels throughout the Southwest, said he
realizes his vision is "highly experimental." But he also firmly
believes that he can succeed where NASA and other aerospace companies
have failed. "I know a lot more about aerospace than NASA knows about
business," he said, his voice brimming with confidence. "The
government's launch costs are outrageous; I can do it for
one-twentieth of what they're spending."
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's shuttle program
costs about $10,000 per pound and private launch companies spend about
$8,000 per pound to get their payloads into orbit, experts said. At that
price, Bigelow's $500 million is mere pocket change. But if launch
companies are able to develop less-expensive means of orbital
transportation, that per-pound cost could drop
dramatically--something Bigelow is counting on.
More than a dozen private firms are currently trying to develop reusable
rockets that could potentially cut the payload cost to $1,000 per pound,
maybe less. But so far, none of these rockets exists.
"We're getting close, but we're still not there," said Thomas Rogers,
chief scientist for the Space Transportation Association. "If the
commercialization of space is ever going to take off, we're going to
have to overcome this barrier."
Bigelow hopes the lure of his "cruise ship" idea will provide a crucial
incentive to reusable-rocket makers, which have been struggling because
of lack of capital. "I expect to provide [these companies] with a market
for their product," Bigelow said. "That, in turn, should help them raise
money to finish their plans."
GARY C. HUDSON, president of Rotary Rocket Co., which is developing a
reusable single-stage rocket that is undergoing tests in the Mojave
Desert, called Bigelow "an angel" and likened him to the royalty of the
1700s who privately sponsored seafaring voyages to the Far East and the
New World. "This is just the kind of boost we've been waiting for," said
Hudson, who plans to have his vehicle in commercial service next year.
Bigelow shrugs off such accolades. The extremely private real estate
mogul has always been interested in outer space and the paranormal. He
donated millions of dollars to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas to
fund a "consciousness studies" program and he bankrolls the nonprofit
National Institute for Discovery Science, which researches such
out-of-the-box concepts as creating interstellar "wormholes" using
nuclear explosions.
But his new project, privately funded Bigelow Aerospace Co., is about
more than cosmic curiosity: It's about being at the vanguard of the
"dawning age of space tourism," as he puts it. It also reflects these
flush economic times. Vacationers are already paying tens of thousands
of dollars to climb Mount Everest or explore the Antarctic, Bigelow
points out.
A journey into space would represent the ultimate tourist destination,
easily worth a few hundred thousand dollars per ticket. Recent surveys
on behalf of adventure travel companies have shown as many as 10,000
people say they are willing to spend $1 million or more for an
experience in space.
"This is the beginning of the future," he said matter-of-factly. "It's
people like me that are going to get the public into space -- not NASA,
not some internationally sponsored space station."
This assessment was echoed last week at a symposium in Houston where
more than 100 scientists, researchers and engineers--and even a few
former Apollo astronauts--met to discuss the future of the moon.
Virtually everyone at the conference agreed with Bigelow, saying it is
time to take the moon out of the government's hands and place it
squarely with the private sector. The idea of a lunar cruise ship was
met not with snickers but with a hearty "it's about time" sense of
relief.
"This is not a pie-in-the-sky fantasy," insisted rocket scientist Greg
Bennett, who presented Bigelow's plans. "The technology is there; the
know-how is there. It's always been a matter of money and now Bigelow is
closing that gap."
To be sure, Bigelow's $500 million investment will cover just a fraction
of the project's ultimate cost, even if launch costs drop dramatically.
But it is a serious enough commitment to make people stand up and take
notice, and Bigelow himself speaks as if money is his last concern.
"I'm not in this for the profit," he said. "I don't expect to see any
return for at least 15 years--if ever. This is all a big experiment."
But it's one the Las Vegas native is taking very much to heart. "I'll
put in more than [$500 million] if that's what it takes," he said. "My
only hope is that this company can be a catalyst for change, that we can
alter the way people view space and make everyone realize that it's up
to the private sector to make things happen."
Just how much capital Bigelow can afford to invest is unclear. The
developer owns all of his companies outright--including the Budget
Suites hotel chain, which analysts estimate is worth about $600 million,
and a number of large apartment complexes and other real estate assets
around Las Vegas worth about $400 million, according to other Las Vegas
developers.
Further obscuring the picture, Bigelow has generally kept himself out of
the public spotlight; he has never been profiled by the media or granted
a face-to-face interview, and he declined to be photographed for this
story. He said he is only talking about his aerospace plans because
"there is a general need to educate the public," not because he's
seeking personal glory.
But these are reasons, too, that he believes he'll be successful. "The
only shareholder I have to answer to is Mrs. Bigelow," he said, only
half joking. "There isn't a public company in America that could take
the risks I'm taking--I have no investors breathing down my neck, no
need for short-term profits," he continued. "And if I say I'm going to
do something, I do it."
Evidence of "Mr. B's" commitment is everywhere, said Bennett, a 30-year
aerospace veteran who left his job at Houston's Johnson Space Center in
April to become Bigelow's vice president of spacecraft development. The
company is already running full-page advertisements in Space News and
other publications to hire the researchers, industrial engineers,
architects and scientists who will try to turn Bigelow's vision into
reality.
The company plans to break ground next year on its new Las Vegas
headquarters--a rocket-shaped building surrounded by a moat "to give it
the impression of being on a launch pad," said Bennett. With 60,000
square feet set aside for building models and developing the space ship,
the production facility will rival those of aerospace giants such as
Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.
The cruise ship itself will be just as impressive. Though there are no
artist renderings yet, Bennett said he is designing a craft equipped
with artificial gravity and appointed with all the amenities of an
opulent ocean liner, complete with private bathrooms, bedrooms and
individual portal windows for viewing the earth, moon and planets.
Like a scene straight out of "The Jetsons," the cruise ship will also
contain an observation deck and gymnasium, a dining room with "real"
food and possibly even a means of allowing passengers to take a brief
walk in the cosmos.
It all sounds a bit wacky, Bigelow admits. But Apollo astronaut Buzz
Aldrin, an ardent supporter of Bigelow's idea, gushes: "This is
completely within the realm of possibility. For 30 years we've been
waiting for a chance to go back to the moon. But it's never been a
matter of technology, only desire."
"We need more Bob Bigelows," seconded Alan Binder, chief scientist for
NASA's Lunar Prospector mission, which last year discovered evidence of
water frozen in the moon's polar craters. "His project alone could
jump-start an entire lunar industry."
A lunar orbiting cruise ship would undoubtedly be a ferociously hungry
beast, requiring thousands of rocket launches annually just to keep it
supplied with food, crew members and passengers--not to mention clean
linens and toilet paper. A commercial lunar base could provide supplies
such as fuel and water, said Binder. And while there are bound to be
many skeptics, Bennett, who has only been on the job for two months,
said he has absolutely no doubt that Bigelow's dreams will come to
fruition.
Asked how he can be so certain, he smiled wryly and said, "This isn't
NASA," referring to the agency's endless bureaucracy. "We've got the
know-how, and he's got the money. It's a beautiful combination."
Besides, Bennett quipped, "Robert Bigelow is the only man in the world
with his own pet rocket scientist."
-- Jerry Wayne Decker / jdecker@keelynet.com http://keelynet.com / "From an Art to a Science" Voice : (214) 324-8741 / FAX : (214) 324-3501 KeelyNet - PO BOX 870716 - Mesquite - Republic of Texas - 75187