The cost of going into space is inflating, from the $10 and $20 million that was being previously reported for private individuals to use the Russian Space Agency’s Soyuz to stay Hotel ISS is now going to be as much as $30-$40 million.
Some of this is due to the pressure on the US dollar against other currencies. Some if it may be due to increased cost of materials for the actual craft.
Virgin Galactic is looking like more and more of a bargain. As is staying at the Bigelow inflatable space station.
I am really really pessimistic about space. Space colonization a la Gerald K O Neill and the High Frontier looks more like Flash Gordon every year. The future looks bleak for sacks of meat in space. Only robotics may prove competitive in space.
Well for one, it’s expensive to get to space and it’s expensive to stay there. Humans do hang out in expensive places, to be sure, but right now we’re still playing around.
Keep an eye on private space access, that’s where we’ll learn if it’s going to happen.
Space elevators are also intriguing.
But O’Neil’s visions and the High Frontier is Flash Gordon, to be honest. It’s a piece of SF, not a realistic road map, anymore than predictions from people in 1900 of today are. They’re a great starting point for people closer and closer to that time, but the final result is of course not going to look like the fantasies of someone grounded in that particular time.