Recently, the General Office of the Beijing Municipal People's Government issued the "Beijing Action Plan for Accelerating the Innovation and Development of Commercial Aerospace (2024-2028)", which is in response to the rapid response and deployment made by the Beijing Municipal Government after the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to "build a number of strategic emerging industries such as commercial aerospace", and provide corresponding support from policy support, service guarantee, investment escort, ecological construction and other aspects. It also mentions space tourism, which has attracted much attention, and the notice clearly points out that it is necessary to "expand new forms of space economy and develop space tourism", which is an important implementation after the 2021 white paper "China's Aerospace" proposed "in the next five years, vigorously develop space tourism and other new forms of space economy".
In fact, in September last year, the "Beijing Implementation Plan for Promoting the Innovation and Development of Future Industries" also clearly mentioned "breakthroughs in key technologies and industrial applications such as vertical rocket recovery and manned suborbital travel." "Internationally, with the rise of SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and other companies, space tourism has moved towards normal operation. According to statistics, so far, 85 people around the world have gone into space commercially, compared to 7 in the 20 years before 2021.
In China, the mass production and industrialization of satellite production have made the supply chain of commercial aerospace more and more perfect, and the cost is getting lower and lower. Commercial rockets ushered in a blowout development, and reusable rockets are expected to be officially put into use in the next 3~4 years; In 2023, China's first manned space company came into being, and Beijing Traveler Manned Space Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Traveler") received a seed round of financing from Nanyue Fund, a state-owned investment institution, and sold the first historic suborbital space tourism ticket on behalf of China's commercial spacecraft, opening a new track of commercial spaceflight. Maybe we will have the opportunity to go to space in our lifetime, and space tourism is not far away......
"Last month, I signed my first ticket to space, and China's first commercial astronaut, the Traveler 001 space tourist, was born. On behalf of China's commercial manned spacecraft, the Traveler signed the historic first ticket! Lei Shiqing, founder and CEO of Beijing Traveler Manned Space Technology Co., Ltd., shared in a speech on Ant Group's "Innovation Night Talk" column in December 2023.
Traverser is China's first commercial manned spacecraft enterprise integrating the development of reusable commercial spacecraft and space tourism operations, and plans to complete the development of suborbital manned spacecraft in 3-4 years and achieve the first commercial suborbital manned flight in 2028, which coincides with the reusable rocket development goal in the "Beijing Action Plan for Accelerating Commercial Aerospace Innovation and Development (2024-2028)", and the time rhythm just matches. At that time, the ship and arrow will be one, making the dream of ordinary people traveling through space possible, and the appearance of the traverser is just right and the goal is clear.
Traverser has developed a "three-step" technological development route. The first step is to realize the development of a suborbital reusable manned spacecraft in the 3rd and 4th years; The second step is to realize the development of a reusable manned spacecraft in orbit in the 6th and 7th years; The third step is to achieve the rendezvous and docking of the target aircraft in the 9th to 10th years. With seven passengers on board and the company's first aircraft model, the CYZ1 suborbital manned spacecraft has been designed to maximize cost-effectiveness, comfort and intelligence while remaining safe and reliable.
According to the traverser, the physical requirements of commercial space flight are not as demanding as imagined, and so far the number of space tourists over the age of 70 is eight. Among them, William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the movie "Star Trek", flew into space at the age of 90 and became the world's oldest space tourist; American entrepreneur Larry Connor went directly to the International Space Station at the age of 70+ and experienced a 10-day space journey.
With the improvement of technology, the performance of the spacecraft in all aspects will make a qualitative leap. The time traveler stands on the shoulders of the country, no longer just satisfying the realization of functions and machine-centered design, but user-centered, " Thinking in a "people-oriented" way, through the development of environmental control and life-saving systems and complex human factors engineering technology, we have made an all-round layout around the space flight experience of passengers. Compared with traditional spacecraft, this is the most important feature for commercial flights, and it is also the biggest advantage of the traverser spacecraft. feature.
Compared with a large number of physical buttons, crowded cockpits, and narrow portholes inside traditional spacecraft, the Traverser spacecraft is based on artificial intelligence human-computer interaction and integrated electronic integrated autonomous control technology, with an efficient human-computer interaction management system, and an intelligent and automated human-computer interaction interface will greatly reduce the use threshold and learning cost of the crew. The aerodynamic shape and structural design based on the new escape also greatly increase the structural validity and volume ratio of the cockpit. The upgraded design allows passengers to float in the cockpit and enjoy the beauty of space, while also improving the safety, convenience, comfort and artistry of passengers during flight. In addition, the design of the new spacesuit will also use flexible electronic intelligent sensing technology to couple with the spacecraft to realize the intelligent monitoring and evaluation of the passenger's health status, which not only solves the problem of bloated spacesuit and inconvenient mobility, but also achieves the purpose of accurate sensing and real-time collection of a variety of data of passengers, including the emotional state of passengers.
At the same time, based on the solid aerospace medicine health and astronaut training system of the national manned space flight over the past 30 years, the traverser will develop a support system for commercial astronauts to provide passengers with the necessary training before going to space, including professional training such as simulation system simulation cabins, professional crew health protection and all-round aerospace physical examination. In view of the impact of special environmental factors such as weightlessness and overweight on the human body in the process of manned spaceflight, a series of physiological potential detection methods and evaluation standards were gradually established to evaluate and improve the physical abilities of space tourists in the specific environment of spaceflight, such as exercise cardiopulmonary function, upright endurance, lower body negative pressure endurance, head lower endurance, overweight endurance, hypoxic endurance, vestibular function, blood redistribution adaptability, etc. Whether it is health management, health training or health rating of space-grade doctors, space tourists can also further improve their physical functions and delay aging through customized aerospace health care and training value-added services, which will promote the transformation of excellent scientific and technological achievements of national aerospace medicine to the public.
The manned space project integrates a large number of scientific and technological technologies, involving a series of links such as manufacturing, launch, measurement and control, life support, space experiments, and recovery, and the project has led to the development of many scientific and technological industries, such as electronics, computers, metallurgy, new materials, machinery, special technology, cryogenic and vacuum technology, meteorology, communications, agriculture, etc. According to data provided by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, 80 percent of the more than 1,000 new materials produced in China in recent years have been developed under the traction of space technology. Nearly 2,000 space technology achievements have been transplanted to various sectors of the national economy; More than 3,000 civilian enterprises have participated in the production and development of manned spaceflight, involving the electronics industry, components, raw materials, spacecraft materials and many other directions.
At present, the price of space tourism has dropped sharply from tens of millions of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and according to relevant surveys, if it further drops to 50,000 US dollars, it will be a trillion-level RMB market, and China, as the world's second largest economy, has a market space of more than 100 billion. As a new engine of space economy, space tourism can stimulate the development of upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain such as commercial rockets, spacecraft manufacturing, space biomedicine, and various parts and components through hundreds of billions of market incremental space, focusing on obvious benefits, and providing huge imagination space for local economy and industrial gathering.