Delineating acceptable risk in the space tourism industry

ABSTRACT

Advances in suborbital, orbital, and beyond orbit space tourism continue to occur at a rapid pace. However, it is uncertain what form this burgeoning industry will take. Some envisage spaceflight as an extension of commercial aviation, a new transport paradigm that would allow flying from London to New York City in less than an hour. Others argue space tourism will remain a niche, high-adrenaline activity suited to adventurers. Finally, space tourism is sometimes instead positioned as more akin to the efforts of explorers, such as early expeditions to Earth’s polar regions. The level of acceptable risk associated with space tourism hinges on which of these categories defines its development during the coming decades. This paper argues that uncertainty regarding the future course of space tourism development complicates delineating the level of acceptable risk in this domain and that this dynamic is likely to lead to problematic industrial and customer relations.

KEYWORDS:

• Space tourism
• space travel
• commercial spaceflight
• adventure tourism
• risk

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Sam Spector is a Lecturer in the Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His research focuses on the rapidly emerging space travel industry.