SHALL WE WINTER ON MARS OR VENUS?

• Position: Space travel consumerism predictions - Brief Article

Within about 20 years, space travel will be a common occurrence and become commercialized, enabling those who can afford it another recreational option, predicts Kalmanje Krishnakumar, associate professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. He expects space travel's cost to drop and its frequency to increase.

"By 2020, we will have daily space travel? Krishnakumar forecasts. "It could be one, two, or three flights per day." Space travel costs about $10,000 per pound, but, by 2020, that will likely drop to about $100 a pound, he suggests. "This will take space travel to the next level where we were in the 1960s with air travel--that is, the very rich and elite will use it." Private business will become involved and will begin using offers of space travel to bring in revenue.

To meet these needs, future space vehicles will be larger and carry bigger payloads. Switching from the space shuttles to a single-stage vehicle will...