Space Movie

How often have great designers, engineers, and scientists been interviewed, and when asked about their original inspiration they reference some movie or show.

Star Wars, Star Trek,  2001: A Space Odyssey, Buck Rogers, The Jetsons. These movies and TV shows have literally inspired thousands of people to make the fiction fact.

Now, within the last ten years, point to a movie or TV show which could be the definitive media trigger to inspire new technologists. Many will respond with Interstellar, Avatar, Star Wars, and Star Trek. But the trouble is, of those answers, only Interstellar and Avatar were really new concepts. But across the board, none of these movies had at their core the wonder of discovery or space travel itself. Interstellar was not about exploration but about a man separated from his family. Avatar was not about exploration but the dangers and warnings to consider in it.

In the last decade there has been no single movie which has defined the glory and wonder of space exploration and expansion. In the movies where this has been a possibility, Space has simply been a backdrop, not the focus.

How can an industry which requires a level of public opinion and knowledge to survive, by driving tourism ambitions and potentially tax dollars, survive without becoming a part of  culture.

Movies and media really define the state of American society at any given time. Space exploration used to be lived and breathed by everyone, when the moon landings were happening. Today, the attempt to land a rocket on a barge to reduce spaceflight costs by factors of 10, barely makes it onto Google News.

A movie needs to be made about space travel and exploration. A movie which actually captures the imagination and hope of the world. A movie which makes people "starry-eyed" about space travel again.

The date of the launch of the Jupiter II of "Lost in Space"

While we at "The Space Economy" are not fictional writers, what story could be more endearing than one set ten years from now when the space industry is fully active. Every space movie in recent years, or ever, has begun 50-100 years in the future. People will be amazed and excited by a date at the beginning of a movie of just 5-10 years in the future.

Space Toys

A company for the creation of toys uniquely suited for the environment of space.

While the beauty of space is awe inspiring, when you live there for long periods of time it starts to lose its charm. Diversions for space travelers will have to become an industry. Toys and games will need to be created which tourists and explorers can enjoy while locked inside of a can or bubble.

So what would a space toy look like? Well, the simplest is a ball. Astronauts in the ISS have used balls as entertainment in the zero-g environment for years. While entertaining space-ball will lose its novelty, especially to people who are watching it. And in an industry where pubic opinion will have huge sway, it is important to create a "Space Experience" that can't be replicated. Catch in space is still just catch.

So any kind of space toy must be able to exist only in space, otherwise the romance and desire is gone from those who are not a part of it.

So, what can occur in a weightless environment that can't anywhere else. The first thing is structures. Gossamer creations can exist in space that would collapse on earth. A building set made of straws could be an option. Or perhaps a strategy game, such at dominoes, where players attempt to limit the movies of other players. Perhaps a dynamic game where players set certain pieces in motion without disrupting others. Or maybe instead of using a board, each space is a separate piece that floats in midair. Anything that utilizes the 3-D, floating experience of space.

Astronauts insert a GoPro into a bubble of water for fun

Now, in the current space environment of high launch costs and no-frills design, a toy may not be high on the shopping list. This is founded. Given the choice between a toy or a tool many will choose the tool when going to space. The weight of even a few pounds of toys or games costs thousands of dollars to launch.

Fortunately, it is no longer necessary to launch toys. They can be beamed to orbit. Made-In-Space recently sent a 3-D printer to the ISS that has been making plastic tools and spare parts for several months. It would be so simple to just e-mail a set of space Legos.

3-D printing will allow crews of space missions to not only create necessary parts and tools but also a little entertainment with no launch cost. And when the toy becomes boring it can be melted down and turned into something else.

Because of technologies like 3-D printing space toys are something that can be created today. A high school kid with Google Sketch-up could create something that could be sold to the astronauts on the ISS tomorrow.

Space toys will be a low-cost-of-entry business. And, at this point, there is no competition because no one has really considered it. But it will be an industry as tourism heats up in coming years. Plus explorers on long missions to Mars will love to have an inventory of "made for space" entertainment that they can download when they want it, play with it, and then turn into a spare part.

Anyone with some time and creativity can create a business that would never have to have inventory, but would help to support the psychological wellness of many space missions in the future. Maybe by just creating a 3-D printable space chess set.

Below Astronaut Chris Hadfield demonstrates a dart game the astronauts created, and tries a game designed by the Mythbusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman.

Space Sports

Until such a time as the Space Economy is able to produce materials and services that allow it to support itself, it will have to create products that provide something meaningful to the people on Earth. At this point, the space industry's transfer of material goods to and from space is not exactly a mass market. Even though they help to serve a mass market, (i.e. communication satellites) such activities do not immediately identify identify a space company as the provider of the service. If the space industry wishes to broaden its horizons it will have to create products and services that can be marketed to the more general population.

So what is a space product or experience that is out of reach of the normal person but can still be enjoyed and paid for by that individual? Well, an earth equivalent to this situation would would be professional football or basketball. Many people aspire to be great athlete but if it is out of their reach they are contented with simply being a fan of the experience. The creation of Space Sports would create an identical experience. Space Sports are an opportunity for the space industry to broaden its horizons beyond launch vehicles and government contracts.

A space sport would have to utilize zero gravity to its greatest potential. This means the players would have to be able to fly and maneuver within a large area. Think Ender's Game battle room. Normally, large spaces are difficult and expensive to attain in space. Even Bigelow modules would not do the trick. But it is not necessary to create an interior field for such a sport. With durable space suits and proper safety measures in place the "stadium" could just be a large cage in orbit that keeps the untethered players from flying into oblivion. Such a structure would simple to design, maintain, and deploy and would be magnitudes cheaper to build than a modern football stadium even with launch costs.

The sport itself would probably be a type of 3-D soccer, where the players pass a ball and attempt to put it through the other teams goal area. But there are no requirements for the sport, it could be dodgeball, or something where the teams have to catch robotic balls. This is a decision that would have to be made by the organization founding the sport.

Human players will be necessary. Since human spectators would not have the same connection to a competition of robots. This means that the facility will have to have attached living spaces for several dozen people. With launches priced at 60 million dollars, the teams will likely have to remain in orbit for the entire "season." Meaning a space station will need to be created at the "stadium" with life support and supplies on a scale that has never been attempted.

The cost of food and the construction of living space will be where the highest costs will come from. But these can be one-time costs if the station is outfitted with amenities like gardens and efficient recycling technologies that will minimize the need for re-supply. This way the station can be built and then becomes almost self-sustaining.

Sports are a great business because, once established, there are so many revenue sources. There are ticket sales, television contracts, advertising, and contracts with vendors. Nearly all of these money streams exist in space as well as on Earth. Television broadcasts of the "Space Matches" will be the primary source of income. As the tourist industry begins to blossom ticket sales will be an option. And, as far as vendors are concerned, for tourists to attend the matches, they will need to be fed and transported just as in stadiums on Earth. Partnerships with such space taxis and suppliers will be inevitable.

The risk involved with Space Sports is that they are not something that can be proven as "the next big thing." They would be an all or nothing gamble. But Space Sports have the potential to be a global phenomena devoid of cultural preference, since it would be the first new sport in nearly a hundred years to define the modern technological age. Its complete novelty would be its advantage. But if no one of the planet appreciates it, it will flop hard.

But the potential of the idea could be tested by simply building the "field" and then sending up a couple of teams to play a few televised games. The investment would be around 200 million dollars, for such a test, but is far less than creating an entire space station. If the response is favorable then the complete "stadium" and living area could be built.

Space Sports are something that will eventually come to pass. It is as inevitable as the colonization of Mars. the question is not "if" but "when." It's possible today to prove the concept with a few hundred million dollars. If successful it would give an added boost to the perception of the space industry and space itself and create an entirely new facet in the sports industry. And even though the investment is substantial, when a top professional football team has a value in the area of about 1 billion dollars, revenue of about 350 million dollars, and player expenses around 150 million, the risks and benefits of a Space Sport are nearly identical.

Space Board Games

The creation of tabletop/board games for the zero-gravity of space.

As space tourism and colonization begins to grow and progress the customs and pastimes of the people that spend time in space will also morph from what we know on Earth. This creates an opportunity for inventors and entrepreneurs imagine and create things that can add to that society today.

In our digital world board games still have a strong hold of the way people spend their time. Games like chess and checkers have existed for hundreds of years. But they are all terrestrial.

In space new games can be created that function very differently from those on Earth. Space has the unique quality of no gravity. Games that were once played on a two-dimensional board can now be played in three-dimensional space.

Spock playing Three-Dimensional Chess

These games will be needed. The space tourists will want every indulgence in order to make their space experience a full one. This requires activities that can only be performed in space. Space games will have to be created as these resorts and cruise lines begin to be created.

And those colonists that will have a six month journey on their way to Mars or some other colony will need to have something to pass the time. A good board game is far more physically interactive and connecting than a computer game. Such games can literally help to keep crews sane on these long journeys.

The design of these games can be varied. Some may simply be standard Earth games with the pieces adapted for the space environment. Something like added magnets to keep them from floating around. Pretty easy to do

Perhaps games can be designed to have psychological benefits from the crew using them. Something along the lines of trivia games using particular images of Earth to encourage "happy thoughts" in the crew.

And of course, entirely new games can be created that are designed singularly for space. Games that may actually start in space and eventually be implemented on Earth. These creates an entirely new spectrum of game design that can begin to be explored.

This little piece of entertainment, the board game, that has been common on Earth can easily be made common in space. It is one of those ideas that requires little capital to create in an industry which is generally extremely expensive today.

Space Historical Site Protection and Preservation

Courtesy of Star Trek: Enterprise. A Mars Memorial

As tourists and colonists begin to move out into
the solar system they will begin to visit the historical landing sites of Apollo, Luna II, and Curiosity. But who will protect these sites from overambitious souvenir hunters? That is a big question and an opportunity for the future space industry.

Organizations/Companies can and need to be created in order to protect and preserve these sites that are a part of human history. The opportunity comes from either being contracted by governments to "defend" them from vandalism or by turning them into "pay to enter" museums. But the combination of the two will be the most likely. Governments wanting to preserve the artifacts will subsidize any company with the technology to do so. Then the company will be able to charge admission to the the site which they have been given protective custody over.

What would be needed to create these museums? Not a lot. On the Moon a simple fence could be erected around the Apollo modules and basically patrolled by robots. Visitors would be able to work through an automatic system in order to gain access and would be given a tour, probably along a special visitor path to prevent footprints, by a telepresence robot controlled from Earth. The admission fees would be on the order of several thousand dollars in the early days and would come down as lunar travel became more common. All of this would be able to be constructed with rovers, but if lunar tourism is common it would most likely be easier to simply send a human crew to create the site.

On Mars it will be very different. Historical sites will need to be protected from the environment as well as the visitors and there is no chance of telepresence due to radio lag. Each site would need to have a structure built around it, most likely some type of inflatable dome. Or perhaps a solid display case, of sorts, could be created that allows guests to look inside to see the landers but not touch or vandalize them. Another option, since there is no need to preserve footprints on Mars and there are no significantly large structures, a museum could be created and then each of the artifacts would be collected and put on display as in a normal museum on earth. Again government subsidies would play a large role and then the museum would be able to become one of the "attractions" of a Martian vacation.

But there is no reason to leave all of these artifacts on the Moon or Mars. A time will come when some artifacts may be brought back to their home planet just as pottery is brought from an archaeological dig. Sojourner would be something akin to a famous painting. And the organization that has custody of it will be the one to profit from its transport.

While the first few hundred humans will no doubt be very respectful of the pieces of history that are scattered around the solar system, preservation is an issue that will need to be addressed as space travel and tourism begin to become common. The footprints on the Moon are irreplaceable like the Mona Lisa. An opportunity exists today for space entrepreneurs to create a framework to protect these artifacts and become the curators and owners of the first interplanetary museums.

A Space Holodeck

Extended time spent in space can have any number of psychological affects on space crews. Being locked inside a metal can with absolutely nothing outside and no one to help if there is a problem will wear on anyone. Not to mention the endless boredom and routine. While a spaceship will need constant supervision there will never be enough to do on a 2-3 year mission to Mars and back. Crews will need some form of entertainment. But not just movies and books. The crews of long duration spaceflights need something to connect them with home. Something that will give them a reprieve from the isolation of space. Luckily, movie-makers and futurists have already created such a device. The Holodeck.

The "Holodeck" of science fiction is a virtual reality (VR) room that becomes completely interactive. The user becomes a part of a different world ,which they can see and interact with using all of their senses. In science fiction the holodeck experience is accomplished through "hard light." No such technology exists today. However limited virtual reality is starting to gain significant traction in the video game industry. Products like the Kinect and the Oculus Rift insert the player into the game they are playing.  The Oculus Rift creates the illusion of being in the game through a pair of video goggles that let the user see the environment of the game as if through the eyes of their character. They move their head to the left they see the left and vice-versa. Goggles like the Rift can also be interfaced with treadmills and devices, like the Kinect, that track the users body movements. This allows the user of these complete systems to interact with the game using their entire body, running, jumping, and shooting just as if they were actually doing it. But these systems currently only let the user interact with the game and not the game with the user. Players can't feel the recoil of a gun or smell the smoke, they can only move around in it. And yet that may be all that is needed for space.

While the VR systems of today are designed for gaming they could easily be turned into a means of remaining connected with Earth. Systems very similar to the one shown above could be installed on future spaceships. Then, when astronauts go for a jog, instead of simply looking at a wall while they run on the treadmill, they can put on the goggles and immediately be transported to the edge of the Grand Canyon. They would be able to see the sunrise and, for just a little while, feel as if they have the entire Earth underfoot instead of being thousands of miles away from it. This can have tremendously positive affects on the crew.

A company that would want to pursue this type of technology would need to develop two things. First they would need to create a complete VR system that tracks the user and lets them interact with their environment. This has already been accomplished, so most of the focus would be on the second part. Creating the virtual environments from video gathered on Earth.

The company would need to create a means to make a video, of say a jog along the Grand Canyon, interactive. The user of the video would need to be able to "stop and smell the roses"  without having to pause the video. This will require a means of layering panoramic video from multiple cameras and syncing it perfectly. This hasn't been accomplished in the VR industry yet. The standard graphics for VR today are mostly CGI because it is easier to create a VR environment within a fake world.  But they look clunky and plastic. While these would have their place in entertainment for future space travelers, they would not have remotely the same effect as a true interactive image of home.

However, it is possible that, in creating these interactive environments that can't be touched or smelled, the experience could create the reverse of hope. It could bring about desperation from seeing something so real and not being able to feel it. It could be the equivalent of seeing a mirage of water when you are thirsting in the desert. There are too few studies available today to know what kind of effects this technology would have. A company interested in space applications would need to explore the affects thoroughly once created.

The major benefit to a company that creates these future space "holodecks" is that they would be a company that is not limited to the space industry. Many people on Earth want to have the visual experience of a jog on a beach in Madrid or along the Grand Canyon, instead of watching the morning news on their treadmill. And there would be no psychological implications from this type of technology in this situation. It would become a perfect example of advancing terrestrial life while developing products for space.

The company to create a viable environment that really becomes believable, though untouchable, will be one of the leaders of the future VR market. But it may also be able to solve half of the psychological problems associated with the long term isolation associated with current interplanetary spaceflight.