In a paper in New Space, Ken Davidian summarizes his research on the human suborbital spaceflight market and how the data fit within the innovation process ‘‘fireworks’’ model toward eventual industry emergence. He finds that the suborbital tourism market is past the initial emergence stages close to actual commercial operation, which will commence when any company flies a customer in exchange for a purchased fare. To date, Virgin Galactic is the closest to this key milestone. Space tourism may be a key economic driver that will enable eventual space settlement.
