Recently, Space News published an op-ed by Fredrick Engstrom and Heinz Pfeffer arguing “Space Tourism is a Hoax.” It mentioned that a business case for suborbital tourism could not be made. I would argue that there are numerous other suborbital markets beyond tourism.
NASA has had some efforts at suborbital science on human-tended systems, and TGV Rockets has long argued that interesting scientific and technical missions, from missile defense target presentation to remote sensing, could be performed. These markets and future markets make reusable suborbital flight quite promising.
There is more to suborbital than is dreamt of in your philosophy, Fredrick.
Pat Bahn, chief executive officer, TGV Rockets
Norman
,
Okla.
