Space Tourism

In news

The Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai in association with the Aeronautical Society of India organised an online lecture on 'Space Tourism: The Next Frontier' 

Space Tourism

• Space tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure of business purposes.
  
• Space Adventures was the first agency in the field of Space Tourism, The agency was started by US billionaire Richard Garriot in 1998. 
  
• Dennis Tito was the first commercial spaceflight passenger before which only astronauts went to space for research purposes.
• The basic terminologies involved in space tourism are orbital flights, sub orbital flights, low earth orbits.

Orbit

An orbit is a curved path that an object in space (such as a star, planet, moon, asteroid or spacecraft) takes around another object due to gravity. 

Types of orbit

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

LEO is commonly used for communication and remote sensing satellite systems, as well as the International Space Station (ISS) and Hubble Space Telescope.

Medium Earth Orbit

MEO is commonly used for navigation systems, including the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS).

Geosynchronous Orbit (GSO) & Geostationary Orbit (GEO)

Objects in GSO have an orbital speed that matches the Earth’s rotation, yielding a consistent position over a single longitude. GEO is a kind of GSO. It matches the planet’s rotation, but GEO objects only orbit Earth’s equator, and from the ground perspective, they appear in a fixed position in the sky. GSO and GEO are used for telecommunications and Earth observation.

Polar Orbit

Within 30 degrees of the Earth’s poles, the polar orbit is used for satellites providing reconnaissance, weather tracking, measuring atmospheric conditions, and long-term Earth observation.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO)

A type of polar orbit, SSO objects are synchronous with the sun, such that they pass over an Earth region at the same local time every day.

Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO)

An HEO is oblong, with one end nearer the Earth and other more distant. Satellites in HEO are suited for communications, satellite radio, remote sensing and other applications.

Source: PIB