*** Note: This proposal has been superceeded by The Proposal (v2.0) ***
Project Name
Taffanaut - (Make Space Accessible)
Purpose
The primary objectives by sponsoring the first Welsh born
person in space are:-
- To raise the profile of Welsh universities and businesses in the UK and worldwide.
- To promote collaboration between Welsh companies and companies in the UK and worldwide.
- To promote collaboration between Welsh universities.
- By becoming the first Welsh born person in space help to make space accessible to “ordinary” people.
Background
The UK space industry contributes more than £9 billion a
year to our economy. The government wants to increase this to £40 billion
within 20 years. Wales already has approximately 20000 employees in the
aerospace industry and there are ever increasing opportunities within this
industry. I want to help inspire the
younger generation (from all backgrounds) to become interested in this emerging
21st century industry, attend Welsh universities and help create a
better future for Wales. In order to do this I aim to become the First Welsh
born person in space and to do this I need to raise £65000. I have chosen not
to target individuals for sponsorship but to target Universities in Wales
offering aeronautical/engineering programmes and companies within the aerospace
industry in Wales.
In return all sponsors will be involved in the project
from a publicity perspective and specifically for university sponsors I have
secured talks from SXC (see expected benefits).
Expected benefits
Immediate benefits for participating universities include
–
Talks are expected to be delivered by an SXC
representative and be focused on XCOR’s Lynx
space plane. The publicity is mutually beneficial to the university and to SXC
who have indicated that one of the founders of SXC, Ben Droste may deliver the
talk.
Ben Droste has flown over 4,000 hours in different types
of military aircrafts, with almost 1,000 hours in the F-16. He was part of the
Royal Netherlands Air Force from 1962 to 2000, when he retired as Commander in
Chief. He has been involved as a Chairman of the Netherlands Agency for
Aerospace Programmes, Dean and Professor of the Aerospace Faculty of the
Technical University in Delft and ESA Advisory Board Member. Currently, Ben
Droste is Chairman of the Fokker – van den Berch van Heemstede Aerospace
Foundation and member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Netherlands
Defense Academy.
It is hoped that the initial publicity and on going
association with this venture will raise the profile of the university and any partner
organisations. This will in turn assist with future marketing and awareness of
the university to potential applicants worldwide. Partner organisations will
also benefit from the raised profile allowing relationships to be fostered with
other similar organisations.
Other participating non university sponsors are
encouraged to invest more than the minimum £6500. Participating universities will
share any surplus money and any future income generated by the venture.
Estimated Costs
The cost for 1 ticket on the XCOR Lynx space plane is
approximately £65000. This has been subdivided in to 10 equal sponsor/shares of
£6500 to help spread the cost and to allow a number of Welsh
universities/organisation to take part without diluting the benefits too much.
£6500 per share (per university or group of universities).
A university may commit to 1 x £6500 share or may choose
to collaborate with another university and share the cost and the SXC talk. Another
possibility that could be considered is that universities could also raise
money from their partner organisations.
I have pledged at least £6500.
Identified Risks
The main risks that I have identified are as follows:-
- Two health checks need to be passed successfully before being given the all clear to fly to space. Although I am not expecting to fail these checks there are no guarantees. However in the event that I do fail, all money will be refunded.
- The two main competing space tourism companies are XCOR and Virgin Galactic. I have chosen to fly with XCOR and will be guaranteed to be the first Welsh person in the first 100 to fly into space. I cannot guarantee when the first Welsh person will fly with Virgin Galactic but believe that the ticket price ($250000) will deter all but the rich and famous.
Timescales/Milestones
Virgin Galactic has already completed one test flight. Virgin
Galactic was due to start taking fare paying passengers into space sometime
around December 2013 but this scheduled start date has now been postponed until
early 2014.
XCOR has yet to complete a test flight but is progressing
well and is closing the gap on Virgin Galactic. XCOR has indicated that the mark
1 Lynx space plane will fly in 2014. This will be closely followed by the mark
2 which will be capable of achieving sub orbital flight. The XCOR craft has a
number of advantages over the Virgin craft including an extremely quick turnaround
time allowing far more passengers to reach space, cheaper and sooner than
Virgin passengers.
Although Virgin Galactic will probably be the first to
take fare paying passengers on sub orbital flights I believe that XCOR will
ultimately be the company that will be more successful in the long term.
Dependencies
In order to make this venture a success I need to raise
the required £65000 ticket price. This amount has been split into 10 equal
amounts of £6500 of which I have pledged at least £6500. Up to 3 universities
or 3 groups of universities can invest £6500. The remaining 6 shares are
expected to be taken by Welsh companies/organisations.
XCOR need to successfully complete and fly the mark 1 and
mark 2 space planes.
