BRICS+ Lunar Sports Stadium Project

BRICS+ Lunar Sports Stadium Project – an exciting goal to revive young people’s confidence in the future, and open the new era of economic growth in space. Preamble – Relevance to Current Challenges In response to the urgent need for new industries that will employ tens of millions of young people, even in the era of ubiquitous AI and robotics, this essay proposes the rapid growth of a major new industry, which has been delayed by more than half a century already. This is now becoming urgent due to the growing challenge of AI and robotics, which pessimists predict will cause massive unemployment due to lack of new industries. An example of this idea is described in the 1952 novel ‘Player Piano’ by Kurt Vonnegut, set in a dystopian future in which most Americans are unemployed because automation has eliminated their jobs amid a lack of new industries. However, Vonnegut’s vision was mistaken, since he did not understand the unlimited potential for economic growth and new employment from developing passenger space travel services into a major new transportation system. Distorted History of Rocket Propulsion There is a unique opportunity to quickly create a space travel industry that will grow as large as air travel because the pattern of development of rocket propulsion technology has been very different from other transportation technologies. Each of the “Big 6” world-changing transportation technologies – horse-carriages, sailing- ships, trains, propeller-driven ships, automobiles and aeroplanes – grew to become a major new means of passenger travel throughout the world, eventually serving billions of customers and employing hundreds of millions of people. Their development also led to innumerable related technological and social innovations, and contributed greatly to economic growth and rising living standards worldwide. The first space rocket was the A-4 prototype of the V2 missile, including the A-4b winged spaceplane and plans for a reusable piloted version. Many piloted Me163 rocket-planes were also flown during the early 1940s. However, piloted, reusable, passenger-carrying spaceplanes were not developed after the end of the war, as the pioneering engineers intended, because the ‘Cold War’ monopolised the use of rocket propulsion for missiles. Consequently rocket propulsion was not developed to supply travel services for the general public, as the previous “Big 6” major transportation technologies had been. This was followed by the creation of national space agencies, which still use missile- based expendable launch vehicles which are not capable of reducing travel costs sufficiently for passenger space flights to become popular. In 80 years, only a few hundred people have traveled to space, mostly paid for by governments – but 10 million people pay to fly on aircraft every day, generating Trillions of dollars of revenue! If the ‘Cold War’ had been avoided, space travel services would surely have started long ago: the father of cosmonautics, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, was not a warmonger but a visionary aerospace scientist. The Coming Passenger Space Travel Revolution It is surprising that even USA and Europe, despite their officially proclaimed support for democracy and capitalism, have both failed to apply this new transportation technology to its most popular consumer use – for more than 80 years! Instead they have focused almost solely on military uses and other government uses such as scientific research. The public can still only watch space activities passively on screens. Finally, in the 21st century reusable rockets have started to be developed for short, sub-orbital flights in the USA, and are now also being developed in Russia and China: so we are just on the brink of starting popular space travel services. However, there is still a widespread misunderstanding that commercial space flights are merely a luxury for a small number of rich people. This is entirely mistaken! Operating reusable spaceplane services will reduce space travel costs by 99%, exactly as the growth of airlines reduced air travel costs through the 20th century. Passenger space travel is the key to growing the space industry into a major commercial activity as large as the earlier “Big 6” passenger travel technologies. To achieve such major popular success, the space industry must collaborate deeply with the airline industry. Accepting and implementing the idea that the space industry can and should be people-driven will be a major ‘paradigm shift’. As it exists today, it has essentially no direct contact with the general public as customers. By changing this, aerospace engineers will change the world, just as aeroplane engineers have. Moreover, Russia and other BRICS+ members are world-leaders in all the many different capabilities needed to create this new industry, which will be a unique stimulus to young people’s optimism, economic growth and social and cultural revival, for decades to come. Passenger air travel is already a hugely popular service, which creates employment for 100 million people worldwide, and its turnover is still doubling every ten years. With active political support, an accelerated project to make space travel services available to the general public will ensure long-term growth of employment worldwide. This will also lead to the use of space resources to supply clean energy to Earth, reducing environmental damage and eliminating the risk of ‘resource wars’. It will also thrill young people with a realistic vision of an optimistic future. Phase 0 Parabolic Flights It is particularly valuable that this project can start immediately at very low cost by using Russia’s unique IL-76 MDK aeroplanes, which are specialised for parabolic flight services, to enable young people nationwide to experience weightlessness. A fleet of these aircraft can ensure that all children have this deeply educational experience. School and student competitions will stimulate interest, and will grow to include students from friendly countries. As the project progresses, young people from many countries will travel to Russia’s growing ‘space city’ of Tsiolkovsky in Amur Oblast. This popularity with young people will also lead to parabolic flight campaigns abroad, and to sales of IL-76 MDKs to friendly countries. In parallel, introducing a ‘Space Travel Syllabus’, extending from age 10 through age 20, will prepare young people for their own parabolic flight experiences, and also stimulate them to learn more science, engineering and other space travel-related topics. It will thereby also develop the employees who will be needed in the innumerable businesses related to creating a global space travel industry. Phase 1 Sub-orbital Space Flights Sub-orbital space flight services have recently started in the USA with Virgin Galactic Inc and Blue Origin Inc – but still only on a tiny scale of about 10 customers per year! Reusable, sub-orbital rockets and spaceplanes are also being developed in Russia and China, but currently have low priority. By recognising their potentially major contribution to enriching 21st century education, and leading to large-scale employment in new space travel-related industries, policies to accelerate the start of sub-orbital passenger space flight services should be urgently implemented. Since only minimal infrastructure is required, many regional airports will be able to operate sub-orbital flights by the new vehicles, as they travel throughout the country to provide short space flights to local schools, universities and general public. Phase 2 Passenger Flights to Orbital Hotels and Sports Centres Developing reusable orbital passenger vehicles and orbital spaceports is a much larger project. Once these are developed, the cost of traveling to and from low Earth orbit will drop, just as air travel has continued to get cheaper for more than 100 years. For the ever-growing numbers of people who stay at an orbital hotel, a particularly popular activity will be sports in micro-gravity: every existing sport will be fascinatingly different, and new sports will also be developed. Over decades, ever larger and better orbiting Sports Centres will be developed, enabling ever more sports on ever larger scale – including a range of flying sports, and even rotating swimming pools and stadiums. Spaceports will become major new facilities like hub airports. The technological knowhow needed for such developments already exists, including the components and systems developed for the space stations Mir, ISS, Tiangong and various companies’ recently announced plans. The detailed design and construction of orbiting hotels and Sports Centres are waiting for a ‘trigger’ to be activated – the start of ‘spaceline’ services by fully reusable, orbital passenger launch vehicles. This will ensure ever more customers, like the virtuous circle of ever lower prices and ever higher demand which keeps the airline industry growing worldwide. Phase 3 Lunar Surface Tourism and Sports The third phase of passenger space travel will be travel to visit the lunar surface. In order to enable this, investment in a further range of new infrastructure is needed. So it is very timely that work aimed at economic development on the Moon, such as searching for water ice, generating fuel, making bricks and concrete from lunar soil, power generation and geological surveys has increased recently. The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and ‘Artemis’ are major projects focusing on this work, which will facilitate the coming development of lunar tourism services. Once the costs of travel to and from the Moon are reduced by reusable passenger vehicles, people from every country will visit the lunar surface, which will drive the construction of ever more and ever larger lunar hotels and sports centres. The Moon’s low gravity of 1/6 of Earth’s gravity is another unique environment which will be fascinating for all sports, including swimming. Most notably, humans will be able to fly like birds, enabling a range of flying sports and performing arts, which will further stimulate the construction of lunar sports stadiums, arenas and theatres. Major, Long-term Stimulus for Worldwide Economic Growth These developments will stimulate economic and industrial growth in space as well as on Earth, leading to recognition that humans now live in an ‘Open World’, in which the use of lunar and asteroidal materials and space-based energy supplies will definitively end the threat of ‘resource wars’ on Earth – which is an out-dated idea from the era of ‘Closed World’ thinking, still held by too many warmongering politicians. Hence, announcing the target of building a BRICS+ Lunar Sports Stadium will act as a sparkling goal for the next few decades of space travel industry growth. The following are some important aspects of this multi-decade project. O The topic of space travel is of spontaneous interest to young people worldwide, so learning all the many parts of a new ‘Space Travel Syllabus’ will be fascinating and educational for them, while spreading an optimistic vision of the future. O Everyone who has traveled in space says that it was one of the best experiences of their life: as many people as possible should be able to have this stimulating, new, forward-looking, 21st century experience, especially young people. O Russia has world-leading aerospace capabilities: announcing that the development of space travel services for young people is now an official government priority will attract young people nationwide, and will encourage optimism and confidence in the future of the Russian Federation and BRICS+. O The project can start immediately by providing ‘Zero-Gravity’ flight services using Russia’s world-leading IL-76 MDK aeroplanes for young people to participate in weightlessness themselves – not just watch space activities on screens. O The commitment by Russia and friendly countries to achieve this fascinating and optimistic future for humanity will excite young people world-wide, who will clearly see the benefits of peaceful, multipolar cooperation instead of enmity and wars. O As a new field of commercial space activities, space travel will grow far larger than current space business which is still limited to information services. Only a few hundred people have traveled to space in 80 years: everyone else watches screens. O The tourism industry employs huge numbers of people in many countries, and this will continue even as AI and robots take over many jobs in other industries. O As an example of the potential for international collaboration, equatorial countries will operate launch services to Sports Centres in equatorial low Earth orbits (ELEO), due to the unique logistic advantages of return-flights to and from the same orbiting facilities every 90 minutes. Enabling countries of the ‘Global South’ to participate in such a world-leading space project will be a major success for BRICS+. O Some people are working to start human travel to Mars, but this has far less economic and social value than developing a space tourism industry. For everyone except the few participants, it will be just another activity seen on a screen – like all space activities to date. By contrast, general public space travel services will involve direct participation, and will grow to include ever more people, like other forms of travel and tourism. They will also become commercially profitable, and so self- sustaining – but travel to Mars will not earn profits, and so will be a burden on taxpayers, instead of contributing to economic growth and new employment. Conclusions and Expected Results Rich countries’ governments urgently need to develop sufficient new industries to provide fascinating careers for tens of millions of today’s young people, and thereby revive their confidence and optimism about the future. The solution to this problem requires governments to recognise that supplying popular space travel services to young people and the general public is not “trivial” . . . it can grow to have billions of customers, and drive employment and economic growth worldwide for many decades – just as passenger air travel has changed the world. Although building a BRICS+ Lunar Sports Stadium will involve multiple phases of development work over several decades, and will involve many related sub-projects, it is a clear, concrete goal which is easy for everyone to understand. Once governments accept this outside-the-box thinking about what are the most important activities for their civilian aerospace industries to develop, it is certainly achievable by Russia and BRICS+. A key component is the introduction of a Space Travel Syllabus explaining this future in detail, and preparing young people to work in the many different parts of the overall project, from rocket engineering to space sports, from ‘zero-G’ interior design and fashion to working in the orbital coastguard service, from space diplomacy to managing a lunar flying sports stadium – and many, many more new activities. The ever-growing popular demand for space tourism services will be a worldwide, people-driven stimulus for global economic growth and large-scale employment for younger generations, while reusable passenger space vehicles will become the 7th major world-changing transportation technology. As such, popular space travel is unique in offering a realistic path, using existing aerospace knowhow, to fulfill Tsiolkovsky’s vision of humans becoming a true ‘spacefaring’ species.