Space partners plan flights in 2007

Sizing up the competition
PlanetSpace's business plan calls for flying almost 2,000 passengers in the first five years of operation, generating $200 million in revenue in the fifth year.

"It's going to be key to be first in the suborbital program," Kathuria said.

PlanetSpace is the third X Prize spin-off to announce plans for commercial suborbital flights: Even before the SpaceShipOne rocket plane took the $10 million prize last October, British tycoon Richard Branson struck a deal to license SpaceShipOne technology for Virgin Galactic, an effort aimed at flying paying passengers at $200,000 each starting in 2007.  Since then, the start-up date has slipped to 2008 or perhaps even later.

Just last week, Aera Corp. — the successor to the X Prize competition's American Astronautics team — said it would start taking reservations for suborbital spaceflights beginning in late 2006, with prices set at $250,000 a seat for the first flight and $150,000 for subsequent flights.

If Aera sticks to its announced schedule, it would be the first to market — but Kathuria pointed to Virgin Galactic's schedule slip and implied that Aera might face similar delays. "When you build a business, there are great concepts, but to get them actually up and working is key," he said.

Sheerin said he was counting on Canadian Arrow's tried-and-true V-2 technology to ease the path to that first liftoff.  "We know what works, and also ... we understand what doesn't work, and that is worth millions of dollars," he said.

"Now all we have to worry about is, do we get the vehicle integration right," Sheerin said.  "I'm very confident that we will."

Lessons from Mir
Kathuria said his experience with MirCorp, where he was a founding director, would help smooth the way as well.  His deep pockets — as well as those of telecom entrepreneur Walt Anderson, who was jailed on tax-evasion charges earlier this year — kept Mir alive for almost one extra year.  But the Russians ultimately deorbited Mir in 2001 due to the financial strain of keeping that aging outpost in operation as well as contributing to the international space station.

PlanetSpace Chirinjeev Kathuria, seen here at Russian Mission Control, was a financial backer for the Mir space station during its latter days.

MirCorp helped make arrangements to fly California millionaire Dennis Tito to the Russian station as the first-ever paying space passenger, and to send pop star Lance Bass to the international space station as part of a reality-TV deal — but in both cases the arrangements fell through.  Tito ended up going to the international space station a month after Mir fell, through the auspices of a MirCorp competitor, Virginia-based Space Adventures.  A year later, Bass was bumped from his space mission due to a lack of financial backing.

Kathuria put a positive spin on MirCorp's legacy: "MirCorp achieved a lot of the firsts.  One, it sent the first privately funded manned mission to space.  It signed Dennis Tito as the first citizen explorer.  That opened up all this space commercialization.  It signed the largest deal in U.S. television history to do a reality show. ... We were pioneers in that industry, and that brings invaluable experience."

Aiming high
PlanetSpace was involved in talks with potential partners for a space-themed reality-TV show and an international lottery with spaceflight prizes, Kathuria and Sheerin said.  In addition, Kathuria said he expected another group to buy a 26 percent stake in PlanetSpace within six months.  He declined to name the potential investor but said "it's definitely a well-known group."

Eventually, PlanetSpace could aim for orbital as well as suborbital space tours, Kathuria said.

"We're in this to make a profit," Kathuria said.  "I'm excited about space commercialization and the desire of our species to explore.  That's my excitement.  But at the end of the day, the key thing is to make this very profitable for us."

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