Photo/Illutration A miniature model of the ASCA3 rocket, which Innovative Space Carrier Inc. is hoping to put into service in the 2040s, is exhibited in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward on Oct. 28. (Michinori Ishidaira)

A travel agency and a space business venture plan to commercialize space travel services for everybody in the 2040s. And considering the expected price tag, “everybody” apparently refers to wealthy individuals.

Nippon Travel Agency Co. and Innovative Space Carrier Inc., both based in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward, signed a business alliance agreement on Oct. 28 to market space travel products.

“We are developing this new travel category of space,” NTA President Keigo Yoshida told a news conference in the Nihonbashi district of the capital.

NTA and ISC officials envisage developing their space travel services in three steps.

The initial stage, called “Space Tour 1.0,” involves experiences on Earth, such as sampling space food and touring space-related facilities.

“Space Tour 2.0” will provide high-speed travel from one Earth-bound location to another, via outer space, in 60 minutes or less.

The officials are hoping to realize this stage in the 2030s.

The final stage, “Space Tour 3.0,” will allow customers to orbit Earth in outer space.

ISC is developing ASCA3, a 50-seat reusable rocket, and plans to use it for Space Tour 3.0 in the 2040s.

“A time will certainly come, in the not-so-distant future, when everybody will be able to go to space,” ISC President Kojiro Hatada said.

NTA will serve as the exclusive agent for the space travel services, and it will help in commercializing and marketing the project.

NTA will begin taking orders for priority reservation rights by the end of fiscal 2026 for Space Tour 2.0 and Space Tour 3.0.

A price tag of around 100 million yen ($640,000) is envisaged for the rights, the officials said.

NTA set up a Space Business Promotion Team in 2020 amid the space-tourism trend.

The travel agency and ISC have conducted studies toward the goal of realizing “space travel for everybody” under a separate business alliance agreement signed in September 2024.

In late October, NTA and ISC set up a booth at Nihonbashi Space Week, a trade fair held in Tokyo.

To emphasize that an age of space travel is coming, the companies during the fair presented a miniature model of the ASCA3 rocket and space food items using vegetables that will be grown on the moon.

However, a number of hurdles must be overcome before space travel becomes a reality, including how to ensure safety and where to launch the rocket.

Reusing the rocket is needed to make the journeys cheaper.

“All this will come to pass only if we can bring Japan’s technologies together on the premise that we are sending people safely into outer space,” Hatada said.

Related News