Am I the only one who sees a potential problem with space tourism?

Let me know why I shouldn't be worried.

We currently have 3 (or more) companies developing space tourism rides and whatnot. Sounds great, I know I would personally love to ride into space and admire the beautiful planet and moon. However, we happen to live in some pretty dangerous times.
We have lunatics killing people with whatever means available. We have Rogue governments that seem to be immune to murder. We have airliners that go missing. We have hackable vehicles that kill.
We worry about meteors and asteroids hitting the planet.

So who's going to guarantee that some lunatic or government agency isn't above using a space vehicle as a weapon?
What kind of security protocols are in place?
Is anything not hackable?
How hard would it really be to take control of a vehicle after re-entry to become a massive kinetic weapon?

I know , I'm just an old worry wort luny.. But maybe I'd like to know the sky won't be raining death upon my loved ones.

What do you think?

I think people being overly worried about these long shot scenarios happening is exactly how the government got as powerful as it already is.

a reply to: Natas0114

TSA will pat your fanny before getting on the spaceship?

I'm with you. As cool as it would be, even if I could afford to ride along, I don't think I would.

You're never gonna catch me in the news as one of the passengers on a missing hijacked private spacecraft, hell no.

-Alee

a reply to: DBCowboy

"Space-TSA". with friggin laser beams

a reply to: Natas0114

How often do planes get hijacked?

Now find the difference between the cost of an airplane and the cost of a space vehicle.

Then figure out the difference between the number of airplane flights and the number of space craft flights.

Smash those two numbers together.

That's how much harder it will be to hijack a space vehicle.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Natas0114

TSA will pat your fanny before getting on the spaceship?

Well, that might not be so bad...
Unless it's a dude with gloves up to his elbows.....

a reply to: Natas0114

That's almost guaranteed. There's no way space tourism happens without major powers investigating and utilizing military implications. That's assuming they don't already have space based weaponry. I'd assume they do.

a reply to: Natas0114

hahahahahaha

Space tourism isn't for the lowly folks anyway.

Thems the rich folk with all their special ways and privileges anyway.

We just make sure the ship is shiny.

a reply to: watchitburn

Hey man, I know it's a far fetched idea. But tell me it wouldn't be a nasty weapon.
And I'm a carpenter, not a mathematician. I make no claims of being intelligent enough to do that math to calculate the odds.

a reply to: Natas0114

It would be a poor weapon compared to a bomb.

a reply to: gortex

My work truck is an old p.o.s but it does incredible damage to deer that run out in front of it.

originally posted by: Excallibacca
I think people being overly worried about these long shot scenarios happening is exactly how the government got as powerful as it already is.

Very good point.

As far as long-shots go, and this is just my opinion, if someone put together an ordered list of potential disasters, someone hijacking a manned launch vehicle and using it as a weapon would be about #832 on the list.

I think that would be some very, very long odds, at least any scenario that I can imagine.

originally posted by: Natas0114
a reply to: watchitburn

Hey man, I know it's a far fetched idea. But tell me it wouldn't be a nasty weapon.
And I'm a carpenter, not a mathematician. I make no claims of being intelligent enough to do that math to calculate the odds.

I agree 100% that it would be nasty, but it just seems to me that there would be a LOT of easier ways to cause damage.

a reply to: MteWamp

I hear you, but it's the convenience of not having to be responsible for using this as a weapon that scares me.
I know my government doesn't lose sleep over stuff like this. I'm pretty sure they love some plausible deniability for weapons.

a reply to: Natas0114

Do you have the Right Stuff?


"Anyone going up there is Spam in a can"

Is anything not hackable?

Humans will find vulnerabilities in anything humans build

a reply to: AtypicalJ

The hammer in my toolbelt.

But that doesn't mean that they can't hack the idiot holding it..

Space tourism's going to be worse on bank holidays.
Imagine getting stuck behind all those space-caravans

a reply to: Natas0114

Lol, tourists aren't allowed to pilot the controls to airliners or cruise ships, what makes you think they will get access to space craft controls upon reentry?

Even the astronauts don't fly that part of the 'ride', just computers.

And even if they took control the kinetic energy is bled upon reentry, the smallish capsule or shuttle or whatever would hardly make a dent, even if you could keep it from burning up by some miracle and direct it to a specific target...