Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 130
ACADEMIC READING TEST 130 – PASSAGE – 2
ACADEMIC READING TEST – 130
READING PASSAGE – 2
The Business of Space
Up until very recently space travel and exploration were solely the preserve of governments, most notably the Russian and American. However, with the decline of government wealth and the dramatic increase in personal wealth, the whole landscape of space travel is changing.
The first tentative steps into the commercialisation of personal space travel began when billionaire Dennis Tito paid $20 million to ride on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a week’s holiday on a space station. Since then, there have been seven space tourists who have paid large sums of money for a space experience. Yet, collectively, their financial contribution is minute and certainly would not appear to represent a feasible business.
Richard Branson, billionaire and entrepreneur, has formed Virgin Galactic, a spaceship company with some very ambitious plans for space travel. Surprisingly, he is not alone; there are some 12 or 13 other space organizations worldwide with similar plans. Of course, there are setbacks, but Virgin Galactic plan to have to pay flights beginning in late 2017, with tickets at $250,000 each. Expensive? Yes! But there are over 20,000 people who have expressed interest, despite the tragic death of a co-pilot during a test flight accident.
It seems that people who want to take short zero gravity suborbital flights are fully aware of the dangers and are willing to take the risk. It is also worth noting that there were almost 2000 billionaires in the world in 2016, and that number is growing. So entrepreneurs like Richard Branson may represent the tip of the iceberg of young rich investors who want to make their childhood dreams of space travel come true.
Obviously, the key to the success of any business venture is to ensure that the price of the product maximises sales and to reduce the very high costs of the vehicles and rockets needed to do this. Currently, space vehicles can only be used once, so the race is on to develop reusable space vehicles. It is this reusability that will break the ‘cost-barrier’ and bring this activity into the price bracket where middle class and moderately wealthy people can afford it.
So what would you pay for a zero-gravity sub-orbital space trip? A recent, unscientific study, amongst US millennials (people who became adults around the year 2000) suggested that if the price of the flights was reduced by a factor of five – a figure entirely possible given the progress being made with reusable vehicles – the yield would be about $20 billion a year of revenues for the space tourism industry.
Twenty billion dollars is an interesting figure, as it is about the same amount generated each year by the film industry in the US through ticket, DVD and other sales. So now it is possible to make an analogy between the business model of Hollywood and space travel. Which do you think is more expensive? A Hollywood blockbuster, or the cost of a space launch? Back in the 1960s and 1970s, a space launch cost hundreds of times more than a Hollywood film. But as more money came to be spent on Hollywood movies, the cost of space travel has been decreasing. One particularly illustrative example is the comparison between the film Avatar, a movie about life on an ‘exomoon,’ and the Kepler spacecraft. Both of these costs about $400 million dollars. So for about half a billion dollars, you can either get a film about life on other planets, or you can pay for a mission, which may actually find Earth-like worlds. As a scientist, which is the better deal?
So what really is in the future for space travel? Probably offers of suborbital travel by companies like Virgin Galactic will become fairly common after the initial teething phase is over. Other companies are developing space hotels, so people who can afford more than just the space trips can spend their money holidaying in space. All the technologies allowing this to happen are advancing very rapidly and most of this is happening in the private sector.
Space is going to get commercialised and this may not be a good thing. Do we really want to see massive advertising signs in space? The moon littered with commercial rubbish? If this happens it will be very hard to regulate. While there is in existence a Treaty of the Moon, to acknowledge that no one can own the Moon or Mars, not one space-faring country has signed it.
The future of space travel has never been more exciting than it is now. Young children with pictures of planets and space rockets on their bedroom have a greater chance than ever of actually going into space than ever before. But at what cost?
Questions 14-18
Choose FIVE letter, A-I.
Write the correct letter in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.
NB Your answers may be given in any order
Below are listed some popular beliefs about commercial space travel.
Which five of these are reported by the writer of the text?
A. Space travel today is no different than space travel in the 1960s.
B. To date, the amount of space travel undertaken by private individuals could not sustain a business.
C. Richard Branson’s plans for commercial space travel may be described as ‘daring.’
D. It is not surprising that Branson’s company is not the only company interested in commercial space travel.
E. Virgin Galactic’s proposed fares will be highly affordable to many.
F. Individuals who want to fly into space are gamblers.
G. Parallels can be drawn between space travel and the Hollywood movie industry.
H. The rise of companies like Virgin Galactic is unconditionally positive.
I. Laws governing space travel will be difficult to enforce.
Questions 19-26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 19-26 on your answer sheet write
TRUE – if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE -if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information on this
19. Space travel today remains under the control of the Russian and American governments.
20. The first commercial space passenger was Richard Branson.
21. The Virgin Group was established by Richard Branson in 1970.
22. Space vehicles are presently capable of being used more than once.
23. $20 billion is the amount that millennials currently spend on space travel.
24. The film ‘Avatar’ cost about $400 million to make.
25. It is unlikely that recycling will become common practice on the moon.
26. Children today have a better chance of realizing their dreams of space travel than children in the 1960’s did.
ANSWERS ARE BELOW
ANSWERS
14. B
15. C
16. F
17. G
18. I
19. FALSE
20. FALSE
21. NOT GIVEN
22. FALSE
23. FALSE
24. TRUE
25. NOT GIVEN
26. TRUE