Buy your own!

Our universe has changed. Not just a bit. It has changed profoundly. Centuries ago the Jarnell engine brought us access to the stars and now almost anybody can afford intergalactic space travel either by public available transport or by acquiring a private space ship. A round trip ticket on one of the Vega - Rigel lines is now less than 30 SVU, including taxes.

However, if you don't fancy a trip on the commercial lines, you should consider buying your private ship. Second hand space ships sell nowadays for under 100.000 SVU. The most popular models like the basic 9B and the bigger Cobalt Cuckoo support up to four people. Although the purchase of a private ship still requires a vast amount of money by anybody's standards, a growing number of financial institutions in Oikumene are willing to supply a funding construct for someone who wants to get hist hands on private access to the stars.

People used to go to a bank to lend money for building or buying a house. With real estate prices dropping to historic lows due to new and highly optimized building technologies - a decent family house nowadays sells for under 1.000 SVU in the Rigel Concourse - there's no longer a real need for funding in this segment. Housing has become a true commodity. So banks are looking for emerging markets. Such an emerging market is financing the purchase by an individual of his or hers private space ship.

Today, prospective buyers can choose from a fast growing range of interesting offers. The popular ones from The Bank of Rigel and VF Bank on Aloysius - both considered experts and market leaders in this segment - offer a complete all-in package including insurance, pre-buy survey, registered maintenance and operator training courses for about 200 SVU per month for a basic 9B model space ship.

What will the future hold? Several scenario's are likely however private spaceflight is here to stay. Private space flight becoming a commodity is probably only a matter of time...

- "Buy your own!", abstract of a feature article in Cosmopolis on the popularity of privately owned space ships by Finn Komatsen.