Space tourism could benefit all, says EADS

PARIS, June 16 (Reuters) Europe's leading space firm has defended plans for tourist rides in space after the European Union's industry chief slammed them as a gimmick for the rich.

EADS Astrium, the space division of the European aerospace group, said this week it planned to build a craft to carry people outside the earth's atmosphere from 2012 as long as they were prepared to pay up to 200,000 euros (268,000 dollars) for a ticket.

The idea was panned by European Commission Vice President Guenter Verheugen who said this ''very privileged type of tourism'' was only for the super-rich and deserved no support.

But speaking with passion about the project at a briefing yesterday, ahead of next week's Paris air show, EADS Astrium chief executive Francois Auque refused to be deterred.

''The argument that you are working for the rich and beautiful and wealthy is completely incorrect, because our objective is to use the money of the rich to develop technologies that could be useful for everybody,'' he said.

''Space tourism is the cherry on the cake.'' Details of the briefing were embargoed for today.

One spin-off could be quicker development of hyper-sonic long-distance travel in conventional planes, a spokesman said.

The EADS aircraft, about the size of an executive jet, would be able to carry four passengers around 100 kilometres from the earth, where they would be able to experience about three minutes of weightlessness and see the curve of the earth.

A rocket engine based on the upper stage of an Ariane launcher, also built by EADS, would take over from conventional jet engines to propel the vehicle out of the atmosphere, exposing the passengers to three times the force of gravity.

That is about the same as some of the world's more adventurous roller-coasters, according to EADS officials.

EADS says the vehicle would cost a billion euros to develop and be ready in four years from 2008 if funding can be found.

Although early flights may be for only the richest sensation-seekers, 15,000 passengers a year are expected to be ready to pay for a trip by 2020, according to consultants Fultron. EADS wants to capture 30 percent of this market.

So far only a tiny number of truly rich adventurers have been willing to pay as much as 20 million dollars for a place on a Russian Soyuz rocket to see space.

British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic service expects to make its first commercial flight next year.

EADS does not plan to ask for public money but hopes the project will stir up European public interest in space, which it says lags well behind the fervour seen in the United States.

EADS regularly criticises European and national authorities for failing to keep up with spending in the United States and emerging space powers like China and India.

''My personal target is to wake up Europe, because space ambitions in Europe are flat. Everywhere else in the world, space expenditure is rising dramatically,'' Auque said.

REUTERS HK VV1836