Back in the day, the United States and Russia used to be engaged in a fierce competition to conquer outer space. Russia was the first to send a man to orbit, and the US was the first to send a man to the Moon, and both countries – along with other contenders pushing the boundaries of humanity further and further. Almost six decades after the first man flew to space and returned in one piece, we are on the verge of a new revolution: space tourism. Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to fly two space tourists around the moon next year. People have paid to leave the world behind before – millionaire Dennis Tito was the first “civilian” to spend a week in space on his own expense – but none of them have reached the Moon. Until next year, that is, when SpaceX will launch its groundbreaking service to the public.
Outer space will open up for the general public – well, the portion of it that will be able to afford it – in a few years. Taking a space trip will slowly become like going on a cruise, with space stations like Freeside – imagined by William Gibson in his amazing novel Neuromancer – soon to become a reality. Will our trips to outer space be pleasure trips, though? Will we be able to browse the web in space?
Smartphone games are out of the question
Taking your smartphone on a trip to the Moon will probably not be a good idea. First, because you will most likely be out of range within an hour of leaving the atmosphere. Many games, like the ones at Platinum Play online casino, rely on a continuous internet connection to function. Without it, you can’t log on to Platinum Play, you can’t spend your credits, and you can’t cash out. Besides, you will have many other things to occupy your mind, far less accessible to the general public than Platinum Play Mobile: the stars around you, the Moon, the equipment, space walks – all these will likely feel like hitting a jackpot at the Platinum Play when you try them for the first time.
Not to mention the fact that smartphones are most likely far from being safe enough to be taken on a space vessel. The rules are strict – and you wouldn’t like the ship’s systems to be crippled by a faulty connection or an exploding battery, right?
Data transfer can be tricky
The International Space Station has quite the internet connection – according to a Reddit thread, it can download at 10Mbps and upload at 3Mbps (although the ping is very slow). But the ISS is at merely 400 km (under 250 miles) from the nearest cell tower. The moon, in turn, is 384,000 km (about 238,000 miles) further. This makes two-way voice communication completely fine (radio waves only take about 1.3 seconds to reach the Moon) but data transfer – you need that for an internet connection – quite tricky. Not to mention the fact that the Sun’s radiation often interferes with the electromagnetic spectrum, making it impossible to communicate, or corrupting the data being transferred.
A satellite to act as a relay between Earth and the Moon will probably allow space tourists to browse the web while on the road but that’s still far enough in the future.
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