If the idea sounds a little out of this world, that’s probably because it is.
Scientists have come up with a plan to get space tourists into orbit - by train.
The StarTram would reach speeds of up to 20,000 miles per hour using bullet train-style magnetic technology along a 1,000-mile pipe that is raised into the sky.
And although the project would cost £40-billion, space experts say the ticket to space will be relatively cheap at “just” £3,000 (about R36 000) per person.
Although the idea may be some way off, experts from the renowned US Johns Hopkins University claim we already have the technology to make it happen.
The project has been developed by three space experts at the university. The plan is for the train to travel along a specially-constructed track inside a tube for 12 miles.
By the time it reaches that distance, it will have gained enough speed to leave the tube and orbit around Earth just like a normal spaceship does.
The system would work using the same technology as magnetic levitation, or maglev, trains which speed through Japan at up to 350mph. The Johns Hopkins researchers say the same physics can be used to make it go much faster Ð up to the 20,000mph that is needed to get into orbit.
To reach this speed, 1,000 miles of track would be needed, the distance between London and Rome.
In order to prevent the G-force being too severe, the tube carrying the craft will have to be in vacuum, and the tube itself will have to levitate in the air.
In theory, passengers will be able to board at a specially designed train station - and remain sitting comfortably in their seats until they land.
Trips into orbit would cost about £3,000, a fraction of the £120,000 for a return journey with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
Once built, it would be far cheaper and cost just £30 per kilo to send things into orbit, compared with the current £6,100 per kilo for cargo and around £61,000 per kilo for people.
The researchers, James Powell, George Maise, and John Rather, say humans need to look to space to provide our escape when the planet is eventually destroyed. - Daily Mail