Spaceship Network will be a means of Transport for Intercontinental Travel, By 2040

Spaceship Network for Intercontinental Travel! Japan Plans to Have One Ready by 2040 

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk  has also spoken about developing launch vehicles and shuttles for Earth to Earth travel.

* Japan plans to develop passenger shuttles for intercontinental travel.

* It has unveiled a plan to build a network by 2040.

* SpaceX could also be developing similar passenger vehicles.

A few years ago if someone asked you to imagine spaceships as a mode of everyday transport, you would dismiss the idea, right? But the Japanese government, along with private companies, is all set to develop an intercontinental passenger spaceship network that will enable people to fly to the major cities of the world in two hours or even lesser. On May 12, Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology unveiled the plan, which aims to achieve its goals by the early 2040s.

Not just that, the ministry also predicts that the market for spaceships by 2040 could touch roughly 5 trillion yen (roughly $46 billion; Rs. 33,472 crore), reported The Mainichi. The report added that the ministry has prepared a draft roadmap for its ambitious passenger spaceship programme.

In first step, Japan is said to reduce the price of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's H3 rocket from a humongous $46 million (roughly Rs.335 crore) to half by reusing parts. The next step is to launch the successor of the H3 rocket, which could be accomplished around 2030. By the early 2040's, the roadmap aims at further reducing the cause to about 10 percent, the ministry reportedly said. Since such a network is expected to carry passengers from one city to another, the next step involves the private sector that will lead to the development of spacecraft that can go back and forth between space and earth frequently.

Types of spaceship:

The ministry has envisioned two types of spaceships - one that's similar to an aeroplane which can take off and land on runways and the other can take off and land vertically. In it's research the ministry has also concluded that there would be considerable demand for such a spaceship network connecting major cities on the ground.

While this the first time the country has developed a proper roadmap for the spaceship network, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, in 2017, spoke briefly about using an interplanetary rocket system for long distance travel and earth too.

Sharing this idea, Musk claimed such a network, once operational, would allow people to take "most long-distance trips" in just an hour or under an hour, for around the same price as of airline ticket.