Life on Mars? In Our Lifetime... Possibly.

When I retire, I want it all, the white picket fence, the golfing, the convenient deafness to annoy the younger generations and a porch front view of Earth. Yes, that's not a mistake, Earth.

You see, today Sir Richard BransonSir Richard Branson sold just under a third of his space travel business, Virgin Galactic, to a Middle Eastern investment fund which was around $280m. He then took his first flight on WhiteKnightTwo, one of the twin-fuselage planes he hopes will lift passengers into space.

Now this got me thinking, is not just the sci-fi dreams of Blade Runner, Star Trek and the like that humans will one day go into space as a holiday or permanently. Work on the first Spaceport 'Spaceport America'began last month in New Mexico on a patch of dirt 45 miles north of Las Cruces and 30 miles east of Truth Or Consequences near the White Sands Missile Test Range.

Normally when you here the words 'Spaceport' and 'New Mexico' one normally would dismiss it as a group of UFO hunters who have recruited a crazy billionaire to build an landing strip with just too much aluminum foil. But this is a serious project with series members on board include the State of New Mexico who are putting in $200m with Foster and Partners designing the project along with URS. The terminal/hanger facility will disappear into the landscape to the east, where on the eastern side of the terminal will be a huge glass windows which will open up onto the San Andreas mountains beyond. The 'comfort level' as Steve Landeene of Virgin Galactic refers to it will be better than any modern airport.

“That's all very nice buthow indeed are we to get to outer space” I hear you ask? Well Virgin Galactic has that covered. They have been testing their rocket motors which are the world’s largest nitrous hybrid rocket motor, which were being tested in the Californian desert. The engine would allow the light weight craft to reach the upper reaches of the atmosphere without any problems.

The designs of both the spaceport and the engines have been designed with the environment in mind. Landeene explained in a video posted on the BBC'swebsite that when people can become comfortable with the fuels, and the reliability of the craft then it wouldn't be too far-fetched to see them at landing at LAX or Heathrow.

Virgin Galactic are also looking at airbases in far cooler climbs such as the Royal Air Force bases in Scotland and one in South-West England. One such base in Scotland, Lossiemouth, could see space tourists and satellites going into orbit within the next 5 years.

Frankly I am excited, and I don't care who knows it. The possibility that we could be in space within 5 years perhaps sooner begins to create new possibilities and solutions to our Earthly problems. Resources, overpopulation, and perhaps some of the more conservative issues such as prison populations.

My only concerns at the moment are the fuel issues, and the safety issues but finally, will my Virgin points transfer?