What could possibly go wrong

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/test-flights-on-tap-for-space-perspectives-luxury-high-altitude-balloon/

 

Test flights on tap for Space Perspective’s luxury high-altitude balloon
This Florida-based startup wants to fly thousands of customers up to 100,000 feet.

 

Quote

Space Perspective could begin test flights of its privately owned capsule suspended under a high-altitude balloon within the next couple of months, the company's co-founder told Ars this week.

Florida-based Space Perspective released photos of its first completed test capsule Tuesday. The company will use this pressurized capsule, called Excelsior, for a series of test flights this year over the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Cape Canaveral. Taber MacCallum, Space Perspective's co-founder and chief technology officer, said employees have also finished fabricating the giant balloon that will lift the test capsule into the upper atmosphere for the first test flight.

 

Quote

The final piece of the puzzle is a ship named Marine Spaceport Voyager that Space Perspective will use to launch the balloon and capsule. This vessel is due to depart an outfitting facility in Louisiana in the next few weeks for a trip to Port Canaveral, Florida, where Space Perspective will unload the capsule and balloon. Then, perhaps in four to six weeks, ground teams will be ready for the system's first test flight, according to MacCallum.

But this is a test program, and there could be delays, MacCallum said. In the meantime, Space Perspective will start building a second capsule for human test flights.

“We'll do a series of unmanned tests with this capsule," he said. "In theory, we could fly people in this capsule. It’s designed that way, and it has all of the systems set up for human flight. But our planning assumes that trailing on what we learn from this capsule, we build another capsule that will be our first human flight capsule. And this will remain an unmanned test capsule."

 

Quote

These tests are a prelude to Space Perspective's plans for regular commercial flights carrying paying customers to 100,000 feet (about 30 kilometers), roughly three times higher than the cruising altitude of a typical commercial airliner. From 100,000 feet, Space Perspective's clients will see panoramic views of the ground and ocean far below, and the sky will be black, with the capsule flying above 99 percent of Earth's atmosphere.

Founded in 2019, Space Perspective says on its website it is "driven by a desire to share the transformative power of space travel with as many people as possible." In reality, the company will give customers an experience similar to spaceflight, with a few significant differences.

Essentially, passengers on Space Perspective's high-altitude balloon will get a view the company says is similar to what a passenger might see on a suborbital spacecraft from Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic. But Space Perspective's vehicle won't subject customers to any high G-forces or the risks of rocket flight. The balloon passengers also won't float in microgravity. And it will max out at 30 kilometers, well short of the 80-kilometer boundary of space recognized by the US government or the 100-kilometer Kármán line.

Still, the view from 30 kilometers must be tremendous. “You'll see essentially all of Florida," MacCallum said. "We’re also looking at flying sort of across the southern tip of Florida, so you'd see Cuba, the Bahamas, essentially all of Florida. So amazing views."

 

Spoiler

Space Perspective's flights will last six hours from takeoff until the capsule's splashdown at sea. A ride to space on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket lasts about 11 minutes, with only a few minutes of actual spaceflight. Space Perspective is aiming to give customers a luxury experience. Its capsules will be equipped with Wi-Fi and a stocked bar. Passengers could enjoy a cup of coffee or a champagne toast, all while video chatting with loved ones back on the ground.

The price for one seat on a six-hour flight? $125,000.

This is less expensive than a flight on Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic. But those companies can boast they carry their passengers to space. Space Perspective does just what its name suggests—and doesn't offer the experience of flying in space. In its press release announcing the completion of the test capsule, Space Perspective referred to the vehicle as a spacecraft.

The company said the test vehicle is "the largest spaceflight capsule in existence" and is "the first commercial spacecraft designed, developed, and manufactured without the backing of a billionaire or significant government funding."

It is true Space Perspective reached this milestone without billionaire or government backing. The company has raised $77 million, primarily from venture capital firms and private investors, including author and speaker Tony Robbins.

MacCallum said the Federal Aviation Administration would regulate human flights on Space Perspective's balloon just as the FAA would oversee commercial human spaceflights by SpaceX, Blue Origin, or Virgin Galactic. He said the company is also working with the US Coast Guard for approvals ahead of the balloon test flights. For the test flights without humans aboard, the FAA will treat Space Perspective's vehicle like any other balloon, according to MacCallum.

Space Perspective's description of its capsule as a spacecraft sparked some pushback among space enthusiasts on social media. A community note appeared on the company's X post unveiling the capsule Tuesday.

"Spaceship Neptune is not a spaceship by any internationally accepted definition of space," the community note read.

MacCallum defended Space Perspective's characterization of the capsule.

“If we have to be regulated as a spacecraft, we’re going to call it a spacecraft," he said. "The FAA determined that if your vehicle is designed to operate above 30 kilometers, your vehicle is a spacecraft because [it's a] space environment functionally not an aircraft environment ... It’s a fraction of a percent of the air pressure (compared to sea level). So the system has to function like it's a spacecraft getting rid of heat in a near-vacuum. We have to deal with the radiation environment.

“Functionally, for us, that’s the environment that we’re in," he said. "The sky is black, the Earth is curved, the horizon is a thin blue line. So, the experience is certainly that of being in space. Obviously, we don’t try to be astronauts."

Space Perspective's capsule is 16 feet (4.9 meters) in diameter, with large vertical windows to provide nearly 360-degree panoramic views. Up to eight customers and one Space Perspective pilot will be on each flight. The capsule has a pressurized volume of more than 2,000 cubic feet (60 cubic meters), about twice that of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane or Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital spacecraft. The passenger cabin will be suspended under a giant helium balloon as tall as a skyscraper.

MacCallum and Space Perspective's other co-founder, Jane Poynter, were crew members on the Biosphere 2 project in the 1990s. Since then, they have become serial entrepreneurs in the space industry. One of their most successful companies, Paragon Space Development Corporation, has won contracts to provide life support equipment for NASA's Orion spacecraft, Boeing's Starliner capsule, and a new commercial spacesuit developed by Axiom Space.

Space Perspective says 1,750 people have reserved a seat on one of their balloon flights. The company aims to begin commercial service in 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

[Brisketexan 105082]

Been there, done that.

[F250 28764]

A Dollar General version of a Blue Origin trip for the low price of $125K just to see the entirety of Florida.

 

[DDD Dad 14331]

2 minutes ago, F250 said:

A Dollar General version of a Blue Origin trip for the low price of $125K just to see the entirety of Florida.

 

One last time.

[YGIFS 19449]

And then we gotta listen to millions of dumb-fucks complain when the USAF or USN doesn't shoot it down over a heavily populated area.  CHYNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(checks notes).  Oh so like the balloon was literally made in China?  Got it.  TARIFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Matuka 1310]

So this will be the opposite of the OceanGate venture with the eventual same result.

[DDD Dad 14331]

20 minutes ago, Matuka said:

So this will be the opposite of the OceanGate venture with the eventual same result.

When they go low, we go high.

[Chopper 17230]

28 minutes ago, Matuka said:

So this will be the opposite of the OceanGate venture with the eventual same result.

This time, THERE WILL BE VIDEO

[wild_turkey 3159]

So this will be the opposite of the OceanGate venture with the eventual same result.

Just make sure the Xbox controller has good batteries this time.

[bolverk 29656]

I say they reserve the first 100 trips exclusively for Flat Earthers.

• If it fails, net gain to humanity.
• If it doesn't fail, maybe they'll have learned something & STFU.

[RDCanecutter 26401]

Swept away by a fluke uncharted jet stream, our travelers eventually crash-land in a remote Afghan valley inaccessible by land, filled with living dinosaurs and mastodons kept at bay by immortal Amazons still speaking Macedonian Greek and looking both lithe and bodacious in their 1970s' make up and hair styles.

[InkaUtexas 25875]

Who the fuck cares. Let them go on up. Maybe an asteroid or failed space link satellite hits them.

[Steel Shank 9421]

I believe I’ll pass.

[Longhornstampede 3181]

1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

Swept away by a fluke uncharted jet stream, our travelers eventually crash-land in a remote Afghan valley inaccessible by land, filled with living dinosaurs and mastodons kept at bay by immortal Amazons still speaking Macedonian Greek and looking both lithe and bodacious in their 1970s' make up and hair styles.

Fox tv has just purchased the rights to this show. It will be made by the producers of Lone Star 911

[Welshy 907]

Note to self: open window next time I fly. 

Note to self #2. no, fuck that.

Obligatory: think I'd rather go deep in the ocean and visit ship-wrecks. Wait. 

[Wally Fairway 5541]

On 2/22/2024 at 11:03 PM, Welshy said:

Note to self: open window next time I fly. 

Note to self #2. no, fuck that.

Obligatory: think I'd rather go deep in the ocean and visit ship-wrecks. Wait. 

What could go wrong with that
 

Spoiler

Too soon?

 

 

[Pato del Muerto 52487]

On 2/22/2024 at 6:01 PM, RDCanecutter said:

Swept away by a fluke uncharted jet stream, our travelers eventually crash-land in a remote Afghan valley inaccessible by land, filled with living dinosaurs and mastodons kept at bay by immortal Amazons still speaking Macedonian Greek and looking both lithe and bodacious in their 1970s' make up and hair styles.

Death by snu snu?

[Bender Bending Rodriguez 1678]

$125,000 to have this guy strap you in..