Flight capsule with pressurized windows can carry up to 8 passengers
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on the 22nd, a company in Arizona, USA, plans to launch a “quasi-space tourism” project. Its travel “wonder” is not a rocket, but a high-altitude hot air balloon that can take thrill-seeking travelers to the edge of Earth's atmosphere. The tourism project may begin commercial flights as early as 2016, but testing or regulatory issues could push that timeline back. The estimated ticket price is $75,000.
The project will be launched by Paragon Space Development Corporation, based in Tucson, Arizona. The company plans to build a helium balloon with a diameter as long as a football field, capable of taking up to 8 passengers to an altitude of about 30,000 meters. “The goal of the project is to bring space as close as possible to the general public,” said MacCallum, CEO and one of the co-founders of Paragon. Like other companies developing space tourism, this firm is also striving to find ways to send people without extensive astronaut training into outer space—or at least close to it. The difference is that its flight altitude is lower than other projects and technically still within the atmosphere, so it is more accurate to call it “quasi-space tourism.” The advantage is lower cost, and passengers do not have to endure the severe weightlessness of space travel. They can enjoy the beauty of Earth without wearing a spacesuit or an oxygen mask.
Application documents submitted by Paragon to federal agencies for approval show that the trip can last up to 6 hours, during which passengers can freely sit, lie down, stand, and move around to admire the curved Earth surrounded by a thin layer of blue atmosphere in the dark vastness of space. The helium balloon will take off from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. This is one of eight launch sites registered with federal agencies.
With the rapid development of space technology, space tourism has gradually become a reality. Since 2001, when US space tourism company Space Adventures, together with the Russian aerospace agency and the Russian space alliance, sent American businessman Dennis Tito to the International Space Station, several private space tourists have visited the ISS. Many private companies see business opportunities and are developing various ways to let tourists explore space.
The Wall Street Journal cited some research estimates that the total revenue of the space tourism industry will exceed $1.5 billion by the mid-next decade. Currently, besides Paragon, at least six other companies’ projects are in the planning stages, including trips to the International Space Station, a planned private orbital hotel, and possibly even lunar travel.
Pang Zhihao, an expert on China’s space program, told the Global Times on the 23rd that an altitude of 30,000 meters is strictly speaking part of the aviation domain, not space, so the concept of hot air balloon space travel is somewhat “overstated.” However, the airspace between 20,000 and 100,000 meters above the ground is thin and considered near-space. The prospects for the development and utilization of this range await breakthroughs. If the hot air balloon travel proves successful, the application of its technology would still be quite remarkable.