Space Perspective, which plans to offer balloon trips to the stratosphere, has just raised seven million dollars (5.77 million euros) with the aim to continue the development of his project. The start-up will also offer a first test flight next year.
For several years, the space tourism sector has been booming. While some companies aim to offer suborbital flights in the mesosphere, at an altitude of around 100 km (Kármán line), others place the cursor a little lower and aim for the stratosphere. Based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, start-up Space Perspective is one of them.
Last June, the company revealed its first plans to offer "high altitude balloon" trips. Concretely, it would be a question of integrating up to eight passengers in a pressurized cabin of approximately five meters in diameter called Neptune fixed under a ball with a diameter equivalent to that of an American football field . The idea here is to rise into the stratosphere at an altitude of thirty kilometers , enjoy the view for two hours , then back down.
Initially, launches would be from Florida, USA. However, Taber MacCallum, founder of Space Perspective, is already thinking of carrying out more launches from Hawaii or Alaska. Note that this Neptune capsule will be reusable, designed to fly approximately once a week. Only the "balloon" will be discarded after each flight.
As far as the calendar is concerned, Space Perspective foresees the first commercial flights as early as 2024 with a ticket price set at around 125,000 dollars (about 112,000 euros). For comparison, that's less than half of what Virgin Galactic charges for its short 80km suborbital flight and probably much less than what Blue Origin expects to charge for its future trips aboard its New Shepard vehicle which will take clients above 100 km altitude for a few minutes.
Pending these first commercial flights, Space Perspective naturally plans to perform several "empty" test flights. The company reported on December 3, 2020 that the premiere should normally take place as soon as next year. With that in mind, she just raised seven million dollars (5.77 million euros) in a funding round led by Prime Movers Lab. This funding will also help the company pursue additional development work on its Neptune capsule.
During this test flight, Space Perspective will place an unpressurized Neptune-sized vehicle along its intended flight profile. The objective will be to validate the performance of the balloon and the vehicle through the atmosphere with real material.
