Richard Branson to take balloon ride to edge of space
- Reference: 1729252808
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/10/18/branson_space_perspective_balloon/
- Source link:
The mission, planned for 2025, was announced in the wake of a [1]successful development flight in September when an uncrewed test capsule was taken 100,000 feet up and back during a six-hour trip.
Further uncrewed tests are scheduled before Space Perspective founders Jane Poynter and CTO Taber MacCallum board the capsule for the first crewed test flight.
[2]
Branson, an investor in the company, will join the founders, according to an announcement [3]on X . He said: "Some of the most magnificent experiences of my life have happened on ballooning expeditions and I'm excited to support Space Perspective in its journey.
[4]
[5]
"I'm passionate about adventure and helping fellow entrepreneurs reach their business dreams. I look forward to dusting off my old ballooning license ahead of some magnificent test flights."
Branson's Virgin brand has been associated with several space-related ventures. Virgin Orbit, which aimed to launch rockets from beneath the wing of a Boeing 747, [6]shut down in 2023 . Virgin Galactic, which sends passengers on a sub-orbital lob in a spaceplane, is still operational and [7]rocketed Branson to 85 km (53 miles) in 2021. Virgin Galactic flights [8]are on pause while the company works on the successor to the spaceplane that carried Branson.
[9]Virgin Galactic celebrates flight hiatus with a reverse stock split
[10]Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity bows out to make way for Delta Class successor
[11]UK and US lack regulation to protect space tourists from cosmic ray dangers
[12]Branson's wallet snaps shut for Virgin Galactic
The Space Perspective flight will be a more civilized affair. For one, the capsule will carry restroom facilities and fully stocked bar. The mission will also take six hours from launch to landing – two hours up, two hours looking at the Earth, and two hours back down again. The capsule, Neptune, will carry eight "Explorers" and a captain, and has a pressurized volume of more than 60 cubic meters (2,000 cubic feet). The nature of the flight – a gentle 12 mph (19 kph) rather than the parabolic arc flown by Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity – means there won't be any weightless shenanigans. However, the views are sure to be impressive.
Branson is famously no stranger to balloons with cabins hanging beneath, although the Neptune is much more advanced than those used in the Bearded One's adventures over the years. In the 1980s and 1990s, he crossed the Atlantic and Pacific by balloon.
[13]
Space Perspective's balloon is the same type as that used by NASA and other agencies to fly payloads to a high altitude. Should something go wrong, the Neptune is also equipped with parachutes. According to the company, the capsule's windows are the largest ever flown to space. We're certain the "space" part of that claim will be hotly debated since, at an altitude of 100,000 feet, the balloon will not cross the Kármán line, which lies at 330,000 feet or 100 km (62 miles).
Once operational, Space Perspective will charge $125,000 per seat on a flight. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://spaceperspective.com/journal/space-perspective-successfully-completes-development-flight-2
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZxKGJv9jyF4FcyWCI7WAfgAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://x.com/SpacePerspectiv/status/1846979141284855852
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZxKGJv9jyF4FcyWCI7WAfgAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZxKGJv9jyF4FcyWCI7WAfgAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/24/virgin_orbit_ceases_ops/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/12/virgin_galactic_successful_crewed_flight/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/10/virgin_galactic_vss_unity_final_flight/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/14/virgin_galactic_celebrates_flight_hiatus/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/10/virgin_galactic_vss_unity_final_flight/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/11/uk_and_us_lack_regulation/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/05/branson_virgin_galactic_funding/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZxKGJv9jyF4FcyWCI7WAfgAAAEA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: How much helium will we need
Physics would allow it to happen; it's all down to how pressurised the helium is and what orifice you attach it to.
Re: How much helium will we need
We should all simultaneously blow in the up direction to push the balloon to and beyond the edge of space until the solar wind catches it and will never be seen again.
Re: How much helium will we need
Surely he'd burst before we had enough reaction mass up his jacksy? I suppose that would still be a decent form of street theatre.
Re: How much helium will we need
I was just wondering how you spell jacksy for something else. Thank you... Have a good weekend.
Re: How much helium will we need
Do you think he could invite Trump and Musk?
"I'm passionate about adventure"
Yeah, as long as you've never done it before.
You financed your little space shuttle until you got up there, then you let it drop.
If I were a woman, I would without hesitation class you as a one-night stand. Passionate until you got what you wanted.
5 of Richard Branson's balloon adventures - in his own words
1985 – Sank in the [high-altitude hot-air balloon capsule] Virgin Atlantic Challenger 1 as we were crossing the Atlantic, had to be pulled out of the ocean.
1986 – On my first solo hot-air balloon flight, I crashed badly, smashing into the ground. It was a sign of things to come.
1987 – My co-pilot Per managed to bring the balloon down just before the capsule imploded and we tumbled to our deaths.
1987 – I was convinced I was going to die. On that memorable flight…I managed to crash the balloon into the North Sea and was rescued by helicopter.
1991 –We crashed in the Arctic – successfully completing the challenge, but crashing in minus-50-degree temperatures 3,000 miles from our planned destination in Los Angeles.
Re: 5 of Richard Branson's balloon adventures - in his own words
So, a liabiliy to public rescue services or is he bringing his own?
Re: 5 of Richard Branson's balloon adventures - in his own words
At least in the case of the crash off N. Ireland in 1987 it was reported that he asked for, and paid, the bill from the rescue services. He offered to do the same in Hawaii but the US Coastguard never sent the bill.
Re: 5 of Richard Branson's balloon adventures - in his own words
6th time lucky then
Wasting precious irreplaceable helium for a bunch of rich pricks to get a nice view.
Fuck 'em
What would be the best use of helium I wonder?
I don't know about the best use, but there are many uses that are way better than this. There's a list here: https://www.blm.gov/programs/energy-and-minerals/helium/about-helium
Given that they aren't actually using helium as the lift gas in the first place (plenty of people are just assuming this without having taken the time to read far enough down the project page linked to in this article), then this isn't even a use of it at all...
https://spaceperspective.com/spaceship
It is "propelled by renewable hydrogen at the gentle speed of ~12 mph". It's not stated whether they are using hydrogen for lifting as well as propulsion - I hope not.
(But I calculate that climbing to 100,000ft at 12mph would take about 90 minutes, which is not too far off their 2 hour ascent and descent claim)
I also note that it is launched from, and retrieved by, a ship mid-ocean - presumably in order to avoid taxes.
On the page linked to in this article, you'll find the following:
SpaceBalloon™ Performance: The flight demonstrated the successful use of hydrogen lift gas with the SpaceBalloon™ manufactured in house by Space Perspective, allowing the spacecraft to ascend to edge of space altitudes and descend safely, proving the viability of renewable lift gases.
These people want $125,000 per seat, for a ballooning day trip. I don't care how much champagne is included - that's just nuts.
Make the price comparable to a first-class round trip from London to Los Angeles, and maybe you'll have some customers.
They don't want £8-10k hoi-polloi, they want Branson wannabees and shoulder-rubbers.
100000 feet
So, about 2.5X as high as a commercial flight tops out at. *
.. Quite a big price point when its just over another 3X in height to hit (generally agreed definition) of space itself
*Yes, I know with the far greater height & the large viewing area (thats hopefully cleaner and less abraded than a commercial plane window) it will be a significantly better view than from a standard flight, but if I had a spare $125K I don't think I would be blowing it on this Branson balloon trip - not even a weightlessness experience** thrown in..
** If someone wanted that weightlessness experience then the cheapest (the cattle class equivalent booked well in advance) vomit comet booking is around $10K
I just hope he doesn't try to call himself an astronut!
100,000ft is hardly "the edge of space"
Is less than 1/3rd of the way there.
100,000ft = 30.4km
Karman line = 83.8 km
30.4 is more than 1/3rd of 83.8
Nasa rounds 83.8 km (52.1 Miles) to 50 Miles (80.4km), every other space agency rounds it to 80km.
Stretched definitions
He likes stretching definitions a bit. 85km is above where space is defined in the USA, which I guess is where they launch from. The rest of the world uses 100km. Now they're talking about spacecraft at 100,000 feet.
I'm going to continue the trend in a few minutes and get into my Peugeot 307 spacecraft and pilot it away at an altitude of approximately 0.1 km above sea level.
Re: Stretched definitions
"The rest of the world uses 100km."
The space agencies in the rest of the world uses 80km, rounded down from the 83.8 km that Karman calculated.
Only the FAI (a sports body) use 100km
fully stocked bar
The effects of alcohol increase with altitude. I remember the hangover from an evening in Denver, and that was only 5000 feet up. I hate to think what it would be like from 100k feet :-)
How much helium will we need
...to make sure he floats off into space?
Yea, I know that can't happen because physics won't cooperate, but enjoy imagining that it could.