Space Perspective has presented the first images of its space capsule for suborbital flights, Neptune, already completed. It is a unit with which flight tests will be carried out before the space tourism company begins to operate them in 2025. The American company's proposal, in any case, is different from that of competitors such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. It aims to take the capsule and its passengers to the edge of space in a high-tech balloon. The first of these balloons is also completed and the launch ship, Marine Spaceport Voyagerin its final phase of development.
The first Neptune has been named Excelsior and is, according to the company, the largest space capsule in existence and, with the exception of space stations, the largest operating spacecraft with more space for your crew.
Neptune has 4.9 meters in diameter and a volume of 60 cubic metersdoubling the size of the Spaceship Two of Virgin Galactic and New Shepard from Blue Origin, and quadrupling that of the Crew Dragon of SpaceX.
It is designed in a spherical shape to make it 'the perfect pressure vessel'. Thus Space Perspective engineers have been able to create 'the lightest and most resistant structure possible' while maintaining a spacious interior with capacity for 8 passengersThe company calls them explorers, and a Captain.
Each flight, which will last 6 hours, will be developed without the use of rockets and without passengers having to endure a high g-force. On the contrary, Space Perspective promises multiple amenities in what it calls the first Space Lounge in the world with plush seating, top-notch food and cocktail service, bathroom and WiFi.
have been chosen vertical windowsthe largest built on a spaceship, so that the occupants can have a better panoramic view than with horizontal ones and 'innovative technology' has been used to protect them against harmful wavelengths of the sun and regulates the temperature inside. The space balloon will move at a speed of 19 kilometers per hour and will land in the ocean at its end.
Typically, a suborbital flight takes place at an altitude of between 80 and 100 kilometers on the surface, the last value being known as Kármán line in which the International Aeronautical Federation places the limit of space. NASA puts it at the lowest part of this range, 80 kilometers. In any case, in suborbital flights conditions of weightlessness can be experienced, something that Space Perspective assures that will not occur on Neptune.
'We are on the verge of an astonishing change, not only in the way we humans experience space, but also in what we imagine in our minds when we think about the spacecraft taking us there. We are redefining the category and paving the way for accessible space travel in the years to come', he stated Taber MacCallumCTO of Space Perspective, in a statement.
Each seat costs $125,000 and a complete flight 1 million. The company has sold 1,750 tickets so far and hopes to reach 4,000 by the end of the year, which would mean 400 million dollars in reserves.
Space Perspective was formed in 2019 and has professionals with decades of experience at NASA, SpaceX, Boeing, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and the US Navy. In the coming weeks, it will begin a series of test flights yet to be completed. crew off the coast of Florida. The data collected during those flights will pave the way for 'the development of human-rated capsules and manned test flights later this year'.