can release air, making them lighter and allowing the balloon to rise. A series of
test flight starting in 2015 revealed a wide gulf between how the balloon ought to
work in theory and how it really behaved in the thin air and extreme temperature
swings at altitude. The engineers bridged that gulf by using creative ground tests
and further flight tests.
Each balloon must inflate to 40 m (130 ft) tall and 23 m (75 ft) across, dwarfing
conventional weather balloons, and carry about 500 kg (1,100 lb) of equipment.
That includes batteries, solar panels, flight control electronics, tanks, heaters, a
GPS transponder, 50-100 kg (110-220 lb) of cameras or alternative cargo, and a
parachute.
As a solution, they created a proprietary system where secondary balloons are
positioned beneath the primary balloon.
For a 3:28 video of World View Products and Services, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeqmnuqoxBw&feature=youtu.be
For a 2:04 minute tour of World View Headquarters, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwsQFWtNF9M
For a Grand Opening Full Ceremony Program of little over 1 hour, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWxeKLyk6_w
5.3 SPACE PERSPECTIVE
5.3.1 The Concept
Among the original founders of World View Enterprises, Jane Poynter and Taber
MacCallum of Biosphere-2 launched another venture, one that will use the same
type of massive World View balloons to leisurely send people to the stratosphere.
Named Space Perspective, this company is focused on floating paying customers
up “to the edge of space” to give them a view of the curvature of the Earth below
and the blackness of space above.
Such a relaxed space travel experience has long been an objective of Poynter
and MacCallum. They started World View with tourist flights as the primary purpose, but are now starting a separate enterprise to focus on that goal full-time. The
idea is to give tourists a spectacular view without having to endure a risky, high
speed rocket launch.
5.3.2 The Flight
The plan is to fly customers to an altitude of about 30.5 km (100,000 ft), which is
above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere and is considered “near space”. The capsule
or gondola, named Neptune, will be regulated like a spacecraft through the FAA’s
Office of Commercial Spaceflight.
96 Commercial Corporations and Applications
test flight starting in 2015 revealed a wide gulf between how the balloon ought to
work in theory and how it really behaved in the thin air and extreme temperature
swings at altitude. The engineers bridged that gulf by using creative ground tests
and further flight tests.
Each balloon must inflate to 40 m (130 ft) tall and 23 m (75 ft) across, dwarfing
conventional weather balloons, and carry about 500 kg (1,100 lb) of equipment.
That includes batteries, solar panels, flight control electronics, tanks, heaters, a
GPS transponder, 50-100 kg (110-220 lb) of cameras or alternative cargo, and a
parachute.
As a solution, they created a proprietary system where secondary balloons are
positioned beneath the primary balloon.
For a 3:28 video of World View Products and Services, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeqmnuqoxBw&feature=youtu.be
For a 2:04 minute tour of World View Headquarters, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwsQFWtNF9M
For a Grand Opening Full Ceremony Program of little over 1 hour, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWxeKLyk6_w
5.3 SPACE PERSPECTIVE
5.3.1 The Concept
Among the original founders of World View Enterprises, Jane Poynter and Taber
MacCallum of Biosphere-2 launched another venture, one that will use the same
type of massive World View balloons to leisurely send people to the stratosphere.
Named Space Perspective, this company is focused on floating paying customers
up “to the edge of space” to give them a view of the curvature of the Earth below
and the blackness of space above.
Such a relaxed space travel experience has long been an objective of Poynter
and MacCallum. They started World View with tourist flights as the primary purpose, but are now starting a separate enterprise to focus on that goal full-time. The
idea is to give tourists a spectacular view without having to endure a risky, high
speed rocket launch.
5.3.2 The Flight
The plan is to fly customers to an altitude of about 30.5 km (100,000 ft), which is
above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere and is considered “near space”. The capsule
or gondola, named Neptune, will be regulated like a spacecraft through the FAA’s
Office of Commercial Spaceflight.
96 Commercial Corporations and Applications