Look up at the sky and dare dream of admiring the stars from a much closer perspective. Now, dig deep in your wallet to make sure you get to do just that, with a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will pave the way for proper space tourism.
That’s the promise of a new company that aims to make space tourism affordable, widely accessible, and, perhaps just as importantly, non-polluting. Exploring the beauties of our planet, whether on its surface or from the edge of space, doesn’t mean destroying them in the process, Halo Space says.
Halo Space is a relatively new player in the space tourism market, in the even narrower space balloon niche. Founded in 2021 by consulting firm Arthur D. Little, Halo Space makes an honest effort to clear the air from the start: they’re not a garage startup but a consortium that leverages talent and technology from experienced players in the aerospace segment. Founder Carlos Mira, for instance, has over 40 years of experience at Airbus Group, and he points out that this means that the company isn’t starting from scratch.
This should be a boost of confidence for potential space tourists willing to entrust their hard-earned cash and their lives to the space balloon program that will take flight as early as 2025. The larger-scale efforts of the likes of SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic have already popularized the idea of the democratization of space travel, and strato-balloons are seen as one step forward to space affordability. They’re for people less rich than Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson, so... for 99% of the population.
Photo: Halo Space
The Halo Space balloon joins the ranks of similar endeavors from Space Neptune and World View. The Madrid, Spain-based company aims to deliver flight experiences at the edge of space onboard a pressurized capsule carried by a strato-balloon. The entire experience will last 5 days, with 5 hours spent at the edge of space and zero guilt about releasing incredible amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere to get there.
“Halo Space takes you where we all wanted to go, and very few have ever been able to do so,” the company says on its website. “Rather than rocket noise [during takeoff], all you hear is silence. The capsule begins to float up into darkness, and as you and your fellow adventurers admire the world as it becomes smaller and smaller, the sun starts to rise in the horizon, you can see the darkness of space and the blue glow of Earth.”
The capsule and the strato-balloon are still in the prototype stage, and Space Halo doesn’t go into the details of either, except to say that every balloon is 100% recyclable. Like with World View, these strato-balloons are single-use, so the material will be repurposed after each flight. In this case, it will be reused in the crew uniforms and “other base equipment.”
The capsule will offer seating for eight people, not including the pilot, and will feature wraparound glazing for 360-degree views. You don’t travel to the edge of space for a few hours to have to take turns peeking through a small porthole! Not for this kind of money, you don’t, but more on the financial aspect later.
Halo Space plans to launch the first prototype balloon in December 2022 at the Balloon Facility of the prestigious Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR) in India. TIFR is a partner in the consortium and has experienced record launches of strato-balloons.
Photo: Halo Space
The second prototype will take off next year, and assuming everything goes according to plan, the first commercial flight will take place in 2025. Space Halo hopes to be able to operate across four continents and estimates 400 commercial trips per year starting with 2029. That’s a total of 3,000 people getting to see Earth from the edge of space each year, so, not bad.
“Not bad” for Halo Space, either. Tickets range in price from €100,000 to €200,000 ($98,800 and $187,500 at the current exchange rate), so you do the math. This is nearly twice as much what direct competitors are charging, but Halo Space promises a much more elevated experience than them, in the most literal sense: balloons will go as high as 40 km (131,234 feet).
Just make sure you pack light. And bring a decent camera.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News