EADS Astrium Space Tourism
Astrium has unveiled a revolutionary new vehicle for space tourism at a special VIP event in Paris ahead of the Le Bourget Airshow. This business jet sized vehicle is designed to carry four passengers 100 km up into space giving more than three minutes of “zero G” or weightlessness. Guests at the Paris event were shown a full sized mock-up of the forward section of the revolutionary craft including its Marc Newson designed cabin.
The Astrium space jet will take off and land conventionally from a standard airport using its jet engines. However, once the craft is airborne at an altitude of about 12 km, the rocket engines will be ignited to give sufficient acceleration to reach 100 km. In only 80 seconds the craft will have climbed to 60 km altitude. The highly innovative seats balance themselves to minimize the effects of acceleration and deceleration, ensuring the greatest passenger comfort and safety. The rocket propulsion system is then shut down as the ship’s inertia carries it on to over 100 km, where passengers will become one of the very few to experience zero gravity in space.
The pilot will control the craft using small rocket thrusters enabling passengers to hover weightlessly for 3 minutes and to witness the most spectacular view of Earth imaginable. After slowing down during descent, the jet engines are restarted for a normal and safe landing at a standard airfield. The entire trip will last approximately an hour and a half.
Astrium is proposing the one stage system as it is considered the safest and most economical to operate. If development begins in 2008, a first commercial flight would be possible by 2012.
The development of a new vehicle able to operate in altitudes between aircraft (20km) and below satellites (200 km) could well be a precursor for rapid transport ‘point-to-point’ vehicles or quick access to Space – opening up previously unexplored territory. Its development will contribute to maintaining (and even enhancing) European competences in core technologies of Space Transportation.
As single industrial prime contractor for Ariane 5, main European contributor to the International Space Station and as a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, Astrium has the necessary expertise and know-how for manned space flight.
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Sorry for replying …
Sorry for replying to an year old comment.
Virgin doesn’t go …
Virgin doesn’t go to LEO either SIP100. Spaceship 2 is suborbital.
Maybe take a look …
Maybe take a look at a Mig 105 – 11B looks simple enough to build.
Yeah, in fact this …
Yeah, in fact this one is going as high as virgin (a bit more than 100 km high).
never mind I think …
never mind I think I was thinking of a different space tourism group.
Ya but the downside …
Ya but the downside of this one I heard was that it only goes half as high as virgins, and doesn’t even make it to low-earth-orbit. Kinda lame for the money, considering the same thing could be accomplished with a balloon.
Yap… Just like …
Yap… Just like with Virgin Galactic – this is where the cookie crumbles… What is the price tag, really, that we are prepared to put on something extraordinary (whatever that is, it doesn’t have to be flight to Outer Space) – that we will have realistic chance to do only once in our short lifespans…? This is the ultimate marketing question – and no-one, but no-one, has clear-cut answer to it. Let no-one tell you otherwise…
“Expensive for a …
“Expensive for a ride…” But not for the ride of your life !
Wow, this looks …
Wow, this looks great. I would go if I could, but sadly I don’t have U$1700 per second to spend…
In any case, I’m still young and costs will come down no doubt.
The fact that EADS Astrium has entered space tourism is a good sign; shows things are going to be safe and reliable.
And the more competitors, the better for the consumer.
I suspect after it …
I suspect after it all gets well under way, after about a couple of years, the price should start dropping astronomically, down to maybe an affordable several thousand dollars. I look foreward to it. I just hope my ears drums will qualify. At this time, thier counting on about 20,000 filthy rich people to cover those cost when it starts. EADS will be able to serve about 1/3 of that.
Yeah! $200,000.00 …
Yeah! $200,000.00 per ride. You’ll fly up to about 40,000 ft. and then the rockets will propell you up to 62 miles (37 miles in 80 seconds), into the Thermosphere, where the Space Shuttle hangs out at and you will ‘only’ get to view Earth for three minutes. The total time on the flight will be 30 minutes. Space tourism is expected to start regularily in about another five years.
€200 000 for a ride …
€200 000 for a ride!!