Tucson company floats commercial space tourism plan

Traveling to space may not be such a distant dream.

An Arizona company, World View Enterprises Inc. of Tucson, hopes to send passengers up to 100,000 feet into the Earth's atmosphere in a high-altitude air balloon by 2016.

The $75,000 ride could take six passengers and two crew members to near-space, using a high-tech helium-filled balloon, said Jane Poynter, chief executive officer of World View and co-founder of sister company Paragon Space Development Corp.

Unlike a rocket, the vessel would gently lift off from the ground and ascend into the atmosphere. In the air, helium would continue to expand and decrease inside the balloon until it reaches a coasting altitutude. When the helium has fully expanded to fill the balloon, the vessel would stabilize into a steady float.

The company successfully launched a a one-tenth scale, unmanned test flight up to 125,000 feet, last month in Roswell, N.M., using "all the same systems and exactly the same profile," only on a smaller scale, according to Poynter.

"The viability of the architecture we've chosen is proving to be spectacular," she said.

The entire journey would take about five to six hours, with about an hour and a half spent ascending into the atmosphere, and 20 to 40 minutes spent descending and gliding back onto a landing site, Poynter said.

The parachute, 15 million cubic feet at full inflation — about the size of a football stadium — carries a pressurized capsule equipped with seating, lavatory and a refreshment bar.

Features of the capsule include a lightweight structure, panoramic windows, a science capsule attached to the top of the exterior, landing gear, a reserve parachute and a trailer unit for ground transportation and launching platform.

Priestmangoode, which outfits many airlines, including United and Air France, is partnering with World View to design the vessel.

World View's attempt at commercial space tourism is one of hundreds of efforts. Among the most publicized is Virgin Galactic's project, which aims for suborbital space travel.

Poynter said World View is not in competition with other rocket-based offerings of commercial space travel because it uses a different technology and offers a different experience to passengers.

"(Passengers on rocket-based tourism vessels) are only going to get a few minutes at the top," she said. "World View is gentle and you can go in your street clothes."

Poynter said the company hopes to begin building its capsule by early 2016 and once completed, start conducting tests involving people on board.

Before launching humans into space, though, World View must figure out some logistics, such as licenses and insurance.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, in order for commercial space travel operations to be granted licenses, they must meet safety and environmental standards, and ensure that the operation does not compromise any national security interests. Some safety standards include whether or not the launch would affect people or properties on the ground, and the trajectory of the vessel.

The FAA has granted licenses to 226 commercial spacecrafts. FAA guidelines say that when a company applies for a commercial space travel license, it has 180 days to approve or deny it. World View has not submitted an application.

Although the official first launch with passengers has not been announced, people are showing interest and making reservations, Poynter said. Booking can be done on World View's website at worldviewexperience.com and requires a $5,000 deposit.

"We have sold several flights already," she said; she would not say exactly how many.

The world of commercial space travel is at a point where the commercial airline travel was about 100 years ago, said Jim Bell, director of the NewSpace initiative at Arizona State University, which connects researchers with non-governmental space exploration programs and businesses.

World View was one of six winners in last spring's Arizona Innovation Challenge sponsored by the Arizona Commerce Authority. The biannual business-plan competition awards startups up to $250,000 in grant funding to grow their business. Companies that win are required to commercialize their technology and generate revenue within the following year.

Risk is another hurdle World View and other companies who want to take tourists to space will have to work out, Bell said. The future of commercial space travel will depend on whether companies can figure out how to increase reliability and safety of the technology while developing a viable business model.

Poynter said she is optimistic that the launch will happen on schedule.

"We don't expect to run into any major technological problems," she said.