Monthly Archives: June 2020

The original founders of World View Enterprises a company aimed at using giant balloons to send payloads into the stratosphere are launching a new venture together, one that will use those same massive balloons to send people leisurely above the Earth. Named Space Perspective, the now distinct company is focused on floating paying customers up to the edge of space, where they can get a rare view of the curvature of the Earth.

Such a relaxed space travel experience has long been the aim of Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum, the co-CEOs of Space Perspective who are announcing the launch of the company today. They originally started World View with tourist flights as the primary end game, but theyre now making a separate enterprise to focus on the goal full-time. The idea is to give people a spectacular view of Earth from above, without having to strap into a rocket and shoot up into the sky at thousands of miles an hour, as other companies plan to do. We came right back to the idea of using these high-altitude balloon systems to be able to take people really gently to the edge of space, Poynter tells The Verge.

Technically, Space Perspective doesnt plan to send people to actual space. The company wants to fly customers up to 100,000 feet, or close to 19 miles high. Its a much lower altitude than what many consider to be the edge of space at 50 miles up, so you wouldnt get the full space experience. Space Perspective crews wouldnt experience weightlessness, for instance (though theyll feel about three pounds lighter). Still, the team argues people will be located above 99 percent of the Earths atmosphere, and that their balloon vessel will be regulated like a spacecraft through the FAAs Office of Commercial Spaceflight.

Plus, the real point is the view. We say were going to the edge of space, but the experience is really what astronaut [and Space Perspective advisor] Jeff Hoffman calls the authentic experience, MacCallum tells The Verge. Because for him, seeing the Earth from space with time and quiet and being relaxed and really being able to contemplate what hes seeing thats what he calls the authentic experience, and so thats what were really concentrating on.

Space tourism that sends people to the edge of space and back has been slow to get into full swing, with companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic still a ways off from entering commercial operations. Those vehicles rely on rocket engines to get people off of Earth, and they go much higher between 50 and 62 miles up. Poynter contends that their system is very different from these rockets notably lacking a rocket engine so they dont expect to run into some of the same problems.

To get to the stratosphere, customers would ride inside a spherical white capsule called Neptune that looks a bit like a spinning top, with wide glass windows providing a clear view of the Earth below. The propellant would be a massive translucent balloon filled with hydrogen, which would ascend at the breakneck pace of 12 miles per hour. Eight passengers could fit inside the craft, along with one pilot to make sure everything runs smoothly, according to the company. The entire flight is meant to last about six hours, with two hours spent hovering above the Earth. A bar and a bathroom will be situated in the center, and there will absolutely be a Wi-Fi connection of some kind.

Some kind of satellite communication will be key for talking with ground control, but it will also allow riders to post photos from the sky. And then if people want to do some kind of special event on board such as a wedding or art show there will be other options. For special events where we really want to livestream something from the Neptune, we will have a swankier communication system that will be able to do really high resolution, broadband live streaming, says Poynter.

Its an ambitious idea, but the two CEOs have a history of working on fantastical projects together. Poynter and MacCallum both participated in the much hyped and controversial Biosphere 2 experiment back in the early 90s, where a small group of people attempted to live in a closed-loop ecosystem to simulate what it would be like to live on Mars. They also have experience working on a high-altitude balloon flight that carried a person to the stratosphere. While working together at their other space company, called Paragon, they created a life-support system for Alan Eustace, the former senior vice president of engineering at Google, who broke the record for the highest altitude jump from a balloon from above 135,000 feet.

Inspired by the idea of travel-by-balloon, they started World View together in 2012. But that company has started to focus less on tourism and more on science. World View has been developing a new product called the Stratollite a vehicle that acts akin to a satellite without actually orbiting the Earth. It consists of a metallic package filled with sensors, instruments, and more that travels to the stratosphere underneath a balloon. Up there, the Stratollite is meant to hover over one place on the Earth for an extended period of time, collecting data of the surface below. The company is currently planning to deploy fleets of Stratollites over North and Central America starting this summer.

With World View so focused on Stratollites, Poynter eventually stepped down as CEO in order to keep the dream of balloon-travel tourism alive. Poynter says theyve done market research on their idea and that theres plenty of interest from potential customers. To keep up the momentum, Space Perspective has set up shop at Cape Canaveral, Florida, leasing a building from NASA at Kennedys Space Center. They plan to launch their first uncrewed test flight from Space Floridas Launch and Landing Facility a runway where NASAs Space Shuttle used to land sometime early next year. That flight will take up some scientific payloads, which the company will announce in the coming months.

Theres still work to be done before regular flights are ready, though, especially when it comes to landing. While carrying passengers, Space Perspective plans for its Neptune capsule to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico following flights from the Cape. The company is reliant on the direction of the winds for where the vehicle ends up, as there wont be options for controlling the direction of the vehicle in flight. That means theyll need a recovery boat to come pick up the capsule from the seas. Space Perspective says it has been talking to the people who recover SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule from the ocean to figure out that best way to do that. This splashdown method also means the company can launch from other areas, like Hawaii or Alaska.

The company also needs to ensure that the ride will be safe for passengers, which Poynter and MacCallum insist it will be. The Neptune capsule will have a life support system and pressure control, and though the vehicle will mostly be flown by people on the ground, the designated pilot on board can assist customers if some kind of problem arises. And if the balloon suffers some kind of leak or failure, a reserve parachute will be on hand to bring the capsule down safely, according to MacCallum.

There may just be other kinks to work out on the way though. World Views Stratollite development, for example, has taken longer than expected, as the company has spent years trying to extend the amount of time the vehicle can last while in the air. Poynter and MacCallum say that those issues shouldnt impact the development of their new system, since they are less focused on navigating their capsule the same way World View handles its Stratollite. Altitude control and working that out for the Stratollite was a huge undertaking and very different than human flight, says MacCallum. These are really very, very different worlds, and while theyre both balloons going into the stratosphere, thats really where the similarities end.

With all these things in mind, Space Perspective still has very big plans for the future. Poynter and MacCallum say their Neptune capsule will be reusable, and they hope to get 1,000 flights out of each vehicle. Eventually they plan to fly up to 100 flights a year, and ticket prices, while still high, will be lower than other space tourism ventures, they claim. Poynter expects each ticket to be less than half of what Virgin Galactic charges, which is $250,000 a seat. She expects tickets with finalized prices to go on sale next year.

But really, Space Perspective says it wants everyone to be able to enjoy this method of travel. The company has also partnered with Space for Humanity, a non-profit that hopes to provide all-expenses-paid trips to space. Space Perspective also wants to fly artists, political leaders, spiritual leaders, and more, to help them see the world differently. The astronauts who talked about seeing the one human family and no borders and one small planet... really resonated with us, MacCallum says. Weve always thought that thats a really important set of ideas, to have that visceral experience to help move the needle.

The rest is here:

New company Space Perspective wants to take you to the stratosphere via high-altitude balloon - The Verge

priestmangoode is working on naptune, a high-performance balloon and pressurized capsule capable of flying passengers to the edge of space. the london-based design company, led by nigel goode and paul priestman, is working with US-based space perspective on the project, which will also transport research payloads. flown by a pilot, the vehicle will take up to eight passengers on a six-hour journey to the edge of space where only 20 people have been before and safely back to earth.

all images and video courtesy of priestmangoode

spaceship neptune will carry people and research payloads on a two-hour gentle ascent above 99% of the earths atmosphere to 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). here, it will cruise above the earth for up to two hours allowing passengers to share their experience via social media. the spaceship then makes a two-hour descent and splashes down into the sea, where a ship retrieves the passengers, the capsule, and the balloon.

neptune is a great project to work on, its the culmination of a long-term collaboration that has resulted in the only spaceship that is designed with the human experience at its core and will pave the way for the future of commercial space travel, says nigel goode, designer and co-founder of priestmangoode. our starting point was the passenger experience. we looked at all the different elements that would make the experience not just memorable, but truly comfortable as well and included essentials for a journey of six hours, like a lavatory.

space perspective is developing a uniquely accessible space travel experience, comments taber maccallum, founder and co-CEO of space perspective. the team at priestmangoode worked with us to create that experience with spaceship neptune, giving it an off-world yet classic design, while meeting a wide range of human factors, engineering, manufacturing and operating requirements.

the design of the capsule is a critical component of providing our explorers the inspirational experience that astronauts describe of seeing our earth in space, adds jane poynter, founder and co-CEO of space perspective. the first un-crewed test flight will include a suite of research payloads and is scheduled for early 2021 from the shuttle landing facility at NASAs kennedy space center in florida.

project info:

name: spaceship neptunedesign: priestmangoode / space perspectivestatus: first un-crewed test flight scheduled for early 2021

philip stevens I designboom

jun 18, 2020

Original post:

spaceship neptune is a balloon that will take you to the edge of space - Designboom

A revolutionary new taste synthesiser that can create any flavour without the user eating or drinking anything promises to do for your tongue what a 3D movie does for your eyes.

Homei Miyashita, who invented the extraordinary device, calls it the Norimaki Synthesizer.

In the same way that TV screens or printed magazines use a limited number of colours to create every possible shade, the device uses five gels that cover the five different basic tastes sweet, sour, salty, bitter and the mysterious umami when they make contact with the human tongue.

The Norimaki prototype is a fist-sized metal tube but, Homei tells Daily Star Online: The taste display can be miniaturised to the size of the tip of your pinky finger.

He added: "If a taste sensor could be miniaturised and mounted on a smartphone, you could send a taste SMS so people can share the taste of the food they find delicious."

One day we could be enjoying broadcast flavours in the same way we watch movies or listen to the radio today.

The device could also be used in combination with existing food and drink, suggests Homei: By attaching electrodes to the back of the neck or under the chin and sending electrical stimulation, it is possible to intensify or prolong the aftertaste of a drink.

The device could also make dieting easier.

A lot of healthy low-calorie food tastes pretty bland and disappointing to anyone who has been gorging on treats for years. The Norimaki could easily give dieters the luxury taste sensations they crave while theyre limited to eating low-calorie options.

Space travellers, too, are limited to restricted diets.

One way to keep astronauts spirits up when theyre on extended missions to Mars and beyond would be to give them a Norimaki to create the illusion of a more varied diet.

As you point out, said Homei. "It could contribute to broadening the variation of space food, but I think there are broader applications in the world of 'taste content'."

And of course in the world of virtual reality, adding the sense of taste will only add to the depth of the illusion.

The porn industry has been always been on the forefront of technology from video reorders to Paypal to VR and figures from the world of adult entertainment are already excited about the possibilities of simulating the sense of taste.

Brian Sloan, who is behind the leading automatic male sex toy Autoblow A.I., told Daily Star Online: We are always looking at all angles to make men's experiences more erotic and more lifelike with our machine, and if we were ever able to integrate taste or smell into the experience, we would be first in line to do so!

Men can be very reluctant to try new sex toys, but I think a taste or smell component would tempt a lot of people."

He continued: Using the Autoblow with a VR headset to add the ability to taste the action would change our entire industry.

Even without the immersion of VR, a miniaturised Norimaki could be as popular as a vape pen is today, enabling users to binge on chocolate, pizza or kebabs without having to put on a single pound.

Link:

The end of food? 'Taste synthesizer' will transform space travel, dieting and sex - Daily Star

SpaceX is employing authorities for offshore operations in Brownsville, work announcements exposed Tuesday, and the objective is to enable the organization create and build floating spaceports that will supply launch web sites for the companys super hefty class launch automobiles. . SpaceX will use these bigger rockets to carry its subsequent payload rockets to the Moon, to Mars, and also for level-to-level journeys right here on Earth, in accordance to SpaceX. CEO Elon Musk.

Musk explained on Twitter that this was the objective behind the new work publish, which was initially identified by Dan Paasch. SpaceX has previously proven ideas of its approaching Super Hefty booster rocket, along with its spacecraft. spacecraft, launch for hypersonic journeys to Earth, which would minimize travel time for extended-haul flights to just a couple of hrs. Even so, people ideas so far have only consisted of renders, and we did not know what the prepare was in terms of how and from in which people spaceships would be launched till right now.

Starship and Super Hefty are mainly staying produced to enable SpaceX and Musk realize their purpose of bringing people to Mars, to colonize that and other interstellar locations, which include the Moon, to make humans an interstellar species. But although people ambitions may well seem to be out of attain for most men and women, the companys ambitions of utilizing the exact same completely reusable spacecraft to drastically lower the expense of level-to-level supersonic travel right here on Earth are probably substantially additional. pertinent.

Room-primarily based level-to-level transport is not a new idea, and some others past SpaceX are operating on establishing approaches to make this transpire. The notion is that by traveling to the edge or past Earths environment, you can drastically minimize the expense of fuel and the duration of the flight, by traveling the distance among New York and Paris, for instance, in significantly less than an hour. In truth, SpaceX claimed throughout a presentation in 2017 that level-to-level transport with its spacecraft could attain any city on Earth from any other city in significantly less than an hour.

SpaceX has been establishing Starship in Texas close to Brownsville, in which this new work posting is seeking for offshore operations engineers. The organization has been expanding its testing and improvement web-site in the location, and has also sought to boost the assets committed to its operations in the state.

Musk did not share substantially additional about the strategies, but explained in response to an additional tweet that he claimed this amounted to Referb[ushing] Oil rigs with a hyperloop for ground transportation was more or less component of the prepare, so he could be concerned in moving passengers to and from their departure and location spaceports.

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SpaceX to build floating space ports for rockets destined for the Moon and Mars, and for hypersonic travel to Earth - Up News Info