But if you create a closed, pressurized system, the balloon isn't beholden to solar energy to give it lift, which gave NASA more launch sites to choose from. If all goes well, the Wanaka flight will prove that the super pressure balloon technology is capable of the consistent, long-duration flights that scientific instruments need if they're going to collect meaningful data.
Steven Boggs of UC Berkeley calls this a super pressurized inflatable guinea pig. If it works, it will give scientists like himself deeper insights into nuclear physics. For instance, COSI detects gamma radiation emitted when new elements are createdsomething that happens when a star Hulks out, goes supernova, and puts the stuff at its center under incredible pressure and high temperatures.
Boggs' gamma-ray telescope was designed specially with the super pressure balloon in mind. NASA even commissioned tire-makerGoodyear to construct prototypes for an inflatable space station, whichresembled nothing less than a big rubber inner tube. Still, "the main concern was that micrometeoriteswould hit and deflate them," Launius said. The resurgence that inflatablestructures saw beginning in the s owes thanks to advances in syntheticfabrics.
Currently, Bigelow Aerospace has twofully inflated spacestation module prototypes already in orbit. In, the company plans to launch real modules to assemble them into the firstprivate space station. The capsule is five meters in diameter, while the polyethylene balloon above has a meter diameter when fully inflated, about the length of a football field.
Space Perspective claims that the process will be simple as boarding an airplane and that the capsule's pressurized capsule offers what it describes as a "shirt-sleeves environment" although with its plans to host weddings and other events, it could also be black-tie.
The lavatory, it claims, is "the loo with the best view in the known universe," and is located in the center of the capsule in the splashdown cone. Space Perspective's co-founders Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum previously designed the air, food and water systems for the Biosphere 2 space base, in which they lived for two years. Since it will not be carrying explosives, it should also be a lot safer.
Ultimately, Lopez-Urdiales does not see the bloon as direct competition for other forms of space tourism, but an alternative experience. Note: The degree viewing experience works best in Chrome desktop If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.
Can balloons take us to the edge of space?
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