You can soon take a trip on the world first only carbon-neutral spaceship

Florida: The space tourism race is booming, but one company is hoping to carve out a niche as “the only carbon-neutral, zero-emission way” to travel to the edge of space.

Space Perspective plans to take passengers up to 100,000 feet for suborbital adventures in a pressurized capsule suspended from an enormous high-tech version of a hot-air balloon.

The company also recently released images of the latest patented capsule design for its Spaceship Neptune craft that is planned to take its first commercial flight by the end of 2024.

It’s quite spacious with a spherical capsule design affording travellers more head height, as well as adding the safety benefit of being optimal for pressure resistance. 

Reflective coated windows, similar to an astronaut’s helmet, are in place to help keep temperatures comfortable, while a new thermal control system is patent-pending.

And in terms of scale, the company compares the capsule to the size of “a large balcony stateroom on a cruise ship,” while the balloon is some 18,000,000 cubic feet when fully expanded, so big enough for a football stadium to float inside it.

Space Perspective aims to begin transporting groups of up to eight passengers on six-hour flights by the end of 2024. That projected time frame has moved from an earlier estimate of the beginning of that year.

As it doesn’t leave Earth’s gravity, no specialist training will be required and travellers will be able to walk around the capsule environment. The company claims the boarding process will be as simple as that of an aeroplane.

The trips will involve a two-hour gentle ascent above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere. There’ll then be another leisurely two hours for passengers to enjoy the views from the cabin before the spaceship makes its two-hour descent to the ocean. Voyage to shore will be completed by ship.

There’ll be Wi-Fi on board so travellers can Livestream their experience for the folks back home and there’ll be on-board cameras documenting all the action too. Satellite imagery and the 360-degree cameras will also make it possible to zoom in and out of the epic vista.

The price tag, unsurprisingly, is not cheap. Tickets cost a once-in-a-lifetime $125,000 (AED459,125) per person, but Space Perspective says it’s already sold nearly 900 of them. 

They’re now taking bookings for 2025 and beyond, with the $1,000 (AED3,673) deposit being fully refundable.

Source: Agencies First carbon neutral spaceship First carbon neutral spaceship