Tech Sapporo startup to offer space flights in balloons

[thomas]

High-altitude balloons seem to be all the rage these days. A Sapporo startup plans to offer balloon flights into space. Passengers will ride 25 kilometres into the stratosphere to marvel at views of the curvature of the Earth—initial ticket price: 24 million JPY (USD 178,100) per person booked via JTB.

"In the future, we will be able to reduce the price to the range between 1 million yen and 2 million yen," said company President Keisuke Iwaya, 36. The firm showcased the plastic pod-like cabin it designed for the balloon at an event on Feb. 21. The balloon measures 41 meters high and has a spherical two-seater cabin, which is 1.5 meters in diameter. The cabin is specially designed to be unaffected by the changes in temperature and air pressure. It comes equipped with life-support equipment and can be transformed into a parashoot in the event of an emergency. The startup developed everything in-house to ensure safety, including its communication devices, Iwaya said. The company plans to recruit five passengers and a pilot for the first batch of flights by the end of this year and expects to launch them out of Hokkaido. It has conducted more than 300 flight tests already, and the highest point the balloon has reached is about 40 km into the sky.

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Sapporo startup to take tourists on balloon rides into ‘space’ | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

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iwaya.biz

 

[mdchachi]

Hmmm that's intriguing. Maybe I can surprise my wife with this on our 40th wedding anniversary assuming it's affordable by then.

 

[thomas]

Yes, they showed this in the evening news yesterday. Intriguing indeed, but I'll pass until they roll out economy class.