Spanish Startup Zero 2 Infinity Is Offering Space Trips In Helium Balloons Cheaper Than Space X
Spanish Startup Zero 2 Infinity Is Offering Space Trips In Helium Balloons Cheaper Than Space X. The Space Tourism idea is starting to have a lot of people who are backing it and who say that this is the future of humanity as more and more people are becoming interested in visiting space. Several companies are competing to take people to space in hopes of setting the precedent for space tourism. Zero 2 Infinity is one of the companies that aim to take people to space at affordable prices compared to his competition such as Space X.
Spanish startup Zero 2 Infinity wants to launch passengers 40 kilometers into space using helium balloons at just over $130000. Their launch system has a significantly lower impact on the environment, an advantage over conventional systems. The space flight doesn’t produce any noise or CO2 emissions, nor did it bring with it any risk of explosion.
Zero 2 Infinity (sometimes rendered as Zero2Infinity) is a private Spanish company developing high-altitude balloons to provide access to near space and low Earth orbit using a balloon-borne pod and a balloon-borne launcher. The company was founded in 2009 by aerospace engineer Jose Mariano López-Urdiales, the current CEO.
“We already have the capsules, the permits, the insurance, and the flight center. It’s now just a question of securing the remaining funding.” Lopez-Urdiales told Business Insider. Lopez-Urdiales was first struck by the idea while helping his astrophysicist father to float helium balloons to the threshold of space, he told Sifted.
On March 1, 2017, Zero 2 Infinity ignited its first rocket from Near Space, a Bloostar prototype. The flight took place at the INTA (Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial) facilities in El Arenosillo Huelva. The balloon that took Bloostar to 25 km was launched from a boat in the Gulf of Cadiz. At 25 km the ignition of the rocket took place. Thegoals of the mission were: validation of the telemetry systems in Space conditions, controlled ignition, stabilization of the rocket, monitoring of the launch sequence, parachute deployment, and finally, sea recovery. All these goals were achieved in full.
According to Business Insider the balloon will be setting off from Andalucia in the south of Spain, the trip will take six hours. The ascent will take three hours, while two hours will be spent floating in space, and a further hour will be spent on the descent.
