World View Enterprises - General Discussion and Updates thread

[Garrett]

Okay, looks like there's no thread for this yet, so let's get things started.

Company website:
http://www.worldviewexperience.com/

News articles on the web:
World View balloon, capsule to offer luxury ride to the edge of space - Washington Post, Tuesday, October 22
World View balloon aims to give you an outer-space view for $75,000 - NBCnews.com, Tuesday, October 22

Press release: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131022005265/en/Statement-FAA-Determination-World-View%C2%AE-Commercial-Space

Majestic views of our planet slowly expand below. The curved horizon hangs under the blackness of space. The comfort and gentle glide of the vessel spoils passengers as they sail for hours along the edge of space, and delight in a view that few people have had the honor of surveying ... until now.

World View® is pleased to announce plans for a spectacular human flight into nearspace, unlike any other suborbital spaceflight experience being offered today, allowing passengers to remain aloft for hours at a comparably affordable price.The World View spaceflight experience will begin with a gentle ride in the comfort of a luxuriously appointed space-qualified capsule, lifted by a high altitude balloon to 30 km. There, passengers will remain aloft for approximately two hours before gliding back to Earth.

Passengers will be among the few to have seen the curvature of the Earth with their own eyes. They will be able to gaze at the astounding views, the blackness of space, the brilliance of stars and the thin veil of atmosphere enveloping our planet – scenes previously witnessed exclusively by astronauts – for $75,000.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently determined that World View’s spacecraft and its operations fall under the jurisdiction of the office of Commercial Space Flight (51 U.S.C. Chapter 509).

Paragon Space Development Corporation is the vehicle developer. The company brings over 20 years of spaceflight experience and patent-pending technologies to World View, and has already begun component testing. Subscale testing will soon get underway, demonstrating the flight characteristics of the overall integrated system.

“Seeing the Earth hanging in the ink-black void of space will help people realize our connection to our home planet and to the universe around us, and will surely offer a transformative experience to our customers. It is also our goal to open up a whole new realm for exercising human curiosity, scientific research and education,” said Jane Poynter, CEO of World View. “We look forward to pioneering this new, accessible and affordable spaceflight regime, and to sharing the breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime experience with people from around the globe.”

About World View® Enterprises, Inc.

World View® Enterprises, Inc. is pioneering a new frontier at the edge of space for tourism, research, education and other scientific and commercial pursuits. The firm is offering an accessible, affordable platform to take passengers into nearspace for a human spaceflight experience unlike any other suborbital opportunity being offered today. Propelled by a high-altitude balloon, passengers gently float for hours in the comfort of a space-qualified, luxury capsule, gazing on spectacular views of the planet before gliding back to Earth. World View also offers extensive research and education opportunities. With its partner, Paragon Space Development Corporation, the World View venture is led by experts in high-altitude ballooning, and veterans of human spaceflight and environmental control and life support systems. The entire platform is rooted in technologies that have been successfully used for decades. For more information and to see an animation of the spaceflight, visit www.WorldViewExperience.com.

Edit: attaching PDF file of FAA reply to World View

[MP99]

World View balloon aims to give you an outer-space view for $75,000 - NBCnews.com, Tuesday, October 22

You wouldn't earn your astronaut wings, but the FAA ruled that World View should nevertheless follow the rules for spaceflight because "a person would experience the same physiological responses at 30 kilometers as if exposed to the environment of low-Earth orbit."

Oh yeah - hours or days of microgravity! Seriously - no comment, Alan?

cheers, Martin

[Lar]

World View balloon aims to give you an outer-space view for $75,000 - NBCnews.com, Tuesday, October 22

You wouldn't earn your astronaut wings, but the FAA ruled that World View should nevertheless follow the rules for spaceflight because "a person would experience the same physiological responses at 30 kilometers as if exposed to the environment of low-Earth orbit."

Oh yeah - hours or days of microgravity! Seriously - no comment, Alan?

cheers, Martin

Microgravity? Er what? Passengers will "float" in their seats as the balloon is floating... but they will experience 1g, more or less. Or am I confused? you have to be in free fall, (ala vomit comet or SS2 or Xcor, etc) or in orbit to experience microgravity...

[neilh]

World View balloon aims to give you an outer-space view for $75,000 - NBCnews.com, Tuesday, October 22

You wouldn't earn your astronaut wings, but the FAA ruled that World View should nevertheless follow the rules for spaceflight because "a person would experience the same physiological responses at 30 kilometers as if exposed to the environment of low-Earth orbit."

Oh yeah - hours or days of microgravity! Seriously - no comment, Alan?

cheers, Martin

Microgravity? Er what? Passengers will "float" in their seats as the balloon is floating... but they will experience 1g, more or less. Or am I confused? you have to be in free fall, (ala vomit comet or SS2 or Xcor, etc) or in orbit to experience microgravity...

I assumed they were referring to air pressure and possibly radiation, as there's no mention of microgravity in the article.

[Garrett]

World View balloon aims to give you an outer-space view for $75,000 - NBCnews.com, Tuesday, October 22

You wouldn't earn your astronaut wings, but the FAA ruled that World View should nevertheless follow the rules for spaceflight because "a person would experience the same physiological responses at 30 kilometers as if exposed to the environment of low-Earth orbit."

Oh yeah - hours or days of microgravity! Seriously - no comment, Alan?

cheers, Martin

Microgravity? Er what? Passengers will "float" in their seats as the balloon is floating... but they will experience 1g, more or less. Or am I confused? you have to be in free fall, (ala vomit comet or SS2 or Xcor, etc) or in orbit to experience microgravity...

I assumed they were referring to air pressure and possibly radiation, as there's no mention of microgravity in the article.

Yep, they're referring to air pressure and radiation, and the fact that "blood and water will boil" at such altitudes. They make the distinction between requirements for commercial aircraft and the World View craft, e.g. the latter requires an ECLSS for several hours so that passengers can be in "shirt sleeves".

[Garrett]

Note also that the passengers should experience several seconds (maybe 10's of seconds?) of micro-g during return: the craft will separate from the balloon and begin to quasi-freefall in the rarefied atmosphere. The aerofoil (parachute thing) will then build up lift as the atmosphere gets thicker, and so the passengers will transition to a 1g environment.

[Chris Bergin]

 The Commercial Spaceflight Federation Congratulates Paragon SDC on its Partnership with World View®

October 23, 2013

Washington D.C. – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation congratulates Executive Member Paragon Space Development Corporation on its partnership with World View Enterprises, Inc. Paragon will be the primary vehicle developer of the space-qualified capsule, which will use a high-altitude balloon to lift participants to a height of 30km for several hours before gliding back to Earth. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently determined that World View’s spacecraft and its operations will fall under the jurisdiction of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST).

“We are pleased to see Paragon expanding the market with a unique new human flight opportunity for research, education, and tourism,” said CSF President Michael Lopez-Alegria. “The opportunity to hover in near space for several hours is unprecedented; I look forward with great interest to following World View's progress.”

Paragon Space Development Corporation has already begun component testing. Subscale testing will soon be underway to demonstrate the flight characteristics of the overall integrated system. For more information about the World View system see www.worldviewexperience.com.
About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation

The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever-higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. The CSF’s member companies – which include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, spaceports, suppliers and service providers – are creating thousands of high-tech jobs nationwide, working to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For more information please visit www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Sirisha Bandla at [email protected] or at 202.347.1418.

[Garrett]

Link to their promo video:


Quite surprised at the lack of interest here on the forum. Is it because it doesn't involve rockets ?

[Prober]

Have to give this a bump as it's been all over the local Las Vegas media.

They look to be going forward: http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2014/feb/25/company-looks-take-customers-edge-space/

http://worldviewexperience.com/voyage/

When time permits will put some of the local video interview links on here.

[Garrett]

Well done on the bump. Those local video interviews would be most welcome.

I like this project. Anything that helps fund companies involved in space technologies can only be a good thing in the long run, as far as I can see. This particular venture could potentially give Paragon thousands of hours of flight testing of their technology. It may not be an environment as harsh as LEO or interplanetary space, but it will be challenging nonetheless.

A pity the price will be $75,000 per passenger 

[R7]

Is the parawing semi-rigid or what keeps it open during ascent like portrayed in the video.

[catdlr]

Edge Of Space Commercial Balloon Flights Closer With Record-Breaking Test | Video

Private company World View is building capsules that are transported by parafoil and high-altitude balloons to 120,000 feet, to give passengers a breath-taking view of Earth.
A scaled version of the capsule was lofted to that altitude.

[catdlr]

Longer video:

Edge of Space Balloon Rides - Test Delivers Amazing Views | Video

Published on Jul 15, 2014
World View Enterprises is developing capsules transported by high-altitude balloons and parafoil to 100,000 feet. A scaled version of the capsule broke the record for highest parafoil flight at 120,000 feet (and the view was spectacular).

[Scylla]

World View Picks Payloads for Near-space Balloon Flights
By Sydney Mineer | Jul. 31, 2014

World View completed its first balloon-launched flight test of the unmanned, subscale Tycho prototype in June, sending it aloft from Roswell, New Mexico, to a near-space altitude of roughly 36,600 meters. Credit: World View Enterprises photo
WASHINGTON — World View Enterprises, an Arizona-based company that aims to carry paying passengers into the stratosphere aboard a high-altitude balloon, announced July 28 it has selected three research payloads to carry aloft during flight tests planned for later this year.

Alan Stern, the former senior NASA official now serving as World View’s chief scientist, said during a July 26 presentation at the NewSpace 2014 conference in San Jose, California, that the payloads will fly aboard  the company’s subscale Tycho vehicle at no cost to the experimenters in exchange for World View gaining the opportunity to demonstrate the balloon system’s research and education capabilities. A larger Tycho vehicle capable of carrying six people some 37,000 meters above Earth’s surface for panoramic views of the planet and the blackness of space is under development for commercial flights slated to begin in 2016.

World View completed its first balloon-launched flight test of the unmanned, subscale Tycho prototype in June, sending it aloft from Roswell, New Mexico, to a near-space altitude of roughly 36,600 meters. The vehicle was then lowered back down to 15,000 meters where it deployed the aerodynamic parafoils it used for landing. Additional test flights planned for later this year will carry the selected payloads, which include a meteor imager from the SETI Institute, Mountain View, California, a student-built ozone monitor from the Florida Space Grant Consortium, and  a radiation-measurement experiment from Los Angeles-based Space Environment Technologies.

[Danderman]

What radio frequencies does this company use?

They can't legally use amateur radio bands.

[Star One]

Has there been any news on what comes after Worldview 4, are they going for a major upgrade in capabilities for Worldview 5 with the relaxation in the imaging rules?

[catdlr]

A Sunrise from the Edge of Space

Published on Dec 18, 2014
During a recent World View commercial payload flight, our cameras captured something magnificent. A perspective that reminds us of the majesty of our planet - the gift of a breathtaking sunrise from the edge of space.

[Vultur]

Parabolic Arc article on a research flight carrying university experiments...

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/03/09/world-view-carries-high-altitude-flight-nasa/

[ChrisWilson68]

Quite surprised at the lack of interest here on the forum. Is it because it doesn't involve rockets ?

For me, the lack of interest is because it's not really space flight at all.  Getting the government to regulate it as they regulate spaceflight and joining a spaceflight trade group aren't enough.  In every important way, it's not spaceflight when you're being suspended by the Earth's atmosphere and more-or-less moving with it.

[Hauerg]

Link to their promo video:


Quite surprised at the lack of interest here on the forum. Is it because it doesn't involve rockets ?

It is not spaceflight.
Rockets are not the issue. Antigravity-drive would be ok for me.   

[QuantumG]

It's not spaceflight.. I agree.. but it is space tourism. So is visiting an observatory.

[Garrett]

it's a spacecraft in the sense of having an ECLSS and rated for a vacuum environment (10 mbar)
similar tech could be useful for Mars & Moon
of course, the same could be said of some nuclear submarine tech.

In practice, it might get closer to space than proposals such as Skylon or Excalibur Almaz.

[ChrisWilson68]

it's a spacecraft in the sense of having an ECLSS and rated for a vacuum environment (10 mbar)
similar tech could be useful for Mars & Moon
of course, the same could be said of some nuclear submarine tech.

If I put something in a vacuum chamber, it's not in space.  Vacuum is a property of space, but it is not the definition of space.

In practice, it might get closer to space than proposals such as Skylon or Excalibur Almaz.

So might jumping up and down on a trampoline. :-)

[Moe Grills]

  May I make this humble suggestion?
Instead of the arbitrary claim that a vehicle/craft has to attain an altitude over 100km to become a "spacecraft", let's re-evaluate and re-edit Mr. Karman's declaration and demarcation of that altitude boundary.

Example: Not one of you would dare say that the first successful V2(A4) rocket launch was the official start of the "Space Age" after it peaked above the Karman Line in October, 1942, so why not list different categories
of "space" with different prefixes (hyphenated or not) based on more complete atmospheric and aerodynamic properties?
For example: an ideal sounding balloon can only attain a maximum altitude of about 50 km more or less. Anything above that up to an altitude of 100 km can be declared to be NEARSPACE.
And then anything above 100km altitude to an altitude where micrometeorites start to burn up (120-150 km?)
can be declared to be QUASISPACE.

[catdlr]

Competition??
Super Pressure Balloon launch

Published on Mar 16, 2015
NASA's Wallops Flight Facility
A NASA super pressure balloon lift-offs for a technology test from Sweden in September 2012. NASA’s scientific balloons offer low-cost, near-space access for scientific payloads weighing up to 8,000 pounds for conducting scientific investigations in fields such as astrophysics, heliophysics and atmospheric research.

[meekGee]

  May I make this humble suggestion?
Instead of the arbitrary claim that a vehicle/craft has to attain an altitude over 100km to become a "spacecraft", let's re-evaluate and re-edit Mr. Karman's declaration and demarcation of that altitude boundary.

Example: Not one of you would dare say that the first successful V2(A4) rocket launch was the official start of the "Space Age" after it peaked above the Karman Line in October, 1942, ...

Absolutely it was, IMO.

There was a war going on, but the rocketeers were thinking space even back then.

And "space" should simply be defined as being orbital.  All the rest is missing the point.

[CameronD]

And "space" should simply be defined as being orbital.  All the rest is missing the point.

It'd be nice if it were that simple.. but you could 'go orbital' in an airliner (admittedly at a somewhat lower altitude than the Karman Line and with infinitely large fuel reserves) and I'm not sure that's what you had in mind. 

[meekGee]

And "space" should simply be defined as being orbital.  All the rest is missing the point.

It'd be nice if it were that simple.. but you could 'go orbital' in an airliner (admittedly at a somewhat lower altitude than the Karman Line and with infinitely large fuel reserves) and I'm not sure that's what you had in mind. 

Of course not, but that's not the accepted definition of orbital.  Ballistically orbital.  It's very easy to define what counts and what doesn't, and there's barely any gray zone.

If you want a legal test, ask for a closed planar trajectory around the center of the earth, with no net propulsive input.

[QuantumG]

Of course not, but that's not the accepted definition of orbital.  Ballistically orbital.  It's very easy to define what counts and what doesn't, and there's barely any gray zone.

Then the ISS isn't in orbit as it requires constant reboost.

If you're there to see the blackness of space, it's space tourism. That counts if you're strapped to a rocket, hanging under a balloon, visiting a mountain top observatory or even freezing your butt off in a dark field.. looking up.

The real argument is whether free fall has anything to do with space. After all, that's what skydivers and drop tower ride patrons are chasing. What's that got to do with space? That experience seems incidental to staring at the cosmos or the curvature of the Earth.

[meekGee]

Of course not, but that's not the accepted definition of orbital.  Ballistically orbital.  It's very easy to define what counts and what doesn't, and there's barely any gray zone.

Then the ISS isn't in orbit as it requires constant reboost.

If you're there to see the blackness of space, it's space tourism. That counts if you're strapped to a rocket, hanging under a balloon, visiting a mountain top observatory or even freezing your butt off in a dark field.. looking up.

The real argument is whether free fall has anything to do with space. After all, that's what skydivers and drop tower ride patrons are chasing. What's that got to do with space? That experience seems incidental to staring at the cosmos or the curvature of the Earth.

The ISS can complete an orbit without reboost, so passes as "orbital"....  (yay!)

If you want to come up with definitions that allow people to say they were in space and even better get astronaut wings and a certificate of astronauticity, there's always criteria that will work for you.  Thus WorldView. 

But the whole Karman line thing was dug up by VG because they needed such a criterion, and so from that point of view, it works, and why change it.

It is still meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

[CameronD]

Of course not, but that's not the accepted definition of orbital.  Ballistically orbital.  It's very easy to define what counts and what doesn't, and there's barely any gray zone.

Then the ISS isn't in orbit as it requires constant reboost.

If you're there to see the blackness of space, it's space tourism. That counts if you're strapped to a rocket, hanging under a balloon, visiting a mountain top observatory or even freezing your butt off in a dark field.. looking up.

The real argument is whether free fall has anything to do with space. After all, that's what skydivers and drop tower ride patrons are chasing. What's that got to do with space? That experience seems incidental to staring at the cosmos or the curvature of the Earth.

The ISS can complete an orbit without reboost, so passes as "orbital"....  (yay!)

That's only because, being outside the atmosphere, it's in essentially a friction-less environment.... (boo!)

.....
It is still meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

True enough.

[Vultur]

The thing that really interests me about WorldView is the chance for Paragon to get experience with ECLSS in a real flight situation.