The China Academy of Vehicle Launch Technology (CALT) has an ambitious plan: to build a spacecraft capable of carrying 20 tourists beyond the limit where space is considered to begin: 100 kilometers high.
It is a number of people far greater than the six who intend to put up there Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo or the New Shepard, Blue Origin’s suborbital capsule.
Such a number of passengers requires a vehicle of considerable size. Chinese scientists have stated that there will be two versions of the spacecraft: the first will weigh 10 tons and have a wingspan of 6 meters. It will carry five passengers 100 kilometers high, fly at a speed of Mach 6 and allow the lucky ones on board to enjoy two minutes of weightlessness.
The second will go to 100 tons and 12 meters of wingspan, will put 20 individuals at 130 kilometers high (at a dizzying Mach 8) and will double the minutes of weightlessness. This latest version will also place satellites in orbit, something that will generate income and reduce the price of tickets.
According to Pengxin Han, one of the experts involved in the project, “the tickets will cost between 180,000 and 220,000 euros.” So it will be a rich experience. Not surprisingly, the first space tourist, American Dennis Tito, paid $ 20 million in 2001 to go to the International Space Station.
Back and forth continuous
The idea is that the vehicle is reusable and completes fifty flights. It will take off vertically (like a rocket), unlike the Virgin Galactic ship, which has to be transported. It will do all the maneuvers without the need for pilots or remote control, and it will be powered by liquid oxygen and methane. According to Han, ground tests of the systems are well advanced, and flight tests will be completed in two years. Freight transport would begin in 2020 and passengers would not be included until security was proven to be sufficient.
CALT members have announced their plans at the recent 67th International Astronautical Congress (IAC2016), which took place in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. There, some scientists from other countries have shown specticism about the feasibility of the project.
Roger Launius, an expert in spaceflight at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (USA), told New Scientist that “the most striking thing is that they believe they can send 20 people more than 100 kilometers high. without using a mother ship or flight stages, and they think they will reuse the vehicle so many times. They have not explained how they will get it. And I wonder they think they will do test flights in two years. It is easier to draw plans and talk than to build a real ship. “
Image: China Academy of Vehicle Launch Technology (CALT).
