By 2025, an Indian company intends to ferry tourists near space in a spaceship attached to a novel high-altitude balloon system.
Inspired by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the Mumbai-based Space Aura Aerospace Technology Pvt Ltd company has begun construction on a space capsule measuring 10 feet x 8 feet that can carry six tourists into space at once, in addition to the pilot.
The space capsule, however, will remain within a 35-kilometer radius of the Earth.
The company displayed a prototype of the space capsule called SKAP 1 at the ‘Akash Tatva’ science exhibition here, which received a positive response from both scientists and the general public.
Space Aura founder and CEO Akash Porwal said that the company has set a target date of 2025 for its first space flight.
Two locations in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have been identified from which the space flight can be launched, and a decision will be made soon, he said.
According to Porwal, the company is working hard to meet its goal with the assistance of scientists from ISRO and TIFR.
The space capsule will be propelled by a balloon filled with helium or hydrogen gas up to 30 to 35 kilometres above sea level, where space tourists will be able to witness the earth’s curvature and the blackness of space for approximately one hour, he said.
The space balloon will gradually deflate, and a parachute will be deployed to bring the spaceship down. The space balloon will be separated from the space capsule at a predetermined point, and the tourists will be safely brought down.
“Our goal is to attract space tourists to India by presenting them with a combination of space tourism and Indian culture,” Porwal explained.
“Our company will help space tourists go to space at a much lower cost than Space X and Blue Origin,” he said.
Though the cost of a flight in the spaceship has not been determined, it is expected to be close to Rs 50 lakh.
