BBC Knowledge Asia Edition - December 2014

“We are not inventing new technology,
and that’s when things get difficult –
when there is not a lot of history.”
So far test flights have used helium as
a lift gas. “Helium is a proven
technology,” says Brad Inggs, CEO of
Orbital Horizons, a space support and
intelligence solution agency, based in
South Africa. “Helium in high-altitude
balloons has been in use for many
years, and is regularly used for high-
altitude monitoring.”
Sending a balloon to the edge of
space is in principle quite simple. In July
2014, school teacher Andrew Castley
from Giles Academy near Boston,
Lincolnshire, managed to send a
balloon complete with iPhone, GoPro
camera, GPS tracker and flight
computer to the stratosphere at a height
of 28km (18 miles) up. “We looked at the
mass and volume and used suitcase-
weighing scales to work out how much
lift the balloon was giving us,” he says.
“The idea was to go as slow as possible;
the less gas you use the higher you go.
As the pressure gets less the balloon
expands more.” Castley and his
students were even able to recover the
balloon in Norfolk after it had finished its
flight, complete with recorded footage
of the Earth.

A gentle ascent
For passengers considering a flight with
World View, the experience can’t be
compared with the rocket-powered
options, but the trip is completely
different to travelling in a hot air balloon.
This is a new type of travel experience, yet
as with other commercial spaceflights it
will be regulated by the FAA (Federal
Aviation Authority), under the

A RACE TO THE TOP

SPACESHIPONE

made it to 111km

to claim the

Ansari X-Prize

in 2004.

SPACES

made it t

to claim t

Ansari X-

in 2 00 4.

CONCORDE

The supersonic

jet had a maximum

cruising altitude

of 18km.

j

BOEING 747

A 747 can fly as

high as 13km.

Most fly at an

altitude of 10km.

A

NORTHROP T-38

Used for training

NASA astronauts,

the plane can hit a

height of 86km.

V-2 ROCKET

The World War

II ballistic missile

hit an altitude

of 88km.

The machines that have

taken us ever higher

MERCURY

CAPSULE

Alan Shepard, the

first American in

space, hit 187km.

INTERNATIONAL

SPACE STATION

Astronauts work at

a height of 330km.

ME

INT

SP

As

a h

WORLD VIEW

CAPSULE

Tourists will get a

view of the planet

from 32km.

RED BULL STRAT0S

Felix Baumgartner

jumped from the

balloon-borne

capsule 39km up.

THERMOSPHERE 350km

MESOSPHERE 80km

100km

200km

300km

STRATOSPHERE 50km

TROPOSPHERE 12km

Pupils from Giles Academy

were able to capture this

view of the Earth with a

helium balloon