Ticket to Space For Sale

Do you like to travel? And when you travel, do you like to try new experiences? If you answered yes to these questions, then perhaps you’ve spent some time thinking about the concept of “space tourism”.

You’ve probably read about it, and maybe done some research on the Internet or watched videos on YouTube. Perhaps this sent your imagination soaring into the stratosphere, on a rocket launched by SpaceX or perhaps Virgin Galactic. Maybe you’ve even imagined taking your first zero‑gravity selfie, against the black background of space... until you heard about the price of those flights for millionaire space tourists.

But don’t worry. At GMV, we’re working on that.

One of GMV’s new divisions has been working for months with the Spanish space tourism company HALO SPACE, which is developing a more affordable experience for adventurous tourists like you, in the form of a 6‑hour balloon flight into the stratosphere, up to an altitude of 30 to 40 km above sea level and back again.

As a first-level partner in the HALOSPACE industry consortium, GMV is contributing the ground control centers that incorporate the systems used for flight planning, communications, and monitoring of all onboard elements, along with operation of those control centers.

Based on the planning produced by our systems, you’ll be able to lift off in a pressurized capsule 5x3 meters in size, along with eight other astronauts and, of course, a pilot too. The balloon above you will be filled with helium, or with green hydrogen in the future, and it will slowly ascend for a couple of hours until reaching the maximum planned altitude. There you’ll be able to enjoy views of the atmospheric blue halo and the curvature of the earth, all against the black background of space. This is also where you’ll be able to take your best selfies, and even share them on social networks right away, using our communication solutions.

You will then enter the cruising phase, which will last long enough to reach one of the planned landing sites, as calculated using our flight trajectory prediction algorithms. These calculations are based on physical models of the atmosphere and its effects on our balloon (the Balloon Flight Path Simulator or BFPS), using data from a telemetric reception, processing, and storage system (the Mission Control System or MCS). After that, your smooth descent back to Earth will begin.

For your safety, our MCS allows for full control from the ground during the entire flight, and also from inside the capsule. All essential parameters are monitored at all times (e.g., pressures, temperatures, tensions, orientations, etc.), with GPS positioning that includes precise locations and altitudes. This monitoring also allows for real-time updating of the algorithm’s predictions during the flight.

After you have descended to an altitude of 8 km, it will be time to sit down and fasten your seat belt, because this is when the capsule enters the next phase, as it is separated from the balloon. First you’ll experience a few seconds of freefall, and then a bit of a jolt when the parafoil opens. But don’t worry, everything is under control. This separation from the balloon is necessary so that the parafoil can be deployed, which the pilot then uses to navigate, safely guiding the capsule to one of the landing sites pre‑calculated by our software.

How does that experience sound? Impossible?

It’s not impossible at all. In fact, it’s getting closer to reality every day, space tourist! We’ve already been working on the project’s second phase, in close collaboration with HALOSPACE and the other main consortium members, CT Ingenieros and Aciturri Aeronáutica. During the first phase, efforts were focused on defining the business concept and mission. Now we’re designing the systems that will support mission planning in the future, which cover all operational activities for managing passengers and ground crews, post‑flight analysis, simulators for training pilots, etc. Since we’re thinking big, we’ve proposed a cloud-based approach for all of these systems, which will allow HALOSPACE to access and monitor all of the capsules during their journey, along with all activities taking place in parallel on the ground at its various “stratoports” around the world.

This is what the consortium is now working on, creating these “space buses” and the infrastructure elements that will allow hundreds of passengers to take flight each year in a more accessible way. So you won’t have to be a millionaire to become a space tourist.

Sounds great, right? But when will all of this be possible?

We’ve already completed the first flight with great success, and the media has taken notice. On December 7th, HALOSPACE and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), with operational support from GMV, successfully took the first prototype capsule to an altitude of 37 km, during a flight that lasted approximately 4 hours. The balloon took off in Hyderabad, India, and just as calculated by our algorithms, it landed 32 km away to the northwest, in an open field near the town of Mogiligundla. The experience was amazing! During the flight, we were receiving and processing telemetric data from the onboard instruments and displaying this information for the team members, while also validating our flight trajectory predictions.

Soon your opportunity to buy a ticket will arrive, for just $150,000 (or less). And if you don’t have that much available... yet... then come and work with us, because we’re getting the next flights ready so that one day in the near future, the entire system will be fully certified.

Álvaro Ortiz – Manager of the GMV HALOSPACE Program