Spanish company Halo Space is in talks with Saudi regulators to set up a base in the kingdom for balloon flights into space. Ongoing tests are planned for Saudi Arabia this summer.
The promise of an “overview effect” of seeing the Earth in the cosmos, described by astronauts as a deeply moving experience, is Halo’s main selling point.
“In history only 650 people have enjoyed the overview effect. We are bringing this to thousands of people,” said Halo’s chief executive, Carlos Mira. “What we are offering is the perspective,” Mr Mira said. “If we have it overcast with clouds, we are killing it.”
$164,000 passenger flights are anticipated to be available by 2026.
Writing for The National, Tim Stickings reports that five tests have taken place already, with the sixth, taking place 300km from Riyadh in June, set to bring all the components together. Once a Saudi launch site is up and running, it will run flights between October and April – the Arabian summer is deemed too hot.
A further three launch stations are planned in the US, Spain and Australia, which also offer sunny weather and sparsely populated areas. Halo’s plan is for 100 flights a year by 2030
A Halo trip would last for several hours, seen as a selling point compared to Jeff Bezos’s 10-minute, up-and-down Blue Origin flight.
Mr Mira also sees Halo as filling a niche for space tourism that is high-end but still more accessible than trips into orbit with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
To read more, click here and here.
