Space tourism startup World View’s parafoil flies to record altitude of 102,000 feet
Imagine you and seven other people sitting inside a pressurized cabin, swinging gently below a balloon that could swallow an entire football stadium. At 102,000 feet above the ground.
That vision might sound like something from the distant future, but it might not be as far away as you think. Yesterday, a company called World View conducted a test that it says could help it make that vision a reality by the end of next year.
想像してみてほしい。あなたを含め8人の乗客がパラフォイル(翼のついた大きな飛行船)の客室に腰を下ろし、サッカー競技場を飲み込むほどの大きさがある風船の足元で揺られているところを。
そんな空想は遠い未来のもののように思えるだろうが、あなたが考えているほど先の話ではないかもしれない。昨日、World Viewという企業が行った試験によって、こんな光景が来年末には実現する可能性が出てきた。
あなたや7人の他の人々が気密室の中に座り、フットボールスタジアムをまるごと飲み込むような気球の下で静かに揺れているのを想像していただきたい。地上102000フィート上空で、である。
この空想は遠い未来から来たもののように聞こえるかもしれないが、あなたが考えているほど遠いものではないかもしれない。昨日、World Viewという企業が行った実験は、来年末までにこの空想が現実のものになるための足がかりにこの実験がなり得ることを示している。
World View is in the space tourism business, and it is hoping that by the end of 2016, it will be ferrying people to the edge of space underneath its giant balloons for $75,000 a pop. But before it can get there, it has to prove — to itself, to regulators, to passengers, and others — that it can safely get them to that lofty altitude, keep them there for an hour or two, and then get them back right to the desired landing spot.
That’s why Friday’s test was an essential step forward, explained Sebastian Padilla, World View’s chief engineer.
そのことから金曜日に行われた試運転は大変重要な一歩である、とWorld View社のチーフエンジニアであるSebastian Padilla氏はそう述べた。
それゆえに、金曜日に行われた試験フライトは、非常に重要な一歩であったとWorld View社のチーフエンジニアであるSebastian Padilla氏は語った。
World View has been developing a proprietary parafoil system that will allow it to control the flight of its payloads as they head back towards Earth. Without a parafoil, which is essentially a rectangular parachute that flies atop the cargo, be it scientific experiments or passengers, there would be no way to guide them back to terra firma. With one, it’s possible to gently glide to a specific spot.
Until now, the world record altitude for parafoil flight was about 50,000 feet, Padilla told VentureBeat. But WorldView got its parafoil, which was atop a balloon carrying scientific payloads from researchers at Montana State University and the University of North Florida, to 102,200 feet Friday morning.
これまでパラフォイルの飛行高度の世界記録は約50,000フィートだった、とPadilla氏はVentureBeatに語った。しかし、WorldViewは金曜日の朝、同社のパラフォイルを102,200フィートに到達させた。そのパラフォイルは気球の上に設置され、モンタナ州立大学とノースフロリダ大学の研究者から提供された実験用荷重が取り付けられていた。
PadillaがVentureBeatに語るには、パラフォイルの高度における、今までの世界記録は50,000フィーととなっているそうだ。だが、World View社の開発したパラフォイルは、モンタナ州立大学とノースフロリダ大学の研究者による科学的飛行物を102,200フィートの高度まで上昇させた。
But the flight was about more than just setting a world record. “It was incredibly important,” Padilla said. “Before yesterday, there was a question of whether you could even fly a parafoil from these altitudes. And certainly, the question in everyone’s mind was, Could we do this on our first attempt?”
World View launched its balloon from an airport north of Tucson, Arizona. The parafoil was a couple hundred feet square feet, Padilla said. But in order to successfully carry a capsule with eight people (six passengers, a pilot, and a copilot), the balloon itself would have to have a capacity of 15 million cubic feet — big enough to encompass a football stadium — and a parafoil of about a couple thousand square feet.
Although World View wants to take its passengers to the edge of space, it doesn’t consider itself to be direct competitors to outfits like Virgin Galactic, which is hoping to take people on quick flights into space for $250,000 a seat. That’s because, Padilla said, while Virgin Galactic passengers will get about five minutes of weightlessness after launching into space on a small rocket, World View’s will get a 90-minute ride to their 100,000-foot ceiling, a couple of hours at that altitude, and then at least a 30 minute descent.
Virgin Galactic had hoped to begin flying its passengers sometime this year, but its progress was set back significantly by a fatal accident last fall. For its part, World View has “said we’re aiming to start taking people to the edge of space at the end of 2016,” Padilla said. “That’s a pretty aggressive schedule. It’s a good thing to work to an aggressive schedule. That might be too aggressive. … We’re going to do this when it’s safe.”
World Viewの後に「社」とつけるべきでした。すみません。