Firm rockets into space tourism

The European aerospace giant EADS is going into the space tourism business.

Its Astrium division says it will build a space plane
capable of carrying fare-paying passengers on a sub-orbital ride more
than 100km above the planet.

The vehicle, which will take off from a normal airport,
will give the tourists a three-to-five-minute experience of
weightlessness at the top of its climb.

Tickets are expected to cost up to 200,000 euros (£135,000), with flights likely to begin in 2012.

There must be millions of people who have dreamt about this since they were little kids

Marc Newson, designer

"We believe it is the will of human beings to visit space and we have
to give them the possibility to do that," said Francois Auque, the CEO
of Astrium.

"Astrium is by far the largest space company in Europe,
so we are very knowledgeable in all these matters. We believe our
concept is extremely safe, extremely comfortable and cost effective,"
he told BBC News.

Two in one

EADS Astrium is the company that builds the Ariane
rocket, which lofts most of the world's commercial satellites. Its
space jet is a very different concept, however.

The front end of a full-scale model was unveiled at a
publicity event in Paris on Wednesday. From a certain angle, the
vehicle resembles an ordinary executive aircraft - but its engineers
claim it is in fact "revolutionary".

The production model will use normal jet engines to take
off and climb to 12km. From there, rocket engines will kick the vehicle
straight up, taking it beyond 60km in just 80 seconds. By the time the
rockets shut down, the craft should have sufficient velocity to carry
it above 100km - into space.

As the plane then begins to fall back to Earth, the
pilot will use small thrusters to control its attitude, guiding the
vehicle into the atmosphere from where it will use its jet engines
again to return to the airport.

The total journey time will be about one-and-a-half hours.

World window

Astrium says there will be room for four passengers on
each mission. Towards the top of the climb, these individuals will be
able to float free in the cabin and look through large windows at the
planet below.

Astrium is proposing a different technical solution to
the one being pursued by airline boss Sir Richard Branson and his
Virgin Galactic enterprise.

SpaceShipOne was slung beneath a carrier aircraft

Branson's operation - timed to start about 20009 - is
basing its vehicles on the record-breaking SpaceShipOne rocket plane
which became the first privately built craft to reach space in 2004.

SpaceShipOne had to be carried to a launch altitude by
another vehicle before using rocket propulsion; and on its return from
space, glided to its home runway. Astrium says it decision to go with a
one-stage concept was driven by safety and economic considerations.

The Australian Marc Newson was employed to design the
space plane's interior. He said he had put great emphasis on the seats
- which he describes as "hi-tech hammocks" - and the windows to
maximise the flight experience.

Child's dream

"The windows are very similar to a civilian jet airliner
but they're about 30% bigger; but more importantly, there're 15 windows
and only four passengers, so there're are plenty of opportunities to
float around the interior of this cabin and take different views of
space, the stars, the Moon, and the Earth," Mr Newson explained.

"It will be amazing. You'll actually be outside the
Earth's atmosphere; you'll be able to see Earth as a spherical object
and everything else around you will be black. There must be millions of
people who have dreamt about this since they were little kids," he told
the BBC.

EADS Astrium says its space jet project is likely to
cost a billion euros to develop. It will be looking for financial and
industrial partners over the next year. It says that if development
work starts in 2008, the first commercial flights could be made in
2012.

"The development of a new vehicle able to operate in
altitudes between aircraft (20km) and below satellites (200km) could
well be a precursor for rapid transport, point-to-point vehicles, or
quick access to space," Astrium said in a statement.

"Its development will contribute to maintaining and even
enhancing European competencies in core technologies for space
transportation."

SOURCE -  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6749873.stm