Chinese firm JHY Space Technology Co Ltd (Space Vision) plans to enter the industry of commercial space exploration by sending people to an expedition using a balloon.
The Beijing-based company has revealed the country's first space parachute suit, which potential clients will use during the trip. After riding on a high-tech balloon, people will go down back to Earth using a parachute.
The entire trip is estimated to cost around half a million yuan or $77,000.
Testing The Technology
Over the next months, the firm will perform testing sessions of the apparatus and enroll volunteers for training, a state-managed news agency reported.
The Chinese company says the first three people to take on the extraordinary adventure include a businessman, a female parachute champion and an aircraft engineer.
The participants will fly into the stratosphere while wearing a customized suit that contains a radar and a system that enables them to communicate to a ground base. The suit also has an image transmission feature.
Company Speaks
Space Vision president and founder Jiang Fang said the probability of the commercial expedition's success has been supported and endorsed by several technical experts.
Fang also believes China's flight system is now ripe for the rise of manned spacesuit technology, which is necessary for these types of projects.
"We hope to lead the growth of the domestic commercial aerospace sector by starting with space parachuting, and gradually establish a path for the public to travel in the space," he says.
China As Commercial Space Travel Giant
The testing will be launched at Sanya in Hainan province, which is a tropical island that has space and ocean resources, clean air and a launch facility.
Hainan is beginning to look like a space travel location giant. In fact, the country is planning to make it an aerospace leader.
Experts say the industry is getting support from the government, creating demand from consumers and getting attention from several other private firms.
This is not the first time the idea of a commercial space flight has surfaced. Recently, Bigelow Aerospace has collaborated with United Launch Alliance to send habitable volumes in the low Earth orbit.
