{"id":19338,"date":"2016-06-23T19:43:30","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T11:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/world-view-pivots-from-stratospheric-tourism-to-stratollites-lofted-by-balloons\/"},"modified":"2016-06-23T19:43:30","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T11:43:30","slug":"world-view-pivots-from-stratospheric-tourism-to-stratollites-lofted-by-balloons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/world-view-pivots-from-stratospheric-tourism-to-stratollites-lofted-by-balloons\/","title":{"rendered":"World View pivots from stratospheric tourism to \u2018Stratollites\u2019 lofted by balloons"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_223636\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-223636\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-223636 size-full-width\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160119-capsule-630x350.jpg\" alt=\"World View capsule\" width=\"630\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160119-capsule-630x350.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160119-capsule-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160119-capsule-1240x689.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160119-capsule.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-223636\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">World View is working on balloon-and-parafoil systems that could carry payloads into the stratosphere, as shown in this artist\u2019s conception. (Credit: World View Enterprises)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>World View Enterprises made a splash with its plans to send tourists up to the stratosphere, but now it has a more down-to-earth focus: using balloons to send up satellite-style payloads for months-long missions.<\/p>\n<p>The tours are still part of the Arizona-based company\u2019s business plan, CEO Jane Poynter said today at the Space Frontier Foundation\u2019s NewSpace 2016 conference in Seattle. The time frame for testing a full-size mockup of the Voyager crew capsule has been pushed back, however.<\/p>\n<p>In January, Poynter said the flight test would take place in mid-2016. Today, she said that test would be conducted early next year instead.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"icon-quotes-left\"><\/span>&nbsp;We are really focused on our Stratollite system this year.<span class=\"icon-quotes-right\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, World View is ramping up&nbsp;its \u201cStratollite\u201d system i(\u201cStratosphere\u201d plus \u201cSatellite\u201d). The program involves attaching&nbsp;payloads to a high-altitude balloon, lofting them up beyond&nbsp;100,000 feet in altitude, and letting them float&nbsp;above the clouds to relay signals, capture imagery, gather weather data or perform other functions that are typically done by satellites or large unmanned aerial&nbsp;vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Stratollites would be equipped with navigation systems that take advantage of wind currents&nbsp;at different altitudes&nbsp;to loiter over a given location&nbsp;or meander along a given course, potentially around the world. At the end of the mission, the payload would deploy a parafoil and descend to a gliding touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are really focused on our Stratollite system this year,\u201d Poynter told GeekWire.<\/p>\n<p>This month, World View and Ball Aerospace announced they would collaborate on a Stratollite project for remote sensing applications. That deal follows up on a $15 million funding round in April that was aimed at accelerating Stratollite development.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"NewSpace 2016 - Jane Poynter Keynote\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Qe7kXWcq1bc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Poynter declined to say how much a Stratollite mission would cost but said more information would become available in the months ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe think of ourselves as somewhat disrupting [the market for] large UAVs,\u201d Poynter&nbsp;said. Flying a Stratollite mission could be orders of magnitude less expensive than flying a drone when costed out on a per-hour basis, she&nbsp;said.<\/p>\n<p>Poynter said World View was on track to start using Spaceport Tucson in Arizona for its flights by the end of the year. In January, Pima County approved a $15 million spaceport investment deal, backed by future tax revenue. She said the concrete is being poured&nbsp;for World View\u2019s balloon launch pad.&nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s moving, it\u2019s awesome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Poynter emphasized that the Stratollite tests would help blaze the trail&nbsp;for the Voyager passenger flights, which are expected to last about five&nbsp;hours and cost $75,000 per person. At one time, World View\u2019s schedule called for taking on passengers in late 2017 or 2018, but that schedule is likely to be in flux due to the heightened emphasis on the Stratollite program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrankly, when you think about it, from our point of view, it\u2019s somewhat the opposite of the satellite industry,\u201d Poynter&nbsp;told GeekWire. \u201cGetting up there is easy. \u2026 A balloon is just lifting you gently up to the edge of space. And for us, the operational risk per se, the thing we really want to home in on so that everybody has a spectacular time coming back down, is this flying part with the parafoil. So we\u2019re really excited that we get to do that many, many, many times with the unmanned systems first before we put people on it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World View is working on balloon-and-parafoil systems that could carry payloads into the stratosphere, as shown in this artist\u2019s conception. (Credit: World View Enterprises) World View Enterprises made a splash with its plans to send tourists up to the stratosphere, but now it has a more down-to-earth focus: using balloons to send up satellite-style payloads [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4671,4807],"class_list":["post-19338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-balloon","tag-world-view-enterprises"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}