Space Perspective has unveiled the patent-pending Spaceship Neptune capsule design, now in production at the company’s campus, near its Operations Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Explorers onboard Spaceship Neptune, taking flight commercially from the end of 2024, will ascend to the edge of space in the climate-controlled, pressurized capsule, propelled by a patented SpaceBalloon. The six-hour roundtrip experience enables anybody who can board an airplane to take in the views of the thin blue line circling earth below and the dark vastness of space above.
Space Perspective’s composite capsule manufacturing facility, in conjunction with an in-depth series of parallel processed analyses and design iterations, led to Spaceship Neptune features:
- A smooth, spherical pressure vessel designed for a comfortable Space Lounge experience. The spherical shape of the exterior accommodates a roomier interior with more headroom, and the additional safety benefits of being optimal for pressure resistance.
- A patent-pending splash cone to attenuate splashdown for a gentle, safe landing. With water landings considered by NASA as the low-risk way of returning a capsule from space, following the gradual, two-hour descent to Earth and a gentle splashdown in the ocean, a Space Perspective crew will retrieve passengers, the capsule and the SpaceBalloon by ship.
- Reflective coated windows and center section, similar to that of an astronaut’s helmet, will limit solar gain and keep the interior Space Lounge comfortable and cool.
- The exterior of the capsule travels through a wide range of thermally dynamic environments and the patent-pending thermal control system will keep the interiors and “Space Explorers” at a consistently comfortable temperature.
Prett cool: The 360-degree windows will be accompanied by satellite imagery and 360-degree cameras to zoom in and out on the vista.
Space Perspective collaborated with Siemens, who have provided expertise in rigorous and precise engineering to the design of Spaceship Neptune. Testing iterations of the capsule design were accelerated by using solutions from Siemens Xcelerator portfolio and parallel-processing AWS servers. Siemens’ software processed the complex loads of a six-hour round trip that involves travel through air, space and water while maintaining a safe, comfortable environment for passengers, meant that more virtual tests and simulations were able to be run than previously possible.
Through this technology, delivered through AWS Cloud servers, the Space Perspective engineering team, assisted by Siemens engineers, was able to craft the optimal capsule shape ahead of manufacturing. Simulations were used to demonstrate that the rounded capsule provides the most robust shape for pressure resistance and splashdown within the numerous environments Spaceship Neptune travels through during flight.
Manufacturing of Spaceship Neptune has already begun with 100,000 square feet of facilities, 300,000 square feet of dedicated testing apron area and operations center at the NASA KSC Shuttle Landing Facility. So far, almost 900 tickets have been sold; the purchase of entire capsules for eight commercial flights are targeted to begin in late 2024.
Space Perspective is taking reservations for 2025 and beyond. Its human spaceflight launches are regulated by the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
Related Articles
Space Perspective Adds Edyta Teper as Head of Trade Partnerships
World View Reaches 1,000 Reservations for Edge of Space Flights