Weightless tourism may be just 4 years away

Want to have a birthday party 140 kilometers above the ground, or dance weightlessly with your loved one? Just wait a few years.

Out-of-this-world experiences will be possible if plans by China's newly-established commercial space company come to fruition. It expects to start providing high-atmosphere and space journeys - for people with enough cash - as early as 2020.

Han Qingping, president of ChinaRocket Co in Beijing, says the company will develop a reusable spacecraft to ferry three to five travelers to a height of 80 km for a new perspective on the mother planet, and to experience weightlessness. That is the upper part of what scientists call the mesosphere, higher than jets and balloons can go but just below the range of satellites.

No prices were given.

"By 2025, a 100-ton reusable spacecraft will be produced to send up to 20 passengers into an orbit as high as 140 km above the ground," he says.

That's into the thermosphere, and high enough to be considered space.

"Furthermore, we will begin to use the vehicle to perform intercontinental scheduled flights and long commercial spaceflights around 2030," he says.

Han made the remarks at the New Power of Space Industry Forum on Nov 3 in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, a day before the start of the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, commonly known as the Zhuhai Air Show.

His company was founded in mid-October by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the country's biggest developer of ballistic missiles and carrier rockets. The academy itself is subordinate to the larger China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the state-owned main contractor for the country's space program.

During the air show, ChinaRocket will sign a launch service contract with Changguang Satellite Technology Co, based in Changchun, Jilin province, which is a major maker of commercial remote-sensing satellites in China. No further information was immediately disclosed.

Tang Yagang, deputy head of the launch technology academy's space activity department, says ChinaRocket will offer four types of rockets to the commercial launch market, covering all orbits suitable for commercial use. In China, a commercial space mission generally refers to a space activity paid for by an entity other than a Chinese government or a military agency.

Earlier reports quoted experts as predicting that by 2020, the market value of commercial space activities in China will reach 30 billion yuan ($4.4 billion; 4 billion euros; 3.6 billion) each year.

"Three of the four rockets are off-the-shelf models because they are based on the current Long March series. The two liquid-fueled rockets will launch payloads to sun-synchronous orbit, low Earth orbit and geosynchronous orbit. The solid-fueled rocket will also lift satellites to sun-synchronous orbit," he says.

Sun-synchronous orbit can keep a satellite in constant daylight, whereas geosynchronous orbit matches the Earth's rotation.

"We are also developing a new type of liquid-fueled, medium-lift rocket specifically for the commercial launch market. It will use pollution-free propellants. The maiden flight is scheduled to take place in 2018," he says.

Han says his company plans to go public around 2020, adding it will share its facilities and equipment with other enterprises to boost the growth of the whole sector.

Hao Zhaoping, vice-president of the launch group, says commercial space activities are an emerging trend in the industry that ChinaRocket wants to be a part of.

"In addition to commercial launches, the company will also build launch facilities and space-themed parks," he says. "We are creating a commercial space sphere in China that will turn into a significant part of the nation's space industry."

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn