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Re: Capsule that could take Singaporean into space unveiled

Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 11:36 am
by Hardwarezone
Not really a breakthrough ... as the Airforce's F15 jet can reach that height in 5 minutes.

Re: Capsule that could take Singaporean into space unveiled

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2014 11:48 am
by Airconvent
The idea is to to go into space but to reach high enough to see the dark space in the daytime and the curvature of the Earth.
But at 20km, I don't think it qualifies as "near space: yet since that boundary is recognized as at 100 km. Most amateur experiments to take photos high up reach about 31km but that is when the ballon will expand so much and burst, so I guess the company play it safe by keeping to 20km. That's about 9km above commercial airplanes though. Unlike the Virgin spacecraft that is inherently dangerous due to the rocket, this one is passive. Only risk I see is that it will be tethered to a cable and not sure how turbulent winds will affect it and what happens if it breaks free of the tether and continue to rise. If the pilot activates the parachute, where will it land since it is descending without control ?

Image - Image from Straits Times Online dated 1 Nov 14.

Also, from the picture, I hope that is a mockup as I don't see any windows! :)