Spanish company Zero 2 Infinity works a kind of low-end sector of space tourism, planning to put on stream turpreti on the stratospheric heights up to 36 km, where the black sky, the Earth is round, and the stars in brightness almost do not concede to the cosmos.

However, the journey will cost a pretty penny - $143 thousand And business climbs and descents will begin next year.

Why people will pay that kind of money? "Someone wants tweet, " says Jose Mariano Lopez-Urdiales (Jose Mariano Lopez-Urdiales), founder and Director of startup promoting such flights. - Others will want to spread the carpet and pray towards Mecca. Someone's willing to eat their favorite chicken wings, while there [36 km]". That is, what are the benefits for his company, Zero 2 Infinity clear: eccentric Texas millionaires, Arab necesary and Zuckerberg of all kinds, in the opinion of the businessman, will want at least virtually to testify, saying that here was Vasya.

However, passed in November trials stratospheric robot on Board (in the Spanish air force base Virgen del Camino), suggest also thinking about how all of this will benefit the society.

The fact that the stratosphere until very little investigated: manned space flight there was countless times less than in space. But the accident rate is much higher - interest, of course, respect. And all because there is no proven mass (at least short-run) technique. In General, there is a classic vicious circle (no flights " no suitable equipment)that needs to stop. Meanwhile, regular two-hour journey on 36 km (without time the ascent and descent) to help develop it, along with the means for stratospheric research, and possibly balloon communication "satellites"that could partially replace communication satellites.



Not recorded on mere profits and Mr. Lopez-Urdiales. He reasonably believes that even the most eccentric Sheikh does not want to primary mining of the safety was on it as a test. Sent by the Spanish during the November trials on a 32-kilometer height humanoid robot Nao company Aldebaran Robotics, in his opinion, can become a prototype for future humanoid machines, able to conduct experiments in the stratosphere, and work with the scientific equipment in an interactive manner (at first, probably, running scientists on earth). According to the businessman, this approach overcomes the main barrier to testing new stratospheric balloons and scientific work at such an altitude - the barrier of risk to human life, so fragile in the stratosphere.

Prepared according to LiveScience.