Starchaser Industries is working on two concepts for the purpose of Space
Tourism. The near term objective is the creation of a 3 person reusable
space capsule called Thunderstar which will be used for sub-orbital flights
in excess of 100km. The second system is a vertically launched 8 seat
sub-orbital space plane that could be upgradeable for orbital applications.
Both the capsule and the space plane design feature pressurised environments
where the occupants will be further protected by means of Russian Sokol
derived spacesuits. Both spacecraft will also be fitted with a Launch
Escape System (LES); the capsule will make use of a tower system whereas
the space plane will utilise a system located to the aft of the vehicle.
All critical systems will be automated and protected by redundant back
up systems. Taking the above safety features into account, the survivability
from a catastrophic failure of hardware is considered close to 100% and
significantly higher than that offered by contemporary Space Tourism systems.
The frequency of flight for any given capsule or space plane system will
typically be about once per week.
The fully automatic capsule will employ a single pilot, whereas the space
plane will utilise a pilot and co-pilot.
A Starchaser 5 launch vehicle will be used to launch the Thunderstar
capsule whereas an enhanced derivative of Starchaser 5 will be used for
the space plane. Mission duration for the ballistic capsule will be of
the order of about 20 minutes whereas a 100 km sub-orbital flight for
the space plane will be about 40 minutes.
Spaceflight, even sub-orbital spaceflight will never be as routine as
commercial airline travel. A certain amount of training and preparation
will therefore be required to assure passenger safety, reduce passenger
stress and enhance the overall space flight experience.
The price of a sub-orbital spaceflight aboard a Starchaser vehicle is
£98,000 + Tax.
All Starchaser passengers and flight crew will be required to pass a
medical examination. The training component will take about two weeks
and may be spread over several locations. It will include vehicle familiarity
and abort scenarios, parachute training, hypobaric and decompression training,
centrifuge training, safety systems including spacesuit operation, first
aid, radio protocol and survival training.
Starchaser's comprehensive training package, together with the safety
systems that are integral to both the Capsule and Space Plane design,
will make for unique selling points that we feel, competitors will be
unable to match.
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