With the Chinese government introducing a host of favorable policies and measures to boost the country's commercial space sector, a company has unveiled an ambitious plan to offer paying passengers short journeys into space.
At a business presentation on Thursday in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Lei Shiqing, founder and CEO of Beijing InterstellOr Human Spaceflight Technology, said that her company has been working on the research and development of its CYZ-1 manned spaceship that can promise paying passengers a "safe, comfortable and affordable" experience of suborbital flight.
According to InterstellOr, the CYZ-1 will consist of two major parts — a crew module and a standby escape capsule. The spacecraft will have a weight of about 8 metric tons, a diameter of 4 meters and an inner space of 21 cubic meters. The crew module will have six seats, a hatch and several viewport windows.
The CYZ-1 will be lifted by a small carrier rocket and then separate at an altitude of about 70 kilometers. The craft will then continue flying outward on inertia and cross the Karman Line — at an altitude of 100 kilometers above sea level and commonly regarded as the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. The vessel will be capable of reaching as high as 200 km above Earth, but will not enter into orbit.
After providing about three minutes of weightless experience to travelers, it will descend toward Earth and reenter the atmosphere.
In the final stage of its 20-minute flight, the craft will unleash several giant parachutes to allow for a soft touchdown on a landing site, according to the company.
Zhang Minjie, chief designer of CYZ-1, said at the event that his spaceship will feature some new technologies and will be reusable.
"We have used new technologies in its escape, reentry and landing systems to reduce the craft's overall cost and give our passengers a nice trip. We will carry out a lot of ground tests to verify its capability and safety," he said.
Before joining the private company, Zhang worked at the China Academy of Space Technology and took part in the research and development of the nation's new-generation crewed spaceship.
InterstellOr plans to conduct two unmanned test flights of the spacecraft before the end of 2028 and then carry out the first crewed flight, according to Lei.
More than 20 seats on the first few CYZ-1 flights have been booked by Chinese businesspeople, an actor and a distinguished scientist, the company said, noting that each ticket costs 3 million yuan (about $430,000). It did not disclose if all of these passengers needed to pay for their seats.
Lei said her company also plans to build the CYZ-2 model which can be used to take tourists to higher positions, reaching a low-Earth orbit. Its maiden manned flight is expected to take place around 2032, according to the businesswoman.
Last week, InterstellOr performed a test of the landing-buffering system to be used on the CYZ-1, and achieved "satisfactory results".
Examinations after the test confirmed a smooth buffering sequence, an intact capsule structure, and fully functional onboard equipment, indicating that the system is reliable, according to InterstellOr.
