Branson Wants to Fly Space Tourists into the Northern Lights

by Ian O'Neill on January 7, 2008

The high altitude aurora as viewed by the ISS crew (NASA)
For his next big plan for the private space industry, Richard Branson is thinking up new ways to excite affluent space tourists: flying them into the biggest lightshow on Earth, the Aurora Borealis. Although the New Mexico Virgin Galactic Spaceport isn’t scheduled for completion until 2010, the British entrepreneur is already planning his next project intended for cruises into the spectacular space phenomenon from an Arctic launchpad.

Located in the far north of Sweden (in the Lapland province), the small town of Kiruna has a long history of space observation and rocket launches. The Arctic location provides the town with unrivalled views of the Aurora Borealis as it erupts overhead. The Auroral lightshow is generated by atmospheric reactions to impacting solar wind particles as they channel along the Earth’s magnetic field and down into the thickening atmospheric gases.

Once a view exclusive only to sounding rockets, this awe inspiring sight may in the future be seen from the inside, and above, by fee-paying space tourists as they are launched into space from a new spaceport, on the site of an existing base called Esrange. Although launching humans into an active aurora holds little scientific interest (if it did, it would have probably been done by now), it does pose some prudent health and safety questions. As Dr Olle Norberg, Esrange’s director, confidently states: “Is there a build-up of charge on the spacecraft? What is the radiation dose that you would receive? Those studies came out saying it is safe to do this.” Phew, that’s a relief.

The chance to actually be inside this magnificent display of light will be an incredible selling point for Virgin Galactic and their SpaceShipTwo flights. As if going into space were not enough, you can see and fly through the atmosphere at it’s most magnificent too.

Source: The Guardian Unlimited

Tagged as: aurora, borealis, ionosphere, magnetosphere, solar wind, Space Tourism, spaceshiptwo, virgin galactic

  • Eduardo P.D.

    Its interesting.

    Yet there should be research regarding to radiation dosimetry and tissue damage due to the increase in radiation exposure that this phenomenon carries with it.
    Based on that the respective shielding protection, time of flight and extra protection should be assessed so that the safety of the passengers are always ensured at all times.

    Its not just a question of building a rocket ship and flying etc because thats easy.

  • illiterate_chimp

    Forget Safety, this is awesome! I can’t wait untill the price comes down and a poor slob like me can try.

  • MDB

    Uh huh. Buliding and flying rocket ships is easy.

    Idiot.

  • goose

    oh for petesakes branson has the funds to take him to the moon to heck with the tourest do something that we all know the united states did not..he could clame it for himself just think a virgin moon

  • http://www.cosmologytrust.blogspot.com vidyardhi nanduri

    www [dot] universetoday [dot] com/2007/12/21/magnetic-ropes-connect-the-northern-lights-to-the-solar-wind/#comment-5800
    MAGNETIC CONNECT THE NORTHERN LIGHTS TO THE SOLAR WIND
    This discovery comes just in time to light up Christmas: new observations of the Northern Lights – a spectacular phenomenon that lights up the night sky – show them to be more intricate than previously thought.
    The Northern Lights were observed by NASA’s Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS), a system of ground cameras and five orbiting micro-satellites that work in combination to observe the phenomenon better than with a single satellite. This allowed scientists to map and understand the mechanisms of the Northern Lights better than before by giving them a 3D picture of the events.

    The Northern Lights – or Aurora Borealis – occur when charged particles coming from the Sun interact with the Earth’s magnetic field. THEMIS found evidence that there are magnetic “ropes” – long, wound magnetic field lines that resemble the braids of a rope – connecting the Earth’s magnetic field with the solar wind. Particles are channeled through these ropes, which last a short time, and are focused in certain regions, boosting the energy of the Aurora Borealis.
    “THEMIS encountered its first magnetic rope on May 20,” said David Sibeck, project scientist for the mission at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. “It was very large, about as wide as Earth, and located approximately 40,000 miles (70,000 km) above Earth’s surface in a region called the magnetopause.” The magnetopause is where the Earth’s magnetic field meets the solar wind.
    Electromagnetic explosions were also observed by THEMIS at the bow shock of the Earth’s magnetic field. The bow shock is where the magnetosphere bunches up as the Earth travels through space, kind of like how the waves in the front of a boat moving through the water are closer together than those behind the boat.
    Sibeck said of the explosions,”It is where the solar wind first feels the effects of Earth’s magnetic field. Sometimes a burst of electrical current within the solar wind will hit the bow shock and – Bang! We get an explosion.”
    The results were presented at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco this month. THEMIS will continue to observe the Aurora Borealis over the next two years, taking measurements of ions, electrons and electromagnetic radiation in space. Scientists from the US, Canada, Western Europe, Russia and Japan are contributing to the study of Earth’s own Christmas lights.
    Original Source: Nasa Press release/ Earth-Earth observation(Filed under):
    1. vidyardhi nanduri Says:
    December 28th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
    SUB: Earth”s Glow interlinks Magnetic Field-Flow Lines
    Thanks to the above image.
    I have projected this image with due acknowledgements in my key talk
    HINDU COSMOLOGY IN CONSONANCE WITH MODERN SCIENCE- Feb 10 , 2007, Tirupati ,South India.
    All Power Point explanations are available in
    Cosmos Yoga Vision Series-III-Oct 2007 Application Copy rights, USA , Nov 2007
    II>
    SPACE [dot] com
    1.Re: Physics – Crossroads -Interaction-Earth’s glow [re: hayagreeva- author]
    SUB:Earth”s Glow as Index: Cosmic Signatures
    Search following: Earthshine inspires hunt for alien life – by author
    SEE: newscientistspace[dot] com/article/dn9223
    Researchers demonstrated the potential for using Earthshine as a ?practice? case for spotting
    life signs from other Earth-like planets, in a session at this week’s joint assembly of the
    American Geophysical Union in Baltimore, US.
    Leonardo da Vinci is credited as the first to explain the Earthshine effect, which is caused by
    sunlight reflecting off the Earth and illuminating the parts of the Moon that would otherwise be
    in total shadow. Earthshine observations offer a potential window into the role of clouds in climate change. Variations in cloud cover affect Earth’s total reflectivity and so register as slight changes
    in the brightness of Earthshine from month to month.

    2.Annexure EARTH’S GLOW AS INDEX TO COSMIC SIGNATURES (Vidyardhi Nanduri)
    Notes: These discussions are included in my latest book- Cosmos Yoga Vision series-IV- HEART OF UNIVERSE TO DYNAMIC FUNCTION- COSMOS QUEST PART i- BY Vidyardhi Nanduri(Dec 2007), Application Copy rights-USA-
    Cosmology Vedas dialogues are included here

  • George Waring

    I wish they would finish one job before they start yapping about the next.

  • Pingback: Take flight in to the Northern Lights | Decomodo

  • http://www.yogagurupro.info/ SamudraMadhanaya

    Of course, what a great site and informative posts, I will add backlink – bookmark this site? Regards, Reader.

  • Pingback: Will There be a Hawaiian Spaceport? | Astroengine.com

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