Branson Wants to Fly Space Tourists into the Northern Lights
Written by Ian O'Neill
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
Filed under: Space Tourism
Tags: aurora, borealis, ionosphere, magnetosphere, solar wind, Space Tourism, spaceshiptwo, virgin galacticRelated stories on Universe Today
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January 7th, 2008 at 11:41 am
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.
January 7th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
[...] want to see Aurora Borealis from space… Posted in Uncategorized [...]
January 7th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Forget Safety, this is awesome! I can't wait untill the price comes down and a poor slob like me can try.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Uh huh. Buliding and flying rocket ships is easy.
Idiot.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:58 am
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
January 8th, 2008 at 2:23 am
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
January 8th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I wish they would finish one job before they start yapping about the next.
January 9th, 2008 at 7:36 am
[...] SPACE – More on Space Tourists [...]
January 9th, 2008 at 9:51 am
[...] stopped the maverick entrepreneur from announcing another equally large scale project. This time Branson wants to fly rich space tourists to watch the most spectacular light show in the universe – the Aurora Borealis, also known as the [...]
January 16th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
[...] cool is that!!! zomg makes me tingle all over with excitement! Clickie for Moore! Posted in Space Travel, History, Aviation, Cool Stuff | | January 17th, [...]
January 24th, 2008 at 9:57 am
[...] more info, check out this article from Universe Today. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Tourists in space?!", url: [...]
February 7th, 2008 at 9:03 am
[...] [Via Universe Today] [...]
February 16th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Of course, what a great site and informative posts, I will add backlink – bookmark this site? Regards, Reader.
February 17th, 2009 at 5:42 am
[...] runways) and possibly Virgin Galactic? Richard Branson is making moves to launch passengers through the Aurora Borealis from the Swedish town of Kiruna, why not launch passengers from a tropical location too? Makes perfect [...]
February 17th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
[...] runways) and possibly Virgin Galactic? Richard Branson is making moves to launch passengers through the Aurora Borealis from the Swedish town of Kiruna, why not launch passengers from a tropical location too? Makes perfect [...]