With the investment made by Caixa Capital Risc in the company Zero2infinity, whose main strategic investor is Ultramagic S.A., the second largest manufacturer of balloons worldwide, the trial phase of the Bloon project was completed, and now several at-scale unmanned prototypes have been sent to a distance of 33 kilometers from Earth.
Once the manned trials and the second phase of funding have been completed, zero2infinity plans to offer services of space tourism and scientific missions between 2013 and2015.
The goal is to be able to travel to outer space in a zero-emission vehicle, consisting of a capsule 4 meters in diameter, lifted by a helium balloon 120 meters in diameter. From there, it will be possible to see the curve of the Earth. Flights can now be booked through the corporative web page of bloon.
The founder of Zero2infinity explained his project at the 2010 IMPULSA Forum.
Recently, José Mariano-López Urdiales participated in the SLOW LIFE Symposium, held in the Maldive Islands, where he appeared with other speakers such as Sir Richard Branson to discuss forms of air and space transportation.
Read the interview with José Mariano López-Urdiales that appeared in the newspaper La Vanguardia.