Copenhagen Suborbitals are taking a Micromachines view of the commercial space race. They are developing a series of suborbitals that are designed to take a single passenger into space. The company currently has two projects under development: the Hybrid Atmospheric Test Vehicle (unmanned) and the Hybrid Exo Atmospheric Transporter, which will carry a tiny spacecraft into space with a passenger in the nosecone.

From the nosecone, the passenger will have a good view of what is going on, there is a plexiglas dome that will allow him or her to “experience the entire ballistic ride.” As exciting as that sounds, the conditions look to be a claustrophobic nightmare and that upright position doesn’t look like a whole lot of fun. Still, I do like the sound of a one-man Roman candle ride into space.

The company still has a ways to go, but you have to admire the initiative. I am hoping to hear a lot more from Copenhagen Suborbitals in the upcoming months.

The video below shows a test firing of their XLR-2 hybrid rocket engine.

XLR-2 hybrid rocket motor test from Sonny W. on Vimeo.

Figure Legends

Title: Conceptual image of the Hybrid Exo Atmospheric Transporter (HEAT), “designed to carry a micro spacecraft into a suborbital trajectory in space.”
Figure 1: The cramped cockpit of the micro spacecraft.

[Copenhagen Suborbitals via BoingBoing]

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