(Washington) An entrepreneur who made his fortune in cryptocurrency has bought a private space mission from SpaceX, which is set to launch at the end of the year and be the first crewed spacecraft to fly over Earth’s poles.
This mission, which is expected to last between three and five days and carry four people, is part of the development of private space tourism, which has been booming in the United States for several years.
Its commander, Chun Wang, is the co-founder of bitcoin mining companies F2pool and Stakefish. He is presented by SpaceX as a “Maltese adventurer,” but he acquired this nationality recently after being born and raised in China, according to the American specialized press.
“I have been looking forward to this mission for two and a half years now,” Chun Wang wrote on X. “A new chapter in space exploration is unfolding before our eyes.”
Many satellites, spy or weather, move in a polar orbit, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told AFP. But reaching it requires more power and the radiation is a priori greater, the expert said.
To date, “the highest inclination achieved by a manned spaceflight is that of the Soviet Vostok 6 mission, at 65°” relative to the plane of the equator, according to the mission’s website, and the poles are not visible from the International Space Station (ISS).
The mission has been named Fram2, after a ship that was used for polar exploration. It will use a SpaceX Dragon capsule, equipped with an observation dome. The ship will fly at an altitude of between 425 and 450 km, according to billionaire Elon Musk’s company.
The other three crew members will be a Norwegian filmmaker, Jannicke Mikkelsen, an Australian who has explored the poles as a guide, Eric Philips, and a German robotics researcher, Rabea Rogge.
Scientific observations are planned, such as taking the first X-ray images in space and studying a luminous phenomenon resembling auroras, according to SpaceX.
The company has already flown 13 manned missions in the past four years. It transports NASA astronauts to the ISS, but has also carried out several space tourism missions, including the first in 2021, named Inspiration4, funded by American billionaire Jared Isaacman.
“Until 2021, space missions were the preserve of governments,” Chun Wang said. “Then Inspiration4 came along and changed everything.”
Another private mission, Polaris Dawn, is scheduled to launch on August 26, carrying four crew members, including Mr. Isaacman, in the first private spacewalk.