Winds ground space take-off
Singapore’s plan to launch first astronaut has to wait
ALICE SPRINGS: A Singapore company has been forced to cancel plans to launch the first Singaporean astronaut into space – just hours before take-off – due to surprisingly fierce winds.
The technology firm In.Genius was due to launch a piloted capsule using a high-altitude helium balloon from a take-off site in remote outback Australia.
But the firm yesterday was forced to cancel the plan, which has been five years in the making.
The firm’s founder and director, Lim Seng, said that he was not “sad” and would proceed when winds next allow. The next likely date is in April next year.
“It is not a failure,” Lim said. “It is doing the thing right and always having safety in mind, especially now that there is a man involved.
“Why rush? It is silly. We are not governed by the clock.”
An expert on high-altitude ballooning who has been assisting on the project, John Wellington, said the unseasonal high winds could tear the balloon in half. He said the wind was due to be 123 knots (228kph) at a height of 39,000 feet (11,890m), some 16 times stronger than the parachute can withstand.
“The (forecast) wind is incredibly strong, it is incredibly consistent and it is considerably early for this time of the year,” he said.
“We could tear the balloon in half. The only option is to defer to a time when we have predictably better conditions,” he said.
A team has been in place in the town of Alice Springs in central Australia since April 25. But the mission, due to take off about 29km outside the town, will now be aborted. The cancellation came at a cost of “several hundred thousand dollars”, Lim said.
The mission is now unlikely to proceed until next April, when the winds are expected to be favourable.
“The key message here is flight safety,” he said. “We dare to do it and we dare to abort when necessary.”
Lim revealed that the person selected to enter space was a Singaporean air force pilot, Major Yip Chuang Syn, who was selected from among 150 candidates.
“It is known that in this part of the world in May, surface conditions are generally calm. However, at present, they are still too strong to safely launch our very large and delicate helium balloon. At In. Genius, we take safety very seriously and weather factors are non-negotiable.”
Maj Yip, 39, is an F-15 pilot who has been in the air force for 21 years. He said he hopes to become the first Singaporean in space when the project makes another attempt at launching.
“It is something that no Singaporean has ever done before,” he said. — The Straits Times/Asia News Network
Why rush? It is silly. We are not governed by the clock. Lim Seng