Daily Archives: July 10, 2013

Want to go into space for just £25,000? Try the balloon that will fly twice as high as Concorde and take you from Paris to Rome

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Space BalloonA Spanish company plans on offering the ultimate day trip to near-space in two years time – just enough time to start saving for the £95,000 ticket.

During the flight, passengers will be able to stand up and enjoy fantastic panoramic views of Earth, experience weightlessness and even eat a meal if they desire.

The ëblooní is the brainchild of Spanish entrepreneur Jose Mariano Lopez-Urdiales, boss of Barcelona-based Zero2Infinity.

Space tourists will journey to earth’s outer limits in a capsule that can hold six people – four passenger and two pilots.

Annelie Schoenmaker of Zero2Infinity, said: ‘The ride will be very gentle and peaceful as well as environmentally friendly.

‘Passengers will be able to see the sun and the stars at the same time, while looking down on the curvature of the earth.’

Russian adventurer Artemy Lebedev who is one of the few people on the planet to have visited every country, has already signed up for a trip to near-space.

Commercial operations will begin in 2015 but a trip for four people will cost around £95,000.

Ms Schoenmaker said: ‘The experience will be very much like that in an aeroplane although there will be a period of about 30 seconds when passengers will experience weightlessness and will be able to float around the cabin.

Zero2Infinity’s largest pod, which carries six people, has 15 square metres of windows for amazing views of the Earth and space.

The company is currently doing test flights and raising more investment for its new venture.

 

President Sargsyan met with the honorary guests and film industry professionals participating at the Golden Apricot Film Festival

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 Tonight, the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with the honorary guests and film industry professionals from Armenia and different countries of the world who are participating at the 10th International Film Festival in Yerevan.

The participants of the meeting spoke with the President of Armenia about the Golden Apricot’s ten year existence, success, as well as about the nominations of this year’s Festival. They noted with satisfaction that the repute of the Festival is growing by year, the geography of the participants is expanding, and the number of the movies is increasing too.

Russia to use first FLOATING nuclear power plant in just three years to provide energy for hard-to-reach regions

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floating nuclear power plant1Russia will begin to operate the world’s first floating nuclear power plant in just three years time.

The specially-made ship with a nuclear power plant on-board will provide energy, heat and drinking water to relatively inaccessible areas of the vast country.

The director of Russia’s largest shipbuilders, the Baltic Plant, announced that the unique ship should be operational by 2016 at the 6th International Naval Show in St Petersburg.

The first ship will be called Akademik Lomonosov and is intended to be the first of small fleet of floating nuclear plants in Russia.

The Akademik Lomonosov will weigh 21,500 tons and have a crew of 69 people. But it will not have a propulsion system so will have to be towed to the location where it is needed, according to global news service, RT.

It will have two modified KLT-40 reactors that will be able to provide enough energy for a city with 200,000 people.

The floating power plants will be able to be modified and be used as a desalination plant. This means that the ship could produce a staggering 240,000 cubic metres of fresh water every day.

The ship builder insists that the process of fuel enrichment on the floating power station complies with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s regulations.

The firm claims that its floating power station is safe for the environment as it does not release any hazardous substances while it is operating.