A cryptocurrency entrepreneur has bought a private space mission from Elon Musk's SpaceX to leave the United States at the end of this year and become the first to fly over both poles with a crew on board.
The mission, which will last between three and five days and carry four people, is part of a new era of private space tourism development, which has grown in recent years in the United States.
Chun Wang is the co-founder of Bitcoin mining companies F2pool and Stakefish. SpaceX describes him as a “Maltese adventurer,” but he only recently obtained his citizenship, having been born and raised in China, according to the American press.
“I have been eagerly awaiting this mission for two and a half years, and a new chapter of space exploration is unfolding before our eyes,” Chun Wang wrote on his X social media account.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told AFP that many spy and weather satellites orbit the poles. Reaching them requires more energy and more radiation, the expert explained.
To date, the largest inclination achieved by a manned spaceflight is that of the Soviet Vostok 6 mission, at 65 degrees relative to the Earth's equator, according to the mission's website. The poles are not visible from the International Space Station (ISS).
The mission, dubbed Fram2 after a Norwegian ship used for polar exploration between 1893 and 1912, will use a SpaceX Dragon capsule equipped with an observation dome and fly at an altitude of between 425 kilometers and 450 kilometers, according to the company.
The other three crew members will be Norwegian director Jannik Mikkelsen, Australian polar explorer and guide Eric Philips, and German robotics specialist Rabih Ruge.
SpaceX said it is set to conduct scientific observations, such as capturing the first X-ray images in space and studying a luminous phenomenon similar to the aurora borealis.
The company has already flown 13 crewed missions in the past four years, flying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. It has also flown several space tourism missions, including the first in 2021, called Inspiration4, funded by American billionaire Jared Isaacman.
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