While Elon Musk and Sir Richard Branson spend billions of dollars trying to perfect spaceships that will someday spark a space tourism race, one San Francisco–based company is looking to do it without ever making tourists leave the ground.
Founded in 2015, SpaceVR’s idea is a novel one: send satellites armed with 360-degree cameras into low earth orbit and beam back live feeds of space, so that the average Joe can experience space travel from the comfort of his virtual reality device. Just imagine slipping on your VR goggles and floating through space—no need for the protein pill or helmet. (David Bowie would be proud.)
SpaceVR has already done a weather balloon test in space to demonstrate what a virtual reality experience might look like for early adopters (one-year subscriptions can be pre-ordered for just $35, while lifetime ones are going for $99).
Is this legit, you ask? The company recently announced a deal with NanoRacks to send the world’s first VR camera satellite into space. So it looks like they may well leave the Musks and Bransons of the world in the dust.
For more information on the project, click here. Take a look at the video of the weather balloon test flight below (click and drag on the video’s screen to get the full 360-degree experience).
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