Iwatani Giken

Iwatani Giken (also known as Iwaya Giken) is a Japanese firm positioning itself in the space tourism market by developing high-altitude balloon travel. The company was founded in April 2016 by CEO Keisuke Iwaya, who began developing the concept in 2012 while studying aerospace engineering at Hokkaido University. Iwaya's childhood fascination with space led him to pursue a more accessible method than rockets, identifying gas balloons as a viable solution for bringing the experience of viewing Earth from the stratosphere to a broader audience.

The core of the business is a reusable, helium-powered balloon designed to carry a two-person airtight cabin to an altitude of 25 kilometers (about 15 miles). This altitude, while not technically outer space, is high enough for passengers to observe the curvature of the Earth and the darkness of space. The entire experience is slated to last approximately four hours, comprising a two-hour ascent, an hour of viewing in the stratosphere, and a one-hour descent. The business model is centered on selling these stratospheric flights to private individuals, initially priced at around 24 million yen (approximately $164,000 USD) per passenger. Iwaya Giken has expressed a long-term goal of significantly reducing this cost to make the flights more accessible. The company has partnered with major Japanese travel agency JTB Corp. to handle commercial trip arrangements.

The service is designed to be "safe, economical, and gentle," requiring no intensive training for its passengers. The two-seat cabin, measuring 1.5 meters in diameter, is a drum-shaped plastic vessel with large windows for viewing. Significant milestones include a successful unmanned launch to 25km in May 2021, a test flight carrying a hamster to 23km in June 2022, and the first human-crewed test flight reaching an altitude of 6km in July 2023. The firm has raised approximately ¥2 billion in total funding from a variety of investors, including Incubate Fund, Toyota Boshoku Corporation, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, which supports its ongoing research, development, and manufacturing efforts at its facilities in Sapporo and Ebetsu.

Keywords: space tourism, high-altitude balloon, stratospheric flight, Keisuke Iwaya, near-space travel, Earth observation, balloon capsule, private spaceflight, helium balloon, JTB Corp., democratize space, Sapporo startup, aerospace engineering, stratospheric tourism, reusable balloon, space viewing, high-altitude travel, cabin technology, space venture, commercial space travel