Zero 2 Infinity

Zero 2 Infinity is a Barcelona, Spain-based aerospace company founded in 2009 developing two complementary near-space and orbital access services: high-altitude scientific balloon flights carrying payloads and passengers to the stratosphere (~40 km), and the Bloostar orbital launch vehicle — a rockoon (rocket launched from a stratospheric balloon) designed to deliver small satellites to low Earth orbit at significantly lower cost than conventional ground-launched rockets.

Zero 2 Infinity's near-space balloon program, branded as 'bloon', targets both scientific payload hosting and commercial space tourism experiences — carrying customers and experiments in a pressurized gondola suspended beneath a helium balloon that ascends over four hours to approximately 36-40 km altitude, where passengers experience the curvature of the Earth against the black sky of space (though technically below the Kármán line at 100 km).

The stratosphere at these altitudes offers near-vacuum conditions beneficial for atmospheric science instruments, microgravity-analogous environments for biology experiments, and views that have been valuable for marketing experiences for brands (Red Bull, luxury goods companies) seeking the visual imagery of near-space. The balloon approach is gentler than rocket flight — no vibration, no high g-forces — making it accessible to non-astronaut passengers and fragile scientific instruments.

The Bloostar orbital launch vehicle concept is the company's more ambitious program. Rather than launching from the ground, Bloostar is carried to high altitude beneath a balloon before igniting its rocket engine — gaining several significant performance advantages: launching above approximately 99% of atmospheric mass (eliminating drag losses), allowing launch from any location on Earth (not fixed to a ground launch site), and reducing the rocket's structural requirements since it need not survive high-dynamic-pressure ascent through the lower atmosphere. Bloostar uses a toroidal (donut-shaped) rocket engine configuration and is designed to deploy CubeSats and small payloads into LEO.

Competitors in rockoon launch concepts include Interstellar Technologies (Japan) and Sanborn Space, while in the near-space tourism balloon market World View Enterprises and Space Perspective are building similar stratospheric passenger balloon services. Zero 2 Infinity's Barcelona base gives it access to Spanish industrial ecosystem and ESA's ESAC facilities.