Automatically Inflating Martian Balloon

Phrogman writes "SpaceRef has exclusive coverage of a new method of automatically inflating a balloon in the Martian atmosphere to permit probes to help explore the planet. These balloons using a newly discovered technique to automatically inflate based on a combination of a volatile liquid stored in the balloon itself and the atmospheric pressure on Mars. This appaarently was previously impossible. There is a much better description of the technique in the article, plus a 60 second video (in Real format) of a test inflation in Earth's Atmosphere conducted at 100,000 feet (a similiar atmospheric pressure to that of Mars). Very interesting stuff that might offer Nasa some better options for really exploring Mars."

Comments

The conquering of mars

[jjr]

What I would like to see happen is another country or company step up to the call of tring to go to Mars. This will help create some competion so NASA will come up with more great ideas like this one. I would like to to another great space race.

New Physics?

[Spurious George]

These balloons using a newly discovered technique to automatically inflate based on a combination of a volatile liquid stored in the balloon itself and the atmospheric pressure on Mars. This was previously impossible apparently.

Man, don't you just hate it when NASA screws with the laws of Physics?

--
while ( !universe->perfect() ) {
hack (reality);

Re:New Physics?

[Phrogman]

All right, so it was badly worded. (I'd say so sue me, but who knows someone might...) I should have said something like "previously this required a much less cost effective solution involving pressurized gases to inflate the balloon, now apparently it can be done with a much more easily transported unpressurized liquid which changes to a gas under the conditions in the Martian atmosphere". You get that into a 5 word sentance if you can.

Re:New Physics?

[darkonc]

..... This was previously thought impossible.

Former NASA engineer...

[Dr Caleb]

A man walks into a Silicon Valley pet shop to buy a monkey. The store owner shows him three monkeys and explains, "The one on the left costs five hundred dollars." "Why so much?" the customer wants to know.

"Because," the shopkeeper explains, "he can do computer programming in C."

"What about that monkey?" the man asks indicating the next animal. "He costs fifteen hundred dollars because he knows how to program in Visual C++ and Object-Relational technology."

The startled patron then inquires about the third monkey. "He's worth three thousand dollars," the store owner replies. "Three thousand dollars!" The man exclaims. "What can he do?"

"To be honest," the merchant confesses, "I've never seen him do a thing, but he says he used to work for NASA."

Re:inflation..... uh yes?

[deglr6328]

what are you talking about. the mars pathfinder mission in 97 that used a parachute then a ballon to bounce land worked fantastically. the mars polar lander last year used conventional rocket firings and parachutes to slow down.....supposedly anyway.

Ballons have already been to other planets.

[deglr6328]

In 1985 the Soviet Union's "Vega 1" probe, while on it's way to Halley's comet flew past Venus and dropped off a Venera style lander and a balloon to investigate the Venusian middle cloud layer. The balloon floated in the atmosphere for about 48 hours at an altitude of 54 km. they repeated the trick with Vega 2 only 4 days later. of course they weren't passively inflated with the evaporation of a volatile liquid like the one in the article, if I remember correctly I think they had to take along their own pressurized tanks.

Re: heres a great JPL site on the mission.

[deglr6328]

http://robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/aerobot/studies/vega_ detail.html

chock full o' detail!!

Self Inflating

[Perdo]

Great, now we have self inflating Martian atmospheric research probes. Of all the geeks ever seen on /. these guys REALLY need girlfriends. I wonder if the cameras will have blue tinted peripheral vision (viagra). These guys could have made a round balloon but chose a sausage shape instead.

mars too!

[Anonymous Coward]

This self-inflating balloon test experiment was actually the product of a company called Pioneer Astronautics, which was merely funded by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NOT NASA.

In fact, the head of the experiment was a Dr. Robert Zubrin, whom has spearheaded a humans-to-Mars program for the past 10 years, which has gotten a lot of folks down at NASA excited.

Anyone who is interested should check out these sites:

http://www.marssociety.org
http://www.marshabitat.com/

A message from my lawyer.

[Black Parrot]

Dear NASA,

This is to inform you that my client, Black Parrot, holds the patent on one-click balloon inflation.

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Private enterprise?

[Iron Sun]

SpaceDev claim to have developed a standard Mars microprobe architecture that they will sell for about $24 million. NASA is apparently looking at it for their proposed Mars Network, a combined GPS (APS=AreoPositioning System?) and communications network. It could also be used to place 2-3 small landers/balloons/etc into Mars' atmosphere. The design is meant to be launched as a secondary payload on launchers such as Ariane 5, and use Earth/Moon gravity assists and Mars aerobraking to get it there. Spacedev will sell it to any interested party, and CEO Jim Benson said "You say things aren't happening fast enough with NASA's current Mars Exploration Program. Then decide what you want to send to Mars, get a sponsor, and just do it! Inner planet missions like this one can now be done for about the cost of a private jet or mega-yacht" How about it, Mr Gates?

New discovery!

[KFury]

Looks like someone at NASA discovered what happens when you fill a balloon with baking soda and vinegar...

Kevin Fox

Looks like NASA is learning to blow...

[mmaddox]

...after all these many months of simply sucking.

Less sun?

[Shotgun]

It seems this technique requires the sun to heat the bag to cause the liquid to boil. Would this technique work at Mars which is further away from the sun? I realize they tested the balloon in similar temperature conditions (-50C), but how do you test for less solar energy? Make half the balloon white?

Re:Less sun?

[cybercuzco]

I work at NASA Godard spaceflight center, where alot of testing like this is done, we actually can control all of the environmental conditions a spacecraft is likely to encounter (except zero G of course) What i suspect was done is that they put the baloon in a completely dark chamber, lowered the temperature, then shone a light on it with the same intensity as average martian sunlight. This was all done in an isolated chamber im sure at martian atmospheric pressure and composition as well. Its not like they took it to antarctica and released it to check to make sure it would work, although it is plausible that they could have done this additionally, but not as their sole testing.

Re:Less sun?

[Shotgun]

They released the balloon at 100,000 feet.

At least that was what the article claimed.

Venus

[cybercuzco]

Whats interesting is that this would also work on Venus, just fill the baloon with water, and as it drops below the point where water boils, the baloon expands lifting it back to where the water recondenses back down. Done right, and with enough baloons, this could actually cool venus down, at least to the point where the temperature is no longer above boiling.