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Weather Balloons as Wireless Telephone Technology

Posted by timothy on from the or-is-that-a-trial-balloon dept.

Under the plan described in this article submitted by reader RoscoHead, "Space Data would use un-tethered weather balloons launched daily by the National Weather Service to carry lightweight wireless communications equipment to an altitude of 100,000 feet. There, at the 'SkySite,' they would relay voice and data signals to remote areas at a fraction of the cost of installing cell towers or launching satellites, company officials say."

6 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. reliability and clutter by xtstrike · · Score: 2, Insightful

    im just wondering what the reliability would be, would things "ping out" or people get disconnected if they were not quick enough to launch another balloon? I think relibility is a big thing and with weather being incredibly unpredictable there could be major problems to overcome, balloons going off course, colliding with objects already in the sky. Its a good idea if we could predict with great accuracy the direction in which objects will travel and where they will fall (what goes up must come down), and with over 51,000 launches a year they may need to setup a "balloon traffic control center" just to keep a tag on them all.

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  2. Practical Concerns by scrote-ma-hote · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The article states that the balloons were launched day in, day out. What about the poor weather days where the wind is gusty and fast? Does the cell coverage on those days get lost?

    Over the summer (in the southern hemisphere), I worked to help launch ozone measuring balloons, (same idea, more equipment), and we launched them only in fairly calm conditions. A balloon full of hydrogen is a fairly scary prospect when it's getting blown around. Does this also mean a commercial company will be putting extra pressure on the NWS to launch in potentially unsafe conditions? Scary thought!

    1. Re:Practical Concerns by Gordonjcp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The wind was about 12 m/s that day, if I remember correctly.

      So presumably the hydrogen blew away and dissipated immediately? I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just don't let anyone smoke near the launch site...

  3. Re:Very interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Wouldn't there be even more trouble with a tethered balloon? Can you imagine a 30,000+ ft long cable anchoring the darn thing? That's just dumb. Weather balloon/future comm. balloons will not hang around on commmercial flight levels. Don't be silly. B'sides, those flight levels are in the jet streams for a purpose - hitching a ride and gaining 100+ knots for free! That's NOT where you want your balloon to be.

    About the USAF vs. Balloon story - yup it's true. They tried to shoot it down, but it's too soft for AAM's. Using the cannon was useless - the balloon was at a almost standstill, wich makes you come in FAST, approching in a jet fighter. Hmm, do I see a use of WWI balloons for tactical bombing? Until someone re-invents the FLAK, that is ;-)

    Another thing - this story is at least 4 years old. Maybe NASA just churned out some more precise plans?

  4. Just another symptom... by Alsee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    of our "disposable" society.

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  5. Another company doing the same with blimps by Kwelstr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I was reading just recently about another company researching the same idea, but with solar powered lenticular semi-rigid blimp platforms in geostationary orbit.

    http://www.lvcm.com/walden/products.html#strat

    The pictures look great, they also have cargo and ecoturism lenticular blimp projects.

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