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More on High-Altitude Balloonists
An anonymous reader writes "The Guardian reports on an attempt at the record for the highest balloon flight. 'A bag of helium the size of the Empire State building to challenge Nasa record.'" We had an article about them a few months ago.
their lives will depend on exquisitely accurate weather forecasts
They're doomed.
I hear that a balloon nearly that size was solely responsible for that hit band of the 1980s, "The Chipmunks."
My journal has hot
Going a long way straight up is not the same as going in to orbit!
<fnord>OBEY</fnord>
...to pack a pellet gun and a brown-bag lunch. After the balloon comes down (after crossing LAX's approach path, of course), the lawn chair used for the flight will be up for auction on eBay.
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Worth noting that the ballon is so large that once airborne it will be visible over a radius of some 600 miles. Its being launched on the south coats of cornwall so most of England, Ireland and Wales and Northern France will be able to see it.
I bet the bastards launch at night though....
-- "Can't sleep, clowns will eat me!"
Their claims are full of hot air.
Someone was gonna say it. You know it.
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The real high-altitude balloon record-holder, surprisingly, was not mentioned in this article.
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
The interesting thing, too me at least, is seeing
the curvature of the earth. When I was a functionally
check flight weapon systems officer for the F-4E some
years ago, I used to see the curvature of the Earth at
50,000 feet. And now, we didn't use pressure suits...
"The two adventurers need cloudless skies, high pressure, gentle winds and a 72-hour forecast in which they can be confident." ..and they're flying from SW England?!!!
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At about 44,000ft, you need to be wearing a pressure suit, because if not the blood will start to heat and actually boil.
It's my understanding that the blood wouldn't actually heat, it would boil because of the lack of pressure. Am I wrong?
"We have done some pretty vivid demonstrations of putting half a pint of water in a decompression chamber and decompressing it to 100,000ft and the water boils and explodes in less than half a second, just disappears. It's scary stuff,"
And this is just scary??
I really hope their pressured suite are going to keep them safe from this....or we will see a really bad picture at their return....
Is anyone beside me asking himself if this adventure is just worth the risk?
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As the balloon rises the atmosphere gets less dense, hence it rises slower. This is why the balloon is so large to enable _some_ lift at 25 miles. This is still not high enought for satellites which are in the 00s of miles altitude.
So it can't replace the shuttle or rockets.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
They're ascending at 1000ft/min with a balloon the size of the Empire State Building, which is as thin as a freezer bag. So one bird strike and they're done right?
No, but if you knew anything at all about chemistry or physics, you'd realize that as the pressure decreases, a liquid can boil even if the temperature stays the same.
That being said, I don't think the water in your blood will actually vaporize at that altitude. However, nitrogen will start to come out of solution and form bubbles in your bloodstream.
The contenders for the 2003 darwin awards are...
Want Ad
-------
Wanted 2 open minded people willing to create scientific history by piloting the world's largest craft to record setting heights. See beautiful scenery of the Earth and heavens not seen by most people.
Fine print
----------
The high-tech craft is really a giant thin walled helium balloon with a small gondola
Inaccurate weather forecast may kill you
Oxygen will be forced into your lungs
Your blood may boil
Your blood may vaporize
You must withstand the terror of impending death for at least 12 hours
Spacesuit made in Russia.
Solid 'low-residue' foods must be consumed before flight
If everything is not perfect, death arrives within 30 seconds.
We are an equal opportunity employer. All are encouraged to apply. Principles only. Do not bring lawyers.
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Bear in mind that their skin and all those other solid bits actually does contribute a bit to maintaining the pressure of e.g. their blood.
This has been borne out by experiments with primates and a few decompression accidents with humans.
Yes, decompression would still kill them, but mostly just as a consequence of asphyxiation (albeit accompanied by very painful swelling). They certainly won't explode.
While they still might look a bit grotesque, there needn't be any worries about having to crack the suits and ladle the corpses into buckets afterwards or anything like that.
DNA just wants to be free...
nasa say that this would not happen and that you can survive for upto a half a minute without ill effects. "You do not explode and your blood does not boil because of the containing effect of your skin and circulatory system. You do not instantly freeze because, although the space environment is typically very cold, heat does not transfer away from a body quickly."
You aren't going to get big payloads into space this way as the heavy balloons can carry on the order of several tons. I'm not sure if, in the end, this would be any cheaper or easier than launching a Pegasus from an airplane.
One thing certainly would be neat is if they used hygrogen in the balloon, that would make quite an impressive fireball then the rocket is ignited.
"However, by diving or "standing up" in free fall, any experienced skydiver can learn to reach speeds of over 160-180MPH. Speeds of over 200MPH require significant practice to achieve. The record free fall speed, done without any special equipment, is 321MPH. Obviously, it is desirable to slow back down to 110MPH before parachute opening."
- http://hypertextbook.com/facts/JianHuang.shtml
How did he get enough speed to break the sound barrier? He would have needed a jet to speed his descent or something like that.
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A bag of helium the size of the Empire State building
Teddy Kennedy is working for NASA now?
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.