Slashdot Mirror
Indian Tycoon Sets Balloon Flight Record
GillBates0 writes "The BBC is reporting that Vijaypat Singhania, a textile tycoon, has set a new world record for the highest hot air balloon flight. The 67-year-old took off from Mumbai, India in a 48m(160ft) balloon and flew to a height of 21,290m (69,852ft) breaking the earlier record of 19,811m(64,997ft)."
The pilot relied upon his Pakistani friends to shoot at the balloons to aid in his descent.
Indian Balloon Tycoon?
These sequels to Railroad Tycoon are getting stranger and stranger.
so what would _YOU_ do if you had a gajillion dollars?
Buy a Porsche..?
I'd bet he already has a few of those..
perl -e 'printf("%x!\n",49153)'
richard branson is going to be pissed off
The project was called Mission Impossible 70K (MI70K) and there are some live videos detailing his flight (Flash required) on this site - http://www.mi70k.com/video.htm. The site also carries information about Mr. Singhania and his some other records.
"This goes to show to the world that we are not bullock cart drivers, but we can compete against the best of the world." Aren't Singhania's one of the richest families in India? Money can do anything.
Make your computer faster: rm -rf
Watch Singhania's attempt the world record breaking feat-Live! For latest updates here including record update.
The important thing is not to stop questioning --Albert Einstein.
I spent several nights googling, and couldn't come up with anything definitive. How long can a balloon stay aloft? I don't care about whether it uses hot air, hydrogen, whatever. I'd like to make a balloon that would hold about 5-10 pounds (well, more than that, including the tether), put it on three long tethers, and let it fly as long as possible. The duration it can stay up is important, because I can't go check on it often (I live too far away). I want to loft an anemometer and record wind speeds to assess the viability of erecting wind generators. The good generators are really big, and really tall. And really expensive - a million dollars give or take per turbine. Obtaining financing will require the most reliable energy estimates I can muster. Wind speed can vary significantly with elevation, so I want to make measurements quite high, and a balloon seems like it might be a cheap way to do it. I want to collect data for an entire year, because seasonal fluctuations will significantly impact the viability of such a project. I could relaunch a few times, but if it's a daily event, that becomes problematic.
If you have any expertise in balloons, post an email address, and I will contact you.
A very good source for some perspective is this Wikipedia page on atmospheric heights. Note that the troposphere (illustrated nicely with Mt. Everest just jutting into it, an airplane flying in this layer) only extends up to 17 km (at the equator, lowers as you near the poles - the figure at the right in the Wikipedia page is in miles though, so be careful) -- this guy flew well above that (21 km).
:
So this guy is in the stratosphere, where we see only weather balloons illustrated. The layer above (mesosphere, from about 50 km on) is practically space, it's apparently where meteors burn up. So I guess this guy reached the high stratosphere - for comparison check out that Mount Everest is at 8.84 km elevation!
It's no wonder, then, that from the article (which I actually read, just for you)
He travelled in a pressurised cabin attached to a balloon as high as a 22-storey building.
This "pressurized cabin" is just mentioned once more, in this "quick facts" table:
whoops, sorry, there's once more mention of this enclosure, here are a couple of more paragraphs quoted for you, the appropriate text in bold):
And what the hell, there's so little I didn't reproduce, you might as well have a mirror. (Although I find only the following other fact interesting: "During the ascent, air temperatures plummeted to around -93C (-135F)." And maybe a quote from his wife Asha telling of her relief and joy at the success of the trip: "When I heard that he had broken the record, I became numb in mind and heart". I'm sure there's a funny to be made about that.)
CAREFUL, THERE IS NOTHING ELSE INTERESTING BELOW!!
I don't know. What's the point of plugging in 1000 Linux computers together? What's the point of lighting in PC's? What's the point of MySQL? What's the point of the iPod? This, at least, was a scientific/engineering achievement.
Why does someone always come up with this argument? I think it's very much possible that he's doing it because he's passionate about ballooning and may get some enjoyment out of setting a record. In the same way that people climb mountains, cycle around the world or collect belly button fluff there doesn't need to be a practical application or technology to be improved behind every human endeavour.
You're probably an American.
Well, aren't there people in your country who are billionaires? People who have far more money than they could possibly spend? Well, there are also people who live in abject poverty too.
Tell me, how is that any different?
P.S. The earthquake affected parts of India too.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
How is this impressive, when Joe Kittinger rode a balloon up to 102,800 feet (31.3km) and then parachuted out of it, breaking the speed of sound with just his body?
My point is still valid. Pick any country and you will find people who are shockingly rich and those who are shockingly poor.
Short of forced redistribution of wealth on a massive scale that puts us all on a level playing field, that's always going to be the case, so why make a big deal about this particular case?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
This argument usually comes from people who aren't passionate about anything. It must be exhausting to sit at home every day laughing at and criticizing other people who are out there living life.