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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.
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.
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
Sending a weather balloon up in the sky is one of my dreams too. I'm not an expert -yet ;) - but I'll give you the things I found out already.. Mistakes may be plentiful, so if anyone can point them out they are free to do so.
;-)
A weather balloon will continue to rise until it pops. Helium is lighter than air no matter the altitude, so ignoring the helium loss and the extra pressure inside the balloon due to the tension of the balloon itself, there is no point of equilibrium. I think you can theoretically create such a point, but it would rise so slowly that it would be unpractical.
So I was thinking to send one up that is already at/near equilibrium at ground level, aided by a second "booster" balloon to get it up in the air fast. The second balloon would either have to pop sooner than the first one, or else it would have to be cut off by the payload at a certain height. This can be done with a glow wire wound around a nylon tether, eg. After that, the fligt duration will be mainly limited by helium seeping out of the baloon, and I have no idea how long it can last.
I'm thinking to put a simple QRP (=low power) HAM transmitter on board, together with a few simple sensors (pressure and temperature readings). Recovery is unlikely, so a GPRS receiver is way to expensive IMO.
I don't know much about the legal aspects, but I doubt some nation will spend mega$$$ to shoot down a 25$ (?) balloon payload if it happens to drift into their territory. And even if they do, I won't care much (unless if they try to send me the bill - but I plan to include Bill Gates' address on the probe just for that reason 8-) ).
A. Coward: Wind speed can vary significantly with elevation, so I want to make measurements quite high
This is the part that has got me puzzled. You want to measure wind speeds high up in the air to assess possible wind turbine placings (you're a bored millionaire or what?), even though you realize ground level wind speed and high altitude wind speeds are unrelated?!? I really don't get it. Also, anemometers won't work, because the balloon is drifting along with the wind, so measured wind speed will be close to zero, even though the balloon can be moving at 100km/h. What you need to measure is the position of the balloon over time, and from that data you can deduce the wind speed.
Also note that wind turbines are placed based on avg. *long term* wind speeds, not on ad hoc measurements from a single balloon. You'll have to make measurements for multiple years.
So, based on all those arguments, I think your idea is majorly flawed, or else I've misunderstood you. Sorry in either case
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
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?
I have done a weather balloon project myself. Sounds like what you wish to do is a zero pressure balloon. You will need to read FAR-101 for regulations regarding free unmanned balloons.
My friend Bill Brown (WB8ELK) has flown more than 200 balloons and has had great success of long term flights with balloons that simply have a pinholes poked in them. One he launched in Alabama a few years ago flew all night and was last heard off the coast of Nova Scotia.
--fatboy
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.