baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

chat · 2004-08-08 04:58:46

This is an idea of a cheap way to escape earths atmosphere.

Create a very large balloon filled with hot helium or hydrogen.

A small capsule capable of flying back to its launch point is attached at the bottom of the balloon.

At launch the lift power of the helium or hydrogen, lifts the balloon and capsule to the edge of space.

When the lift of the balloon stops lifting, you compress the contents of the balloon to a tank and expel it as rocket fuel for the final escape from the atmosphere.

This would make for very cheap space flight.

Any thoughts on this idea?

Martian Republic · 2004-08-08 08:16:32

I think some one is already using that idea or some veriation of that idea for there chance at the X-prize. There going there ballon to take there space ship to 80,000 feet and then release there space ship. It would not be practical to suck the helium or hydrogen back into the space craft. This X-prize contestants are out of Canada. But, I don't have a web link to it or know the company name.

Larry,

SpaceNut · 2004-08-09 09:51:20

Here is the link to the http://www.xprize.org/ web site, it has gone though a web page make over.
Listed teams http://www.xprize.org/teams/teams.php

This is one of the teams that has balloon lift that comes to mind.
http://www.xprize.org/teams/canadian_davinci.php

SpaceNut · 2004-08-10 08:27:29

So what effect will the most recent failure of xprize contestants have with the outcome of those that win?

from the astonotes:Aug. 9, 2004 Catch a falling rocket
complete with video and pictures of it
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3217961/

SpaceNut · 2004-08-12 06:32:01

Some good news may be coming out of the destruction of the rubicon.

Forks: National publicity brings acclaim -- and possibly investors' bucks -- to rocketeers building a new Rubicon
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited … tml/170414

"The result: A slew of investors have e-mailed the cash-strapped company, saying they are interested in making an investment in the partners' dream of developing space tourism."

SpaceNut · 2004-08-13 07:34:04

X-prize contestant still in the hunt for the 10 million.

Canadian Arrow Drop Test Scheduled for Saturday
http://www.canadianarrow.com/

http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin....04.html

SpaceNut · 2004-08-18 05:06:11

The Ansari X Prize hopes to do the same for space tourism. Scaled Composites’ chief engineer, Burt Rutan, believes that eventually passengers could experience a brief space voyage at a cost of $30,000 to $50,000 per person, with prices dropping in the long run to $10,000 to $12,000 each.
It is unclear what effect the popularity of the Ansari X Prize will have on U.S. government space spending.

http://www.easttexasreview.com/story.htm?StoryID=1855

SpaceNut · 2004-08-18 12:38:25

• Aug. 17, 2004 | 6 p.m. ET
Space-race updates on the World Wide Web:
• Flight International: Could SpaceShipOne go orbital?
http://www.flightinternational.com/fi_issu....ode=106
• X Prize Foundation: Argentine rocketeers test escape tower
http://www.xprize.com/press_r....0040813
• Masten Space Systems: New entrant in suborbital market
http://masten-space.com/
• The Guardian: Space travel goes sailing
http://www.guardian.co.uk/space/article … 27,00.html

SpaceNut · 2004-08-24 10:29:14

NASA to Use Sweden Balloon Launch Area
NASA to Use Sweden Facility to Launch Scientific Balloons, Prompting Expansion of Property

snipet:
Already a leading launch area for scientific balloons in northern Europe, operations at Sweden's Esrange launch facility will expand next year with NASA's decision to use it for launches of its largest scientific balloons, a spokesman said Tuesday.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040824_777.html

Rxke · 2004-08-24 14:22:32

Com-puh-letely off-topic...

I just increased the default charactersize on my browser, because I misread this topic as "Baboon-launcher" ???

Seriously. I did.

chat · 2004-08-25 17:26:30

Rxke,

I bet you didn't consider the number of bananas it would take to launch.

It could lead to a new space partnership NASA+ CHICITA..
NASICITA.. *lol*

And a new slogan...
We don't monkey around in space.

SpaceNut · 2004-08-31 10:36:28

As we grow nearer to the time when the xprize will be won we need to ask those would be Astronauts to Weigh Acceptable Risk as they prepare for flight.

snipet:
It's a tiny drama in the history of space flight -- an argument between a do-it-yourself Canadian astronaut and doubters alarmed he's about to foolishly expose himself and others to harm by blasting off in a largely untested rocket ship.

http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697, … _tophead_3

SpaceNut · 2004-09-20 05:40:15

This weeks space review talks of the “Near Space”: a new area of operations or a new Pentagon buzzword?

While greater than suborbital but not quite LEO this is a strategic area of space and of military concern for control.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/230/1

SpaceNut · 2004-12-20 11:58:31

While not an xprize idea balloons have been thought of being used for lots of applications. Even the military has had a few thoughts on owning the skys by there presense. It has even been used for other such platforms to view the stars above. While this one is to make a buck from not launching satelites to geo orbit.

Not quite out of this world

Telecommunications: After years of hype, a new, cheaper way to blanket cities with wireless coverage may finally be about to get off the ground.

Next month Sanswire Networks, a company based in Atlanta, Georgia, is planning to launch the first airship satellite, or “stratellite”. Floating in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 20km (13 miles), the airship will behave just like a geostationary satellite, hovering over a particular spot and relaying radio signals to and from the ground. Such airships will, however, be much cheaper to launch and maintain than satellites—and can do things that satellites cannot.

C M Edwards · 2004-12-20 14:39:39

The lower stratosphere just over the tropopause has very calm winds. It should be very easy to maneuver an airship around in, and is still low enough in the atmosphere that gross displacements of several hundred tons are conceivable. It's the perfect place to park a large station or launch platform for a few months at a time, and it offers a few hundred meters per second in potential energy of position.

The same is true of the mesospheric region just over the stratopause, though the thin air at that height supports much less payload.

The only trouble is that anything you put up there has to get across the troposphere, where the winds can be violent enough to rip such a vehicle to shreds. Once in that cozy stratospheric niche, the airship will need to hang on for dear life. An 18 month operating time for such a vehicle might sound optimistic, but it's only a comfortable margin. Midlevel tropospheric winds could be impassable to a large airship for months at a time every year, and no stratospheric airship should go up if it can't stay there for at least an entire season.

SpaceNut · 2019-04-03 18:58:25

bump needs to be fixed

SpaceNut · 2020-09-06 11:19:50

tahanson43206 wrote:

For SpaceNut ... this item would fit in a number of topics that have balloons as a theme...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/french-compa … 00900.html
This is a French company building a dirigible (from the description) for a number of potential customer applications. It was originally designed to move logs for environmentally friendly forest operations, but the team has expanded its vision as well as its staff.
(th)

Its about using but may not do as well on mars but until we bound with numbers we will not know.

Possibly a doughnut ship for launching from a center...

SpaceNut · 2020-11-22 16:39:34

Seems we were onto something as The Mars Aerial Platform Mission: A Global Reconnaissance of the Red Planet Using Super-Pressure Balloons

SpaceNut · 2020-12-07 21:19:35

Tony Robbins invests in space start-up

The normal way to orbit is in
BB1bmgFp.img?h=599&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f

Would you like to fly to the edge of space in a balloon? Tony Robbins is doing his part to make it happen.
The motivational guru is one of a group of investors providing $7 million in seed funding for Space Perspective, the company that plans to send people to the edge of space in a giant balloon.
The financing will be instrumental in the development and early flights of Space Perspective's spacecraft, called Spaceship Neptune, which will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility and fly a pilot and eight passengers to the edge of space and back in a pressurized capsule.
The space balloon promises a comfortable six-hour round-trip flight and the opportunity to see our home planet from an altitude of 100,000 feet, nearly 20 miles above the Earth's surface.

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#1 2004-08-08 04:58:46

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#2 2004-08-08 08:16:32

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#3 2004-08-09 09:51:20

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#4 2004-08-10 08:27:29

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#5 2004-08-12 06:32:01

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#6 2004-08-13 07:34:04

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#7 2004-08-18 05:06:11

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#8 2004-08-18 12:38:25

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#9 2004-08-24 10:29:14

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#10 2004-08-24 14:22:32

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#11 2004-08-25 17:26:30

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#12 2004-08-31 10:36:28

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#13 2004-09-20 05:40:15

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#14 2004-12-20 11:58:31

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#15 2004-12-20 14:39:39

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#16 2019-04-03 18:58:25

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#17 2020-09-06 11:19:50

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#18 2020-11-22 16:39:34

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

#19 2020-12-07 21:19:35

Re: baloon launcher - Cheap way to get to space

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