DailyDirt: High-Flying Balloons FTW!
Before the Wright brothers and planes, people had actually flown in hot air balloons as early as 1783. Those early balloons didn't travel that far -- just a few miles or a couple dozen miles if the balloons were filled with hydrogen. Blimps (aka airships) were somewhat common in the early 1900s, but obviously that mode of transportation didn't really stick around after the spectacular demise of the Hindenburg. Perhaps we're due for a comeback for more advanced balloons now?
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- World View's commercial balloon rides at high altitude are a relatively cheap way to get close to the edge of space. They've successfully tested the first parafoil at stratospheric heights, and this near-space vehicle will also carry scientific equipment for unmanned missions to the upper atmosphere. [url]
- NASA is developing scientific "super-pressure" helium balloons that can last for months in the upper atmosphere. It's not easy to keep a balloon aloft for that long, but NASA is still working on it to float telescopes above the clouds without an expensive rocket launch. [url]
- The BLAST telescope was designed to hang from a high altitude balloon, and it's successfully gathered data on star formation. Unfortunately, the telescope was badly damaged in one of its landings, but it was repaired to fly again in 2010 for 9 days. [url]
- Google's (or Alphabet's) Project Loon has balloons that can fly for well over 100 days -- and some have even lasted over 200 days. These balloons need to survive high altitudes and cold temperatures, and hopefully they'll start to deliver reliable wireless broadband internet soon. [url]
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