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neilsox
Guest
Featured today on the home page of space.com was a balloon launch from Sweden likely the next few weeks. Perhaps more important than the telescope data, balloon technology is advancing. Still far short of wildly optimistic projections by JP Aerospace and their proposed Deep Sky Station. The balloon is big = to a cube of helium almost 400 feet on an edge (bigger at altitude) that carries two tons to an altitude of 23 miles for 6 days, at a cost of $60 to $80 million dollars.
CNT with great specs should make the balloon less fragile, much increase the payload, or double the altitude, making many high altitude projects practical. Hydrogen can be used at high altitude as there is not enough oxygen for a fire.
Leakage remains a problem for both hydrogen and helium, otherwise the balloon could circle the Northern Hemisphere several times launched near the Equator. Neil
CNT with great specs should make the balloon less fragile, much increase the payload, or double the altitude, making many high altitude projects practical. Hydrogen can be used at high altitude as there is not enough oxygen for a fire.
Leakage remains a problem for both hydrogen and helium, otherwise the balloon could circle the Northern Hemisphere several times launched near the Equator. Neil