You've probably heard by now that Chinese
balloon was not researching the weather.
The Biden administration says it was
equipped to spy to collect intelligence
signals as part of a huge military linked
aerial spy program using a fleet of balloons
that targeted more than 40 countries.
The State Department said the balloon
had multiple antennas and an array
that was likely capable of collecting
communications and then being able
to locate where those came from.
The balloons also had solar panels
large enough to run multiple active
intelligence sensors,
so there's a lot to it.
To learn a bit more about balloons and
the airspace that they operate in,
we're going to turn to a Tillamook
based company called near Space.
Now I had no idea they existed,
but they are on the cutting edge of
the balloon based research and they
routinely work with NASA and their
Jet Propulsion Lab and the European
Space Agency shows you what I know.
They sent me this video from a
project they did two years ago.
They began preparing to launch.
Balloon at night so that they can be ready
for the best time of the day to launch,
which they tell me is right around dawn here,
they're preparing to test the parachutes
that would help a Rover land on Mars.
The company's president is Kevin Tucker.
He told me near space started
about 28 years ago and has been
in Tillamook more than 20 years.
We're over in Tillamook because we're on a
former Naval Air Station site with a huge
blimp hanger that we occasionally use.
The Port of Tillamook Bay owns all
that as well as the property we own,
and they're a phenomenal partner.
The other major reasons we're over here
are the airspace is extremely empty.
There's no commercial air traffic
routes over here.
We have direct access to the
open ocean and the Department of
Defense airspace offshore.
The other reason it is absolutely gorgeous.
We're in a great place to live.
So I I think he's sidelines for the Chamber
of Commerce there in that video he sent me,
the company is sending a balloon up high
into the atmosphere, 100,000 feet up.
That's way above the 30 to 40,000
feet where most planes fly.
Then they'll drop the payload and see
if the parachutes work properly and do
enough to slow the fall from that height.
And by the way, these balloons,
they're big, really big, as tall as
a five story building in some cases.
And there's almost no guessing,
he says when it comes to where
the balloon will go,
which I think is helpful to know.
When you think about that Chinese balloon.
You continually do weather updates.
We model the flight
trajectories of the balloon.
So whereas like if you go in a
hot air balloon, you may not know
exactly where you're going to go,
you generally know where you're going to
go or you hope with these type systems,
once we get out of the ground effects
weather at thirty 40,000 feet,
we have a very high level of predictability.
So we check trajectory models,
we know very accurately where the
balloon will go and where we'll
be conducting the test exercises
and then control the sense.
We have to coordinate all of
that with the FAA.
In advance and at the time
of the flight test itself.
So we have a lot going on.
And then it comes up to the point
of where you're everything lines
up and you're ready to launch.
And you want that time frame to be
right in that calm of the morning when
the ground winds are at the lowest.
That also gives us the entire
daylight period to run the operation,
go get things as they return to Earth,
etcetera.
Another project that they're working
on that I think is really fascinating,
involves flying a balloon
through the atmosphere of Venus.
Of course, never been done before.
They did fly a test last summer.
But yes, we are working with the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory on a balloon system
which can not orbit because that's higher,
but actually fly using the winds around
Venus to descend into the atmosphere of
Venus and be able to do scientific research
on both the atmosphere and the surface.
So that requires that the balloon
be able to exist in a atmosphere
that's mostly sulfuric acid.
It's very dense.
And there is a very,
very large difference in the temperature
between the Venus Day and night.
So pressure changes directly with
temperature. So with the balloon,
that's something you have to account for.
So that balloon system does have
what we call altitude control or the
ability to vary the the buoyancy
to compensate for those things.
I don't know why,
but I think that is so cool.
Now to the Chinese spy balloon,
Tucker said he doesn't really
have any inside information,
but he does know about
flying a research balloon.
They are slow,
but as he said earlier,
pretty predictable.
Yeah. An important thing about balloons
is is actually their elegance.
They go with the wind always.
They we jokingly refer to.
It's a it's a mock 0 technology.
So the as soon as you enter the you know,
you become free.
Loading you leave the ground
and let go of it.
The system is going to go wherever
the wind is moving and as you get
higher into the stratospheric winds,
there's a very high level of
predictability and modeling and
forecasting where those are going to go.
So you can model trajectories
with a fairly good amount of
accuracy at least several days out.
But the point is,
is the balloons are going to
go where the winds take them.
The technologies that you don't on
board typically have things like
propellers or jets to to steer.
Left or right,
what you can do is in some cases
adjust the altitude the balloon is at,
knowing if there are different winds
in different directions and you want
to catch those so that that is a
way you can essence steer the balloon.
However,
that means there has to be
communication with the system to
do that and also enough technical
capability to adjust the buoyancy
of the balloon system in order
to go to the right altitudes.
So for one to be off course
during a short flight, not lucky,
but Tucker says a longer flight, you know,
maybe because the winds could change.
I hope that gives you at least
some insight into what's possible
with these high tech balloons.
And I know that I learned a lot and
now feel even more comfortable not
buying the Chinese suggestion that
they had a weather balloon that
just kind of drifted off course.
I'd love to hear your thoughts as well.
Did you learn something too?
What did you learn?
Are you still skeptical?
Or more skeptical,
tell us what you think.
Send an e-mail to the story at
kgw.com or call and leave a voicemail.
The number is
503-226-5090.