So what exactly is a high altitude balloon anyway?
That’s what we’re talking about on today’s video.
Hey guys, Tory here from Overlook Horizon.
Many people don’t realize the history behind high altitude balloons and how they relate
to today’s society so let’s start with what they are.
A high altitude balloon is a balloon filled with helium, hydrogen or rarely methane
that's released into the stratosphere to an altitude of around 65,000 to 120,000 ft.
This is commonly referred to as “near space” which is an area of the Earth’s atmosphere
between the Armstrong Limit and the Karman Line.
This part of the atmosphere is high enough where no human can survive without a pressurized
suit or cabin, but low enough where there is still a little bit of atmosphere that can
cause drag on satellites or even still provide aerodynamic lift on an airplane, if it travels
fast enough.
Typically, high altitude balloons carry a payload which contain electronic equipment
such as radio transmitters, cameras, and GPS receivers, but they don’t have to.
The first known public experiment with a hydrogen balloon was performed in 1783 by French professor
of physics, Jacques Charles.
Charles spent 5 days filling his balloon in front of a crowd of over 300,000 people, including
Benjamin Franklin.
His balloon flew 12 miles from his launch site in Paris for a flight that lasted about
45 minutes.
Obviously, no electronics were onboard for this flight, but Charles was testing the idea
of using hydrogen as a suitable lifting agent that would pave the way for modern day balloon
flights.
It wasn’t until about a century later
when French meteorologist, Leon Tesserenc de Bort, starting launching hundreds of instrumented
weather balloons meant to study the atmosphere.
Leon was a pioneer in instrumented balloon flights and is credited with discovering and
naming both the troposphere and the stratosphere.
Today, balloons are used for a number of different purposes including measuring weather and atmospheric
conditions, planetary research, engineering education, photography, videography, pollution
monitoring and some are just for fun.
The US National Weather Service alone launches 70,000 weather balloons each
year, generally 2 to 3 times a day from airports and weather stations across the country.
This method of reaching the stratosphere is so cost effective that some people call high altitude ballooning the “poor
man’s space program.”
Each different balloon purpose uses a unique payload package based on its objectives.
The most commonly used payload in the US is the classic radiosonde launched by the US
National Weather Service which can measure altitude, pressure, temperature, humidity,
wind and positioning.
This instrumentation is pretty similar to our balloon flights.
Some specialized payloads have different names, too, like the Ozonesonde or the Ozonosonde, which measures ozone
concentration, a Rawindsone which measures wind speed and direction, Transosondes, BalloonSats
or Super Pressure Balloons which are designed to stay aloft for long durations.
There are also Pilot Balloons or Ceiling Balloons which measure the height of the clouds.
Just recently, high altitude balloon photography has become increasingly popular to obtain some amazing
photos and videos from these higher altitudes.
With the exception of those meant to stay aloft, most high altitude balloons are designed
to travel to a certain altitude, burst, and then parachute safely back to the ground.
We recover, or at least we try to recover, all our payloads since that’s how we obtain
our photos and videos from the flights.
However, the National Weather Service doesn’t typically even try to recover their payloads.
They receive all their data from their radio transmissions, so you could potentially find
one of these payloads during a walk through the woods or a walk on the beach.
Just like our payloads, they usually contain an information label on the outside of the package which contains instructions
on how to dispose of the payload or return the payload to the National Weather Service, if they want it back.
In addition to the National Weather Service, high altitude balloons are also used for research
purposes by space agencies like NASA or ESA and even government or military organizations use them.
These research balloons have been used for measuring atmospheric conditions, planetary
conditions or even carrying onboard telescopes like this 1957 Skyhook balloon.
Private companies are also embracing high altitude balloons.
Google’s Project Loon is working to expand internet access with 4G LTE speeds to remote
areas of the world using high altitude balloons.
Even Red Bull famously sponsored the Red Bull Stratos project where Austrian skydiver Felix
Baumgartner broke the speed of sound with nothing but his body after jumping from an altitude of nearly 128,000
feet.
So what do you guys think of high altitude balloons?
Are there any cool experiments or ideas you have for the use of high altitude balloons?
What else do you want to know about the process?
Let us know in the comments section down below.
As always, thanks for watching this video.
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Thanks again for watching and we'll see you in the next video!