Posted on 10/07/2019 7:44:43 AM PDT by Red Badger
The idea is surprisingly old school. This company wants to modernize it.
Launching into space is more popular than ever. But the big companies often come with big price tags. That allows for smaller competitors to try and break into smaller markets. Leo Aerospace wants to launch microsatellites from a surprising place: hot air balloons. Sending balloons close to the atmosphere has some history in the military, but reusability is a big challenge for the group. So is funding.
The second space race is in full effect. And while well-heeled organizations like SpaceX and Blue Origin often hog the headlines, there are a number of smaller companies looking to make headway in niche areas of the space economy. One of them is Leo Aerospace, which wants to meet the increasing demand for orbital launches with hot air balloons.
According to Leo's website, the company is a "dedicated delivery service for microsatellites" looking to enter what's known as low Earth orbit (LEO). A Leo ballon would escort a satellite weighing up to 25 kilograms, or around 55 pounds. When the balloon reaches the right altitude, these satellites would use the balloon as a launching pad, rocketing only 11 miles into space.
With 95 percent less atmosphere at these heights, there's significantly less drag than at Cape Canaveral. Such a launch would require less fuel.
“We at Leo believe it should be as easy to put a microsatellite into space as it is to ship a package across the country,” says Leo CEO Dane Rudy in a press statement. “There will be no more need for ridesharing or hitchhiking.”
The concept isn't a new one.
“We found this really elegant solution that was actually tested in a rudimentary way in the 50s by the Air Force, which is launching rockets from an aerostat—a balloon," Rudy tells TechCrunch. Known as Project Excelsior, the project resulted in Air Force Capt. Joseph Kittinger making three jumps from a balloon gondola in 1959 and 1960, with the highest one coming from a then-record height of over 102,000 feet. Excelsior's gondola currently sits in the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
“It actually worked really well for what it was designed for. The issue they ran into was that the U.S. shifted toward sending people to the moon—so there just wasn’t a need for that technology in the Apollo program. But the rise in small satellites has created a huge demand tailored to these capabilities,” Rudy says.
There are a few differences between Project Excelsior and what Rudy wants to accomplish with Leo. Chief among them is reusability; Excelsior's balloons were built to be used once. If Leo wants to be profitable, it needs to get more out of its balloons.
“That was one of the big problems we had to solve—the expense of the balloon itself; helium is expensive, and the envelope [i.e. the balloon material] is expensive and fragile,” says Rudy. “How do we make that zero stage, as we call it, reusable?”
The team is using tough nylon as the answer, similar to what conventional hot air balloons use today.
Right now, the big problem Leo faces is funding. No matter how cheap space flights can get, they're still really expensive. The company is hoping to raise $8 million to fund the company over the next two years.
Suggested: Perfect launch site, the US Capital building!
Fuel is abundant.
Interesting topic. Which brings us to
your Ear-Worm of the Day;
“99 Luftballons”, a song by Nena!
How about the top of Mt Everest or Mt McKinley? Or is that not enough to matter?
Interesting!
They stole my idea; I was talking about this 20 years ago.
Using balloons, instead of satellites, would work around the problem of the junk accumulating in low earth orbit. Maybe one day we won’t have a choice; it’s getting to be a terrible mess up there.
I remember when PM had great ideas.
Long gone.
How big of a hot air balloon do you need to lift a fully loaded and fueled rocket?
REALLY, really, really big.
NASA Glenn Research Center Balloon Mission Launch
The mission shown here was the Stratospheric Terahertz Observatory (STO), launched on January 15, 2012 from Antarctica. It studied large dense molecular clouds in the southern sky of the Milky Way.
Lots of videos...satellite balloon launch
Crashes too...
Huge NASA Science Balloon Crashes in Australian Apr 30, 2010
Note the dates.
Pelosi is full of hot air.
Too cold......................
How about the top of Mt Everest or Mt McKinley?
...
Are there roads and utilities going to the tops of those mountains?
Rockoons again? 1955 all over again...
AOC here is your answer for carbon free air travel!
I have always wondered about using balloons to clean up Mt. Everest.
Yes, but these are civilian entrepreneurs ..................
What can’t they just throw the trash down the side and collect it at the bottom?................./s
There could be.
how do you heat air at 100K ft?
Same idea with an airplane.
” As Stratolaunch Systems Corp. has rolled its super-massive aircraft out of the hangar during the last year and performed some ground-based tests, there has been one big unanswered question—what is the purpose of building the largest airplane in the world”
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