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.
Isn’t there ENOUGH crap orbiting our planet already?
If you could get Pele's and Poli'ahu's buy-in, Mauna Kea.
It's near the equator, so you get the best boost from Earth's rotation, at 13,803 ft above sea level, it is the highest point in the state of Hawai'i, so it's above the thickest part of the atmosphere. Plenty of open water for boosters (or failed launch debris) to splash down in in all directions, ability to launch polar orbits and a nice slope for a rail based launch to boot. And it's uncontested US territory.
Make the balloon black and let the sun do it...
Does moonshine work too?
How much would it cost to build?
How much would it cost to maintain?
Who is going to pay for it?
Only if you provide enough oxygen to burn it.
S/
The balloons don’t get you to space. Lying headline.
I dunno. Is it worth at least looking into? Space flight is quite expensive. A solution involving using mountains may still be cheaper. Or it may not. It’s worth a ROM* estimate to see if it’s worth bothering with.
*Rough Order of Magnitude
Never mind. The answer is here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/01/04/why-arent-rockets-launched-from-higher-altitudes/#a902f983221f
“the expense of the balloon itself; helium is expensive”
Title says hot air balloons.
Mediots have even invaded Popullar Mechanics.
LOX....................
Technically, the first man into “space” went in a hot air balloon.
Wouldn't "corporate entities" be a more accurate description?
Are they going to develop their own private "Rods From God?"
Hold on a second there...
Hey, here's an idea. Let's develop geostationary balloons and launch them so that if the government doesn't follow our corporate desires we can anonymously...well, you get the picture.
On the other hand, would such a system be considered part and parcel to the 2nd Amendment? /thought experiment
This sure is turning into an interesting conversation.
Stop confusing the issue!
LOL! How did you like my AOC impression?
Everyone can be Captain Kirk.
It’s an interesting concept, but regular rocket launches would deliver scores of these micro-satellites in a single launch. So the niche is even smaller — launching 1 or 2 micro-satellites in a single balloon sortie.
I also wonder exactly how you recover that balloon, re-manufacture it, and ready it for another launch. I would think that high-altitude weather balloons are single-use for this very reason. How do you get the darned things back?
It's worked every time I've tried it!!!
The payload size would be limited since the rocket itself would be heavier than 55 pounds. Satellites do not go into orbit just because they reach the correct altitude. They must be going about 19,000 miles per hour at a tangent to the Earth. That requires a lot of rocket.
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