On 7/1/2020 1:01 PM, Dean Markley wrote:
On Wednesday, July 1, 2020 at 11:11:19 AM UTC-4, David Spain wrote:
On 2020-07-01 10:57 AM, David Spain wrote:
Ride a helium balloon to the edge of space in a pressurized & tethered
gondola! No ill effects from 0g free fall for those with queasy stomachs.

Dave

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsl...ce/ar-BB16aMVM


I thought helium, the gas is actually "renewable" hydrogen. oh boy.
Helium would be too expensive for this big boy. Can you say reserve
parachute in case of giant flaming ball of gas above you? Yes, yes you
can....

https://thespaceperspective.com/fly/

Dave

Hydrogen is unlikely to burn at those altitudes. Even down lower, it still needs to exit the balloon and mix with oxygen to burn. The Hindenburg did not burn because of the hydrogen. It was that very flammable envelop made from dope (acetate resin) with aluminum dust.

At altitude sure. But you have to get up first and then back down.
Through plentifully oxidizing troposphere.

What you are saying about the Hindenburg: That's like saying gasoline
will extinguish a match. In absence of air that is true. In fact it's
why Molotov cocktails aren't made out of plastic bottles. However, that
doesn't mean I'll be dropping matches into gas cans. Let's get real, the
Hindenburg fireball wasn't made up of acetate resin, even if that is
what triggered it. How many acetate resin fires brought down helium
balloons? I wouldn't want to ride this up through a thunderstorm, would
you? Why does everyone on USENET split hairs?

There is a reserve parachute (partially deployed) as part of the balloon
tether that allows the gondola to detach in an emergency. If there is a
fireball, it would tend to burn upwards and allow the gondola to escape
in the down direction. So I'm not really concerned about being
incinerated in a hydrogen fire, but there are other issues (see below).
Once the balloon is outside the flammable zone, passengers can unfasten
seat belts.

Wonder what prevents that parachute from tangling in the event of an
emergency balloon depress at altitude? As SpaceX discovered, parachute
tech is tricky.

Also what happens if the gondola hits land rather than ocean under
parachute? My achin backside.

I'd like some answers to these questions, but if I got good answers and
the price came down to under $10K, I might consider it.

Dave