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Ballooooooon! [1]

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Date: 2023-02-04  

Scientific balloon during inflation perhaps 30 minutes prior to launch. Most of the balloon (as much as 1000 feet) is lying flat on the ground. The payload is the slightly blurry rectangular shape almost dead center of the photo.

As a researcher with NASA I participated in more than 15 balloon launches between 1980 and 2005. I am assuming that the Chinese spy balloon that recently traversed the US to great acclaim is similar to the balloons I used. Here are some facts about these balloons:

1. They are very large. Long and slender on launch when most of the gas is in the ‘top’ of the balloon they expand to an almost spherical shape at altitude. At this point a football stadium would fit inside.

2. They are generally (not always) open at the bottom like a hot air balloon. This means there’s no pressure difference between the inside and outside of the balloon. If you poke (or shoot) a hole in it the helium doesn’t rush out. This means they are hard to bring down with projectiles.

3. They fly very high (100,000-125,000 feet). No conventional aircraft can begin to reach these altitudes. The famed U2 spy planes from the 1950’s topped out at about 70,000 feet.

4. They drift with the prevailing winds W to E most of the year E to W during the summer. Wind speeds vary but 100 mph is about the max.

5. Payloads can be huge—think tons.

News reports that I have seen so far indicate the debris field may be 7 miles in diameter. To me this means they didn’t shoot it down—they blew it up. Too bad because an intact payload would have much greater intelligence value. But as I said they are hard to bring down.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/4/2151106/-Ballooooooon

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