Solar balloons

[catman529]

I'm new here and probably won't visit often, but I thought I would share my site with everyone as it seems to fit into this category. For anyone who's interested...www.solar-balloons.com

Solar balloons are basically hot air balloons filled with ordinary air, which is heated by the sun. The material they are made with is usually black, which absorbs the heat from the sun and in turn heats the air in the balloon. I have released quite a few and my farthest flight yet was over 700 miles. Currently I make them all with the cheapest (thinnest) trash bags and masking tape...you can't get cheaper than that! Once they get up in the air, the sun keeps them heated for the rest of the day, and they cruise in the jetstreams at altitudes up to 50,000 feet until the sun sets and they make their way back to the ground.

 

If this sounds interesting, check my site out, and spread the word. Solar balloons aren't very well-known yet so I'm throwing it out to places like this.

 

Thanks!

 

PS - I hope I posted this in the correct forum, sorry if it's not

[Sisyphus]

That's actually pretty awesome. How do you track them?

 

EDIT: Ah, I see. "Contact if found " tags.

[insane_alien]

just a little thought for increasing the efficiency of these balloons, find a plastic that isn't IR transparent. it will keep the heat inside more raising both the maximum altitude and time it can maintain altitude.

 

also, what is the typical payload capacity of these balloons?

 

finally, a little critisism of the facts page, if they only rise a few thousand feet then they aren't anywhere near the jetstream. jet streams are 10-15 km above the surface of earth.

the term 'superheat'. is this commonly used terminology in hot air ballooning circles? because superheat has a definition in science that doesn't really apply here.

[catman529]

just a little thought for increasing the efficiency of these balloons, find a plastic that isn't IR transparent. it will keep the heat inside more raising both the maximum altitude and time it can maintain altitude.

 

also, what is the typical payload capacity of these balloons?

 

finally, a little critisism of the facts page, if they only rise a few thousand feet then they aren't anywhere near the jetstream. jet streams are 10-15 km above the surface of earth.

the term 'superheat'. is this commonly used terminology in hot air ballooning circles? because superheat has a definition in science that doesn't really apply here.

 

Solar balloons reach altitudes of around 50,000 feet. I have seen a Web page with pics of a balloon that took a payload up to 49,000 feet. If they didn't hit any jetstreams, they couldn't fly as far as they do. My longest flight averaged over 100 mph from start to approximated finish, which means it hit some good wind somewhere during the flight.

 

As for superheat, I read this term on some solar balloon web site a while ago, I should probably look up the definitions to make sure I'm using the right term. It might just be hot air balloon terminology; in that case, I'll re-write that on the facts page to make it more clear.

[big314mp]

Out of curiosity, do the balloons always travel in the same direction? Based on my (very rudimentary) understanding of things, if they hit the jet stream, they will always go the same way, right?

[catman529]

Out of curiosity, do the balloons always travel in the same direction? Based on my (very rudimentary) understanding of things, if they hit the jet stream, they will always go the same way, right?

 

I find that the balloons that are found always went in the direction of the wind as forecasted. For example, if Weather.com says the wind is from NW, and I release a balloon that is found later on, its found location is generally SE from the launch site. I don't know enough about jet streams but it seems that they take the balloon different directions on different days depending on the weather.

[big314mp]

Interesting...thanks!