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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   4432 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 17, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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This week, I've learned the existence of pico balloon hobbyists.

What are pico balloons ? Well, very small and light balloons that fly rather high.

Launching high-altitude, circumnavigational pico balloons has emerged only within the past decade. Meadows and his son Lee discovered it was possible to calculate the amount of helium gas necessary to make a common latex balloon neutrally buoyant at altitudes above 43,000 ft.

It's a far less expensive hobby than e.g. flying stratospheric drone airships, which is a lot more expensive with what large carbon fibre truss structures, batteries and and various exotic valves.. The guys whose video link is in the previous sentence are ultimately interested in orbital-capable airships, which is a rather audacious concept of using staged airships to reach orbit in about a week's time.

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