This is an example of a stratospheric balloon like the ones that would be used to carry H2S or SO2 mixed in with H2 or He as the lifting gas. Note that the balloon is completely inflated and appears almost spherical and is translucent. When launched, the balloons are partially deflated to allow for expansion as air pressure decreases by about a factor of 2 with every 15,000 ft gain in altitude. Thus, the balloon volume increased by nearly a factor of 9 from the surface. This particular balloon carried a payload of around 2 tons. The largest launched to date can carry around 4 tons.
In recent conversations with a group member familiar with this technology, he noted that if the precursor gas is carried in the envelope and there is no payload attached, the reduced strain and the lower altitudes required (70,000-90,000 ft) may allow for much larger balloons to be launched, carrying as much as 20 tons of H2S. A balloon at 90,000 ft would require about 6X less volume than at 130,000 ft. This, would of course, greatly reduce the number required to achieve the daily targets. One 20 ton balloon payload would equal about what a single airplane could deliver per day. If the goal is to add 4000 tons of S to the stratosphere per day to achieve 1.5 Mt in a year, 200 launches per day would be required. This, of course, requires confirmation. It is also interesting that the balloon was "brought down" from the ground, meaning there was some kind of mechanism for releasing the gas and because of the need to recover the payload, open a parachute. This particular balloon traveled approx. 600 miles in about 36 hours, making around 17 mph when the time to float altitude is considered. It had traveled about 500 miles by 2pm when it was sighted over Sedona, AZ. Winds that high in the stratosphere blow from east to west and the path from the launch to Kingman is almost due west, following I-40. Balloons launched to deliver aerosol precursor could be allowed to travel long distances, but probably would be brought down as soon as they reach float altitude, meaning that the debris field would be small, less than 25 miles in diameter. This would solve the problem of recovery of fragments, unless the landing area was over water. Stratospheric balloon launches are generally done early in the morning to avoid siginficant winds at the surface that could cause the balloon to rip apart. The group member speculated that to avoid this and run launches on a production schedule, the balloons would be inflated in an enclosed structure with a retractable roof. As soon as inflation is complete, the roof is moved back and the balloon released. Repeat. Just like blowing bubbles Dorothy. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/05/18/20090518abrk-ufosightings0518.html Ye Olde UFO Store This photograph, taken Monday at Ye Olde UFO Store in Sedona, shows a mystery object that was later seen in Scottsdale. Mystery solved: Object in sky identified 121 commentsby Heather Hoch - May. 18, 2009 09:25 PM The Arizona Republic The mysterious UFO hovering over Arizona Monday has been identified. It isn't a weather balloon and it doesn't carry aliens. The object was actually a massive 4,000-pound research balloon released from a NASA organization used to measure gamma ray emissions in high altitudes, according to Bill Stepp of the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas. The balloon was launched Sunday morning at about 7:30 a.m. from Fort Sumter, N.M., [it's Fort. Sumner] and was grounded at about 9 p.m. Monday just south of Kingman, Ariz. Stepp said the balloon usually floats at an altitude of 130,000 feet, so on a clear day it can be seen for about 170 miles. He said the balloon has raised concern from Albuquerque to Phoenix. “It's something unusual,” Stepp said. “People just don't know what it is.” Sightings all over Arizona Monday afternoon had several residents wondering what exactly the object was. Marshall Valentine works in an office off Scottsdale Road and Acoma Drive and said he and about five other co-workers spotted the object high in the sky around 2 p.m. He said the object stayed in place for over an hour. “It looks like someone blew a bubble in the sky and it stayed there,” Valentine said. “A plane flew under it and it looked like it was a mountain higher than a plane flies.” Similar descriptions of an unidentified flying, clear orb were also reported out of Sedona. Jennifer McCoy, who runs the UFO Store in Sedona with her husband, said a local resident told her about the object in the sky at about 2 p.m. She said she went into the parking lot and saw the object in the cloud line. It was about the same time Valentine spotted the object over Scottsdale. McCoy said the object “looked like the gigantic bubble from the Wizard of Oz.” She also said it stayed in one place for a while. McCoy said she thinks some people will be skeptical of her report because “it's just the UFO Store seeing a UFO,” but McCoy said the other reports out of both Scottsdale and Sedona give the sighting some credence. Though for a while the balloon was an unidentified flying object in the eyes of many Arizonans, the NASA research balloon was always accounted for. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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