3 ms·
Good question. I googled and found out that the highest clouds are the noctilucent clouds. They don’t contain dust, but tiny ice crystals, which are less than 0
by credit_guy 3y ago
Good question. I googled and found out that the highest clouds are the noctilucent clouds. They don’t contain dust, but tiny ice crystals, which are less than 0.1 microns in size. They can be found as high as 80km. Maybe you calibrate the airship speed so that hitting such a cloud in the “danger zone” does not damage the balloon. When you are above 80 km, you step on the gas.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- MichaelZuo 3y agoThere could be random groupings of a few hundred dust specks all the way up to 150km, doesn’t have to be a literal cloud.
- credit_guy 3y agoI don't know the answer to that. But there's a pretty good chance the dust would get deflected in the boundary layer. The more problematic part is when you got to the orbit and there is no more air to form this boundary layer, and specks of dust will hit the balloon directly. I suspect that the microscopic holes that they form will let some of the gas out, but not enough to make a difference.
- MichaelZuo 3y agoWon't the holes expand into rips since there's a pressure gradient trying to force the gas out of the holes?