4 ms·

I know the ISS is moving at ~27,600 km/h and is ~10 times further away than this jump, but is there a significant engineering reason to not say... double this j

I know the ISS is moving at ~27,600 km/h and is ~10 times further away than this jump, but is there a significant engineering reason to not say... double this jumps height? 5x? ...10x?

tjohns 12y ago
The maximum altitude for a weather balloon is 173,000 feet, though 60,000 to 120,000 feet is more common. If you want to go higher, you're going to need to use a rocket instead of a gas-filled balloon.
- fletchowns 12y ago
  What determines the maximum height that a weather balloon can go?
  - krasin 12y ago
    The density of the air, the higher altitute, the smaller density: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth#mediaviewer/File:Atmosphere_model.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth#mediaviewer... And the balloon has to have a smaller density than the surrounding air to be floating.
  - MHordecki 12y ago
    (IANAP) The physics of a balloon. It works by having lower density than the surrounding air. As the air gets thinner with altitude, at some point the balloon is just too heavy.
ender7 12y ago
Decelerating from ~27,600 km/hr would be the main challenge :)
- twic 12y ago
  The Russians are having a crack at it: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6714639/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/russians-keep-working-space-parachute/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6714639/ns/technology_and_science-... Henry Spencer reckons it's been seriously considered all the way back, and he invented regular expressions, so, er, well apparently being a computer scientist gives you parachute credibility this week: http://yarchive.net/space/launchers/personal_reentry.html http://yarchive.net/space/launchers/personal_reentry.html And there's some intriguing work from various people about using tethers as highly unconventional parachutes: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/009457659500108C http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/00945765950...

I know the ISS is moving at ~27,600 km/h and is ~10 times further away than this jump, but is there a significant engineering reason to not say... double this jumps height? 5x? ...10x?

tjohns 12y ago

The maximum altitude for a weather balloon is 173,000 feet, though 60,000 to 120,000 feet is more common. If you want to go higher, you're going to need to use a rocket instead of a gas-filled balloon.

fletchowns 12y ago
What determines the maximum height that a weather balloon can go?
- krasin 12y ago
  The density of the air, the higher altitute, the smaller density: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth#mediaviewer/File:Atmosphere_model.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth#mediaviewer... And the balloon has to have a smaller density than the surrounding air to be floating.
- MHordecki 12y ago
  (IANAP) The physics of a balloon. It works by having lower density than the surrounding air. As the air gets thinner with altitude, at some point the balloon is just too heavy.

ender7 12y ago

Decelerating from ~27,600 km/hr would be the main challenge :)

twic 12y ago
The Russians are having a crack at it: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6714639/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/russians-keep-working-space-parachute/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6714639/ns/technology_and_science-... Henry Spencer reckons it's been seriously considered all the way back, and he invented regular expressions, so, er, well apparently being a computer scientist gives you parachute credibility this week: http://yarchive.net/space/launchers/personal_reentry.html http://yarchive.net/space/launchers/personal_reentry.html And there's some intriguing work from various people about using tethers as highly unconventional parachutes: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/009457659500108C http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/00945765950...