All:
It's been an idea of mine to launch a zero-pressure
balloon from here in Denver, and float it low (30-40k
feet probably) from here to Manhattan KS, about 500
miles east of here. I keep bringing it up at the
EOSS meetings, but the idea just hasn't caught on.
Some rudimentary navigation could be possible with
ballast dump. If anyone on this list wants to assist
in looking at historical winds and coming up with a
flight plan (something like- float at A feet until you
get to X,Y, then dump ballast and ascend to B feet to
take the balloon into the Manhattan KS vicinity), I
would take this info into account to design and build
the balloon and flight systems. If the 'cruise
float' is around 30k feet, I should be able to
maintain direct line of site control over the balloon
to 300+ miles out if I drive up to 14+k feet on Mount
Evans (or Pike's Peak) immediately after launch, then
do a hand-over to a team on the ground in Manhattan.

Any interest ?

- KMC





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