Bye bye Space Elevator

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, wrote:
>
> Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg and also US versions of dirigibles did
go on trans ocean jaunts... from Europe to Rio was one route...

sure, but their flights only lasted a week or 8 days max. these ppl
are talking about putting satelites into orbit. how are they going to
do that when the balloon cant reach that kind of speed in the
atmosphere and the ion engine they are talking about cant keep the
payload up without the balloon.
>
> The US experimented with flying aircraft carriers in which
dirigibles housed several smaller aircraft inside. That seems
significant. But its not so much volume as much as weight ; earlier
dirigibles carried bomb loads; higher density payloads rather than
spacious items.
>
yes. but the planes they used were lightweight recon planes. the
bombs the fist dirigibles used were more akin to granades, although a
few 20 and 30 pound bombs could be carried. they were only used like
this in ww1. even then they were not that heavy.
>
> Will lighter than air compete with heavier than air vehicles? I
guess they have different roles, so its hard to say they compete...
the "balloons ability is to stay aloft with out expenditure of any
fuel... that's a GREAT thing...and it will be very useful I'm sure...
>
it will not use any fuel... IF it only floats. the problem is that
they expect it to be near a second balloon, and to dock with it. that
means it has to stay close to it, or return to it. that means fuel.
yes there will be a few uses for it. i personally cant think of many.
the only one is where you want to watch a specific area for a
specific amount of time. mostly the balloon will have a flight time
of less than a month at best. not many uses for that.
>
> well this has been fun, but perhaps we need to wait a few years and
see what really develops to have the final proof of what is or is not
doable, and to what degree...
>
true. if they can make it work, great for them.
>
> perhaps this company is using a small mm high sign to try and fool
us all... after all that's what is needed to gain credibility these
days...illusions and lies..
>
> :-))
>
> Admittedly many of the payloads of many balloons so far has been
under 100 lbs. -- not a whole lot but then again huge volumes have
not been considered, and again possibly the huge volumes will meet
with engineering or other issues that will keep them from
happening... Personally, I have a hard time wrapping my head around
60,000 ft long cables...all wondrous to me.

the balloons they use are actually pretty big. nothing compaired to
the 2 cubic miles they are talking about, but big. to be able to
carry the 100 pound payload as high as 200000 feet (about 2 thirds
the way to space), they would need about a 10 times size balloon than
what they need to get to 100000 feet.