Danny Bowman’s Spherical Solar Balloons
Danny Bowman has just published on the array of 20’ solar hot air balloons he and Sarah Albert flew with a network of infrasound sensors. On his blog you can find instructions for the 20’ balloons, which are made from HDPE painters’ drop cloth and packing tape, and darkened with charcoal.
Danny and company are currently preparing a massive 40’ balloon at the Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, and he’s posted some videos of the assembly currently underway on his Twitter:
I can’t wait to see what the future holds!
This is the #heliotrope, a solar powered hot air balloon that can deliver 2 kg to the tropopause, 800 g to the stratosphere. Fly all day, land at sunset. Got a payload? You build it, we'll fly it. pic.twitter.com/K6MTJLvZkP
— Danny Bowman (@dannycbowman) January 12, 2018