> Does anyone have any energy/money cost savings estimates for launch
> from an balloon platform 30+ km up?  I'd imagine it would be signficant=
,
> since drag increases as the cube(?) of speed, and rockets tend to be
> quite fast even in the thick lower atmosphere.
>=20

Their site seems to indicate it is dirt cheap compared to a rocket, and i=
t stays put a long time.  Many of the things you might do from the ISS, f=
or example astronomy, could easily be done from a super high balloon plat=
form with a fraction of the cost.  The interference from the atmosphere u=
p there is minimal compared to this soup we look through down here. =20



> The question I have is can an airborne platform offer the same stabilit=
y a
> land (or sea) based platform does? =20


Apparently they propose having a balloon act as a shuttle to a stationary=
 platform.  Balloons get pretty big to hold anything up in thin atmospher=
e, and they propose a balloon with 5 mile long fingers.  Balloons are ver=
y scalable, and they are building a number of scaled models of increasing=
 size. =20

>As I understand it, orbital rendezvous
> (trips to the ISS) requires pretty good timing and placement, as does
> getting anything where you want it to be.
>=20

Most of the power required to get into orbit is wasted getting up to the =
top of the atmosphere - you have to shove the air out of the way, and lug=
 along a big rocket.  Why not float up as high as you can and launch from=
 there? Careful that the afterburners don=92t toast your balloon fabric t=
hough!=20



> Mike H.
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>=20
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>=20

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