A Greener Way To Get Into Space: The Bloon

Okay, a cool idea, but it doesn't get you into space, just to the edge of space and no further than any other high altitude balloons.

Probably a cheaper ride than what you can get anywhere else, too.

How much balloon to a pound of payload?

I watched a program on BLAST (explained at that site). More at Wiki

Considering Helium is getting in short supply and is very necessary for many technologies, this is about the worst idea I have seen yet!

why is it in short supply? I thought it was made out of hydrogen? is it expensive to create?

Helium is an element, it cannot be produced from other materials without nuclear reactions. Yes it can be produced from certain isotopes of hydrogen but it takes the mass of a star or a hydrogen bomb to do it. It was obtained in the US from separation from natural gas from certain deep wells in Kansas. I am not certain if it came from nuclear reactions deep in the earth or from the original formation of the planet. The US government used to stockpile it but decided to cut the budget a bit and stopped doing it several years ago. It is obtained by other nations from the same source, but production has not kept up with consumption and Helium is getting in shorter supply and more expensive.

Quick check on wikepedia indicates some natural gas sources are up to 7 % helium...and part of it is extracted via fractional distilation...Apparently 58 year supply definitely available to-day from known sources of natural gas globally but up to a 1000 times this volume is theoretically still unfound.in natural gas sources and probably othe rin the earth/bottom of the sea sort of scenarios or even trapped within ores as they cooled...Much like the oil volumes constantly being found making the peak oil point a continuously movable line..Universally helium apparently is the second most abundant element..Its incredible lightness allows it to leave our planet rather quickly and the theories re big bang..earths formation etc provide s a scenario wherein the free helium left planet earth early in its cooling down phase..Amazing how all things are relatable and ultimately explainable if not now then down the road..So helium may yet be a tenable approach to getting out of the planets pull zone..I think the key is not rushing out but climbing out in steps much like we climb up a tree..Perhaps a giant escalator somewhere on a flat high altitude plateau and then falling off like a bat to catch the escaping upward flow of lighter than earths gravity can hold on to winds to swoop out of the critical zone...heh what do i know..but i observe and read a great deal.. as well share thoughts perhaps less than precisely but openly..:)

thanks to both of you.

I didn't know helium could leave the planet (escape gravity)... are you sure about that? it seems odd.... gravity being a rather effective accumulator of stuff and all...

Bounced back to this because i have a question that may seem silly...if the earth couldn't shed itself of excess mass accumulated in the form of meteorite debris on a daily basis of substantial mass entering our atmosphere and eventually drifting down to the planets surface over the eons then earth would become too heavy to continue its present rate of rotation and then climate change would be very real indeed for example..?? So the free flow of helium and other lighter elements may be viewed as a very good thing indeed...The long term life feature of our earth depends on this dynamic equilibrium..