I've invented the Nuclear Powered Balloon House (NPBH) a concept that relies on the new Krusty (Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology) ....The reactor sits in the base of a hot air balloon and provides both hot air and electricity for altitude adjustment and propulsion...It can remain airborne for many years at a time, needs to be refueled maybe every 10 years, but the resilience of the balloon material might need tweaking....
Amazing variety of balloon designs in that second link. I remember thinking that the Energizer Bunny was the most awesome one I'd seen -- 20 years ago!
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"Did you get my e-mail?" - "The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place" - George Bernard Shaw, 1856
"We're not in Kansas anymore"...
But if you really want to float something,try Buckminster Fuller's idea of floating a city,using common building materials.It would be enclosed by a hemisphere,but the minimum size would be approximately 5 miles in diameter.
I would be floated by the differential temperature of the inside air vs the outside,and would have natural ventilation with entry ports at the bottom,and exit ports at the top.A hemisphere creates a natural enhanced updraft.
Imagine an earthquake proof city?
Want proof?Do the calculations of volume vs area of a hemisphere of that size and the weight of air within,then add a little heat to the inside.....
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"A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child." "Never argue with a stupid person.They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience" "To create an apple pie from scratch, first you must create a universe"
The general concept might work in forming a habitable zone above the surface of Venus...
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"Did you get my e-mail?" - "The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place" - George Bernard Shaw, 1856
..."Technically, the 'silnylon' fabric is 'double-coated'. That is, a coating of silicone polymer has been applied to both sides. Well, fair enough, but there is a huge difference in the result between PU and silicone coating. The PU coating sits on the surface of the fabric, but the silicone polymer goes right in. As far as I can see (with a microscope) the silicone polymer completely permeates the fabric fibers and forms a layer right through the fabric. As far as the final fabric properties are concerned, you should not think of 'silnylon' as a 'coated fabric', but rather as 'nylon-fabric-reinforced silicone polymer sheet'. This is a bit like fiberglass or glass-reinforced epoxy.
This difference translates into mechanical properties too. A key parameter is 'tear strength'. It is claimed that a PU coating focuses the stress in a tear right at the tip of the tear, and this actually makes a PU-coated fabric behave weaker than the base fabric. However, the elastic silicone polymer in silnylon fabric takes over and distributes the stress across a number of threads, and this makes the silnylon fabric significantly stronger in tear than the base fabric - reportedly up to 2.2 times stronger. Note this does not apply to EPIC fabrics.
Silicone is the stuff that is used to seal aquariums, bathtubs and sinks, and other applications where water must not be allowed to leak through. When it rains on silnylon fabric all the water stays on the surface, and a quick shake will get rid of almost all of it, and its associated weight. A few minutes in the wind or sunshine and silnylon will completely dry out. Certainly, I have found that I can shake most of the water off my silnylon tents, and the packed weight is rarely much different. In comparison with PU, silicone is 'hydrophobic' (water hating). By its nature it repels water, and water will not act as a solvent on it. Your packed-up wet tent may get moldy if you leave it long enough, but it won't go sticky. Finally, the silicone in silnylon completely permeates the fabric fibers - it can't peel off. But remember: it does not breathe!"...
There are a few problems with the idea. Sewage might not be a problem if you're over an uninhabited region, but where do food and water come from. And some of us are addicted to a shower every day. You don't have to mow the lawn and the view is great, but I would expect cabin fever would set in.
Just because it can stay airborne for long periods, doesn't mean that it has to...and a human occupant is not mandatory, it could be piloted by AI....It could just wander around the globe taking measurements and stuff....An HD camera accessible by the internet so followers could ride virtually among the clouds for a time...A digital readout on the bottom could send messages to the people below....Lasers could provide light shows occasionally...There are a multitude of possibilities...
With an electrical supply on board the entire envelope could be LED embedded and change color and patterns...
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All living things seek to control their own destiny....this is the purpose of life
With cameras mounted all around the surrounding sky could be replicated on the LED screen making the balloon quite stealthy....this invisibility technique could be employed on the ground as well....
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All living things seek to control their own destiny....this is the purpose of life
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"A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child." "Never argue with a stupid person.They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience" "To create an apple pie from scratch, first you must create a universe"
Interesting. But, one thing I wonder about, is what kind of "radiator" is used in space? how does heat get removed to keep it cool without air/substance to xfer it to? Can't be an air-cooled radiator.
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Science is the "cookbook" for making things.
..."How do you calculate heat transfer by radiation?
To solve this, all we have to do is plug numbers into the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. The heat transferred per second is equal to the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, 5.67 * 10^-8, multiplied by the emissivity of the bulb (0.5), multiplied by the surface area (0.0001), multiplied by the temperature (2500), to the power 4.Dec 30, 2014"...
Radiators lose heat by radiation; they don't need an atmosphere and are often more effective without it, depending on where they are facing. Most of the items we call radiators are in fact convectors.
We hope to have a special plastic with embedded engineered materials for shielding, the radiation comparatively speaking is low for such a device, and the gondola hangs well below the reactor so that exposure is limited...
Yeah it's more of a future concept thing.... it could be done...but with all the scare tactics and misinformation about nuclear power, regulatory approval is just a pipe dream for now....That doesn't mean that we can't work out the details for when that day arrives....the same for nuclear powered automobiles and trucks and trains...Ships and boats already exist...
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All living things seek to control their own destiny....this is the purpose of life
with all the scare tactics and misinformation about nuclear power
I like that wording. Since I like the fast neutron reactor, and think it has to be a primary energy supplier in our future, the scare tactics and misinformation are retarding the implementation of it. Yes, solar and wind are great, but I don't think they can handle the amount of energy we will need; NIMBY will also impact their expansion, but they will probably need more "real estate" than we have available.
I think it's great to be able to make working small power-generators. Nuclear power has a lot of potential. It's not that far-fetched to make safe main-stream products that has a mandatory recycling/disposing system for end-of-life products. A lot of that is already in place for conventional cars/vehicles (it just needs to be tweaked, and mandatory for nukes). There's a lot of energy to be reaped. Wouldn't that be great? Maybe one day it'll happen.
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Science is the "cookbook" for making things.
I think fission reactors will be replaced some day with fusion reactors.The reason they have not been implemented so far is the scarcity of Helium 3.The moon is rich with H3,and has been bathed in it for billions of years,with no magnetic field and atmosphere to shield it.It is one of the few elements that is worth more than it's cost to mine and transport from the moon.It is a more efficient reactor than fission,and produces fewer dangerous by products,it only produces H4(regular Helium) and neutrons;and a lot less neutrons than Fission reactors.Even the neutrons can be harnessed for power. I have always said that once commercial industry becomes interested in space,the technology will explode to develop it.Look at what is already happening.Nearly every country wants to get to the moon,and it isn't for green cheese,it's for the other green:$$. Fission will disappear,fusion will dominate the future,but not in the near term.Well,that's my take on it anyway.
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"A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child." "Never argue with a stupid person.They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience" "To create an apple pie from scratch, first you must create a universe"
HyTek: We need to divide fission reactors into 2 groups: thermal (water moderated,) and fast (no moderation.) The fast spectrum reactors are nearly ready now (and would be if not stopped in 1994,) and are much better (maybe 100 times) than thermal reactors. So, thermal will be replaced by fast reactors relatively soon, and fusion reactors will follow at some distant future time.
This reminds me of the endless ridicule of projects advocating small reactors - to power a car or truck for example. Seems that is now possible if the shielding problem can really be overcome by the fabric that was mentioned.
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"A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child." "Never argue with a stupid person.They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience" "To create an apple pie from scratch, first you must create a universe"
Fascinating notion. Having a reliable, lightweight source of heat could also be useful for other long-endurance balloon concepts. Balloons for planetary exploration also involve buoyancy-control schemes using liquids or solids that can be turned into vapors with a relatively small amount of heat per unit mass.
It might also be useful for terrestrial dirigibles - buoyancy control is one of the main impediments to using airships for transporting cargo, and the reactor could also supply propulsion power.
How about a helium filled balloon, covered in solar cells,with solar powered compressor to compress the helium into a storage tank when descending,and releasing it into the balloon when ascending. No ballast required. Very little loss of helium that way.No external heat required,(except solar)and the heat generated during compression could be recovered to be used to heat the helium when it is released into the balloon.
Just thinkin'
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"A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child." "Never argue with a stupid person.They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience" "To create an apple pie from scratch, first you must create a universe"
The Nuclear Powered Balloon House
Re: The Nuclear Powered Balloon House
