🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <tbreslin.41.000EDE10@ucs.indiana.edu> tbreslin@ucs.indiana.edu (Tim Breslin) writes:

>>Where do buoyant toy balloons end up?  
>
>>I was pondering this question after watching a balloon (in the shape
>>of a parrot about 50cm long) ascend until it was out-of-sight at
>>about cloud level.  It seemed to me that the plastics that such
>>toys are made from could probably hold a 1 atmosphere pressure
>>inside, so there is no reason it wouldn't reach orbit!  
>
>>Or is there?  And if they _do_ make orbit (or beyond), how long would they
>>last?
>
>>The idea of the Shuttle running into an orbiting parrot is kind
>>of weird...:-)
>
>>Pete Newman

    Well, I agree with the first part of the statement.  Mylar, in 
particular, is strong enought to hold vacuum.  I havn't heard it 
discussed recently but I remember one way planned to evacuate
astronauts from a damaged shuttle of space station was to put them
in special mylar "baloons" and carry them to safety.  Don't know
what's come out of that.
    As for reaching orbit, think a bit more deeply as to why the
baloon rises in the first place.  Once it gets into thin enough
air, the boyant force will diminish to the point where the baloon
can no longer rise... assuming the baloon can survive the harsh
conditions in the upper atmosphere long enough to make this issue
relevant.
							Danube