If any of your questions are not answered below feel free to ask us.
High Altitude Balloons (HABs) are manned or unmanned balloons that are used to carry payloads into the stratosphere. HABs are capable of reaching altitudes of 18-53 km (11-32 mi) above sea level. HABs are filled with lighter than air gas. It is this gas, that gives them their lift. Once filled, the HAB is released, and it then ascends for 1-3 hours. As the HAB ascends and altitude increases, the air pressure outside the balloon drops, while the pressure of the lifting gas inside the balloon remains constant. This causes the balloon to slowly grow in size as the gas attempts to escape. Eventually, the force on the balloon causes it to burst. For the next few hours, the payload falls, slowed by it's parachute. The HAB is tracked throughout it's flight. After it lands it is recovered.
Our current goal is 30 km (19 mi) although this number may change as the project progresses. This altitude is higher than 3 Mount Everest stacked. While this is a very high altitude, it is far below the Kármán line which is where the earth's atmosphere ends and space begins. This line is at an altitude of 100 km (62 mi), far beyond the capabilities of a HAB.
We estimate 2-3 hours.
Setting a timeline for Project Redirect is a difficult task due to the fact that much of the project involves developing new technologies. As evidenced by the parachute system, what at first may look like a simple task, can take many months to complete. We hope to fly by mid 2020, but this and all dates are likely to change.
We have plans for several projects we hope to work on after Project Redirect is complete. Although we will need time and funding to do these projects.
Most of our funding comes from personal savings, but we also collect donations through our site. We are looking into other funding sources such as fundraisers, grants, etc.
Just visiting this site helps, although donating and spreading the word is even better.
Ether is defined as:
- The regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens.
- The element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets.
Aerospace is the human effort in science, engineering, and business to fly in the atmosphere of Earth (aeronautics) and surrounding space (astronautics).
From-Wikipedia
HABs are one of the cheapest aerospace projects there are. Also, they are cool 🙂
We hope to design, fly, launch and recover a HAB that is capable of returning to it's launch site. This will reduce the chance of payload loss allowing more expensive payloads to be flown.
At this time, almost all posts are progress updates for Project Redirect. Due to this, the frequency of posts depends on the status of the project. We try to post every week although if we are in a slow period (waiting for parts, etc.) our posts will be less frequent. If you subscribe we will send you an email whenever we post.
Currently our team is very small, and consists of one college student.