Fast forward only to the end of the 19th century, and there were two French
meteorologist sending up sounding balloons with instruments. Two Prussians,
Professor Reinhard Süring and Dr. Arthur J. S. Berson ascended in balloons to
take temperature and pressure readings. At 10.8 km (35,432 ft) they dozed off
from lack of oxygen, but luckily they awoke in time to land safely. Professor
Richard Assmann and Leon De Bort published a paper in 1902 that vertically
separated the atmosphere into the troposphere and stratosphere. A quarter of a
century later, the Manual of Meteorology said this was “the most surprising discovery in the whole history of meteorology”.
While this book is not a history of human balloon flight, there was certainly some
balloon science going on at altitude during the 1920’s and 30’s but the frailties of
man clearly showed it was not the place to be for very long. Many people died in
balloon accidents caused by everything from fire, hypoxia, and altitude sickness to
crashes. It was clear that more science could be obtained with uncrewed flights.
If ever there was a “first family of the stratosphere” then it would be the
Piccards. This includes Auguste Piccard, his twin brother Jean, Jean’s wife
Jeannette, and their son Don who, with Ed Yost, was the first to cross over the
English Channel in a hot air balloon, plus Bertrand, grandson of Auguste, who,
with Brian Jones, was the first to fly around the world in a balloon.
Advance just another generation or so to WWII and the Cold War and we saw
the Japanese bombing the U.S. using balloons, and the U.S. using balloons to spy
on Russia and to explode nuclear weapons in the atmosphere.
Now we are using balloons for science as well as commerce, even for providing
internet services to remote areas and to those impacted by natural disasters such
as hurricanes.
Today
This book is all about balloons rising through the troposphere and deep into the
stratosphere, even into the mesosphere. For the general observer the troposphere
reaches beyond the tops of the thunder clouds, which can go as high as about
20 km (65,600 ft). Most of the clouds you see are in the troposphere. But there can
also be clouds in the stratosphere, which extends from the top of the troposphere
up to what is generally defined as the top of the second layer at 50 km (164,000
ft), although this boundary varies with latitude. One can rarely see the clouds in
the mesosphere; for example, noctilucent clouds or night shining clouds, which
are tenuous cloud-like phenomena that occur in the upper atmosphere. They are
the highest clouds and are located in the mesosphere at altitudes of around 50 to
85 km (164,000 to 279,000 ft). This is an area above the maximum altitude for
aircraft and balloons, but below the minimum altitude of orbital vehicles. The
mesosphere is the least understood portion of the atmosphere. It is of scientific
interest but is beyond the current capabilities of balloons, although a couple of
balloons have reached the lower levels for short periods. Sounding rockets have
only brief access to the mesosphere and provide much less data.
2 Introduction
meteorologist sending up sounding balloons with instruments. Two Prussians,
Professor Reinhard Süring and Dr. Arthur J. S. Berson ascended in balloons to
take temperature and pressure readings. At 10.8 km (35,432 ft) they dozed off
from lack of oxygen, but luckily they awoke in time to land safely. Professor
Richard Assmann and Leon De Bort published a paper in 1902 that vertically
separated the atmosphere into the troposphere and stratosphere. A quarter of a
century later, the Manual of Meteorology said this was “the most surprising discovery in the whole history of meteorology”.
While this book is not a history of human balloon flight, there was certainly some
balloon science going on at altitude during the 1920’s and 30’s but the frailties of
man clearly showed it was not the place to be for very long. Many people died in
balloon accidents caused by everything from fire, hypoxia, and altitude sickness to
crashes. It was clear that more science could be obtained with uncrewed flights.
If ever there was a “first family of the stratosphere” then it would be the
Piccards. This includes Auguste Piccard, his twin brother Jean, Jean’s wife
Jeannette, and their son Don who, with Ed Yost, was the first to cross over the
English Channel in a hot air balloon, plus Bertrand, grandson of Auguste, who,
with Brian Jones, was the first to fly around the world in a balloon.
Advance just another generation or so to WWII and the Cold War and we saw
the Japanese bombing the U.S. using balloons, and the U.S. using balloons to spy
on Russia and to explode nuclear weapons in the atmosphere.
Now we are using balloons for science as well as commerce, even for providing
internet services to remote areas and to those impacted by natural disasters such
as hurricanes.
Today
This book is all about balloons rising through the troposphere and deep into the
stratosphere, even into the mesosphere. For the general observer the troposphere
reaches beyond the tops of the thunder clouds, which can go as high as about
20 km (65,600 ft). Most of the clouds you see are in the troposphere. But there can
also be clouds in the stratosphere, which extends from the top of the troposphere
up to what is generally defined as the top of the second layer at 50 km (164,000
ft), although this boundary varies with latitude. One can rarely see the clouds in
the mesosphere; for example, noctilucent clouds or night shining clouds, which
are tenuous cloud-like phenomena that occur in the upper atmosphere. They are
the highest clouds and are located in the mesosphere at altitudes of around 50 to
85 km (164,000 to 279,000 ft). This is an area above the maximum altitude for
aircraft and balloons, but below the minimum altitude of orbital vehicles. The
mesosphere is the least understood portion of the atmosphere. It is of scientific
interest but is beyond the current capabilities of balloons, although a couple of
balloons have reached the lower levels for short periods. Sounding rockets have
only brief access to the mesosphere and provide much less data.
2 Introduction