World View balloon explosion caused $200K in damage
The explosion of one of World Views Stratollite balloons during a test flight in December caused about $200K damage at its Tucson launch site.
The company has begun an investigation into the incident, creating an independent panel of experts to review what happened.
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The explosion of one of World Views Stratollite balloons during a test flight in December caused about $200K damage at its Tucson launch site.
The company has begun an investigation into the incident, creating an independent panel of experts to review what happened.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Inflating the balloon with hydrogen gas in a populated area might not have been a wise choice.
This is an example of balloons filled with HHO gas.
https://youtu.be/rPT353_6Wiw
It must have been one heck of a sound at that scale.
$200K sound like what this “independent panel” and other lawyers will cost, regardless of any material damage. Your laws need to be simplified. Every ape knows right from wrong and what’s left, it isn’t all that hard to do.
Cotour’s link to HHO gas (stoichiometric 2:1 H2/O2) balloon explosions are true explosions, but if you ignite a balloon filled with pure hydrogen it should burn rapidly, but not explode. Here’s a video of some Limeys setting fire to hydrogen balloons in the theater of the Royal Institution in London, generating impressive fireballs but without the sound and force of an explosion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLuOM9aOWvk
I wish we have better video of the World View; I think the short clip shown in this newscast is all we have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5zyplFsY8I
I suspect that when their balloon ruptured, a some of the hydrogen gas had a chance to escape and mix with the atmosphere above the balloon before the static spark occurred. That gas mix exploded and was responsible for the noise and shock damage, and the remaining hydrogen in the balloon didn’t explode but deflagrated, creating the more impressive several-second fireball, but not contributing to the noise and shock damage. An important question will be whether even more hydrogen would have exploded had the rupture been larger or had the spark occurred a few seconds later. Sounds like a difficult gas mixing problem.
Interesting to see that Wayne Hale is leading the investigation. I just checked his blog and see that his most recent post is from July of last year.