Gas balloon

A gas balloon is a balloon that flies in the air because it is filled with a gas less dense than air or lighter than air (such as helium or hydrogen). It is tied to a rope to prevent it from flying up in the air and sealed at the bottom to stop the gas escaping. A gas balloon may also be called a Charlière for its inventor, the Frenchman Jacques Charles. Today, familiar gas balloons include large blimps and small rubber party balloons. Blimps have displaced zeppelins (which are not balloons) as the dominant form of airship. A gas balloon is a balloon that flies in the air because it is filled with a gas less dense than air or lighter than air (such as helium or hydrogen). It is tied to a rope to prevent it from flying up in the air and sealed at the bottom to stop the gas escaping. A gas balloon may also be called a Charlière for its inventor, the Frenchman Jacques Charles. Today, familiar gas balloons include large blimps and small rubber party balloons. Blimps have displaced zeppelins (which are not balloons) as the dominant form of airship. The first gas balloon made its flight in August 1783. Designed by professor Jacques Charles and Les Frères Robert, it carried no passengers or cargo. On 1 December 1783 their second hydrogen-filled balloon made a manned flight piloted by Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert, 10 days after the first manned flight in a Montgolfier hot air balloon. The next project of Jacques Charles and the Robert brothers was La Caroline, an elongated steerable craft that followed Jean Baptiste Meusnier's proposals for a dirigible balloon, incorporating internal ballonnets (air cells), a rudder and a method of propulsion. On September 19, 1784 the brothers and M. Collin-Hullin flew for 6 hours 40 minutes, covering 186 km from Paris to Beuvry near Béthune. This was the first flight over 100 km. Gas balloons remained popular throughout the age before powered flight. They could fly higher and further than hot-air balloons, but were more dangerous as they were filled with hydrogen or coal gas. Tethered gas balloons were used for observation purposes in the Napoleonic Wars (to very limited extent) and in the American Civil War, flown by Thaddeus Lowe and throughout the 19th century by hobbyists and show performers such as the Blanchards. Gas ballooning has been popular in Europe, most notably in Germany, using hydrogen as a lifting gas. Gas balloon clubs exist throughout the country. Rough estimates show 150 active gas pilots in Europe. In contrast, gas ballooning in the USA might have at most 30 active pilots who typically fly only once a year at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in October. A gas balloon can also be tethered. Aerophile is the world's largest lighter-than-air carrier, flying 300,000 passengers every year through its eight operations in Walt Disney World, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Smoky Mountains & Irvine in the USA and Paris, Disneyland Paris and Parc du Petit Prince in France. On October 24, 2014, Alan Eustace, a former Google executive, made a jump from the stratosphere, breaking Felix Baumgartner's 2012 world record. The launch-point for his jump was from an abandoned runway in Roswell, New Mexico, where he began his balloon-powered ascent early that morning. He reached a reported maximum altitude of 135,908 feet (41.425 km; 25.7402 mi), but the final number submitted to the World Air Sports Federation was 135,889.108 feet (41.419000 km; 25.7365735 mi). The balloon used for the feat was manufactured by the Balloon Facility of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad, India. Eustace in his pressure suit hung tethered under the balloon, without the kind of capsule used by Felix Baumgartner. Eustace started his fall by using an explosive device to separate from the helium balloon. The previous altitude record for a manned balloon flight was set at 39.045 kilometers on October 14, 2012 by Felix Baumgartner breaking a record of 34.7 kilometers on May 4, 1961 by Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather in a balloon launched from the deck of the USS Antietam in the Gulf of Mexico. The altitude record for an unmanned balloon is 53.0 kilometers. It was reached by a balloon manufactured by Fujikura Parachute with a volume of 60 thousand cubic metres, launched in May 2002 from Sanriku, Iwate, Japan. This is the greatest height ever obtained by an atmospheric vehicle. Only rockets, rocket planes, and ballistic projectiles have flown higher.