The U.S. is tracking a small, high-altitude balloon that is drifting across the country but poses no threat to national security, the military said Friday.
How cheap is it to get those balloons? The last time this happened they also shot down a bunch of hobbyist balloons. We could deploy a fleet of them, it would be very funny
Hobbyist balloons are rather cheap. The smallest are a couple feet across and cost under $10. A typical weather balloon is around 20 feet in diameter and costs about $100.
Compare to the millions it costs to track an object, deploy fighter jets, pay for missiles to shoot one down and one has an impressive guerrilla operation.
More expensive than the balloon, but not outrageous. The amount of gas needed is a function of payload size and ascent rate but 3400l would carry a 1kg payload to ~35km over about 2hr before bursting (based on a calculator I found).
It was tough to find pricing for helium, but one place had prices listed and would run about $350 for the gas. Assuming that's normal pricing, one could hoist a little Lenin statue to high altitude for around $500 all in.
New bit idea: fundraise enough for a fleet with a big picture of Lenin sprayed onto the exterior of the balloons. Have them all continuously fly over the US mainland on the air currents. Ensuing chaos will be
How cheap is it to get those balloons? The last time this happened they also shot down a bunch of hobbyist balloons. We could deploy a fleet of them, it would be very funny
Hobbyist balloons are rather cheap. The smallest are a couple feet across and cost under $10. A typical weather balloon is around 20 feet in diameter and costs about $100.
Compare to the millions it costs to track an object, deploy fighter jets, pay for missiles to shoot one down and one has an impressive guerrilla operation.
https://www.scientificsales.com/Meteorological-Weather-Sounding-Balloon-s/25.htm
I guess the gas is expensive then, right?
More expensive than the balloon, but not outrageous. The amount of gas needed is a function of payload size and ascent rate but 3400l would carry a 1kg payload to ~35km over about 2hr before bursting (based on a calculator I found).
It was tough to find pricing for helium, but one place had prices listed and would run about $350 for the gas. Assuming that's normal pricing, one could hoist a little Lenin statue to high altitude for around $500 all in.
New bit idea: fundraise enough for a fleet with a big picture of Lenin sprayed onto the exterior of the balloons. Have them all continuously fly over the US mainland on the air currents. Ensuing chaos will be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHwAPy1pWhI with baloons
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: