The Crownlines
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The Crownlines The Newsletter of the National Capital Balloon Club Le journal du Club de montgolfières de la Capitale nationale Volume 21 Number 5 October 2013 Cover Photo: St-Jean-sur-Richelieu from the air, courtesyPage of Dale Pelky Crownlines October 2013 Table of Contents Message from the Editor Message from the Editor…..…………………….. 2 The seasons are changing, with lovely hues of red, orange, and yellows 2013 Canadian Hot Air Balloon Championships. 3 to greet the eyes of pilots and passengers alike. The fall weather offers fantastic flight opportunities. The temperatures are a bit more moderate The Summer in Pictures…………………………..4 from the stifling heat and humidity of the summer, the days are shorter Balloons In Science………………………………...7 so we get to sleep in a little before those morning flights, but the turn- In the Media………………………………………..12 around time between a morning and evening flight is shorter too. With each morning, the cool crisp air reminds us that the next season is ap- Balloon in Education…………… ………………..32 proaching, so get out there and enjoy this season before you have to Legalities….………………………………………..34 dress like the Michelin family in order to enjoy your time outdoors! 2014 Winter Outlook……………….……………..36 This edition of the newsletter is jammed packed—mostly because the FAI News……………………….…………………..39 “long” break in the summer where I don’t do anything other than fly and Transport Canada News…………………………..40 work! So, I have saved up a collection of articles from various sources Trans-Atlantic Cluster Balloon Attempt……..…..41 for your reading pleasure. Always feel free to provide me feedback on what you would like to see more of, or less of. And of course—please Membership Renewal……………………………..61 submit your own articles! ...Sandra Page 2 Crownlines October 2013 Competition B.C. man heading to Brazil for balloon championship Read more: http:// calgary.ctvnews.ca/b-c-man- heading-to-brazil-for-balloon- championship- 1.1480667#ixzz2hRWjfa7g Colleen Schmidt, CTV Calgary Published Wednesday, October 2, 2013 2:13PM MDT The 2013 Canadian Hot Air Balloon competition was held in High River over the weekend and the winner will represent Canada at the world championship in South America next year. The event was put on by the Heritage Inn Hotel and TD Bank and attracted hot air balloon pilots from across the country. David Gleed from Langley, B.C. floated away with the top honour and will be travelling to Sao Carlos, Brazil for the 21st FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship in July of 2014. Second place went to Dan Balinsky from Grand Prairie and Dale Lang of Taber was third. For more information on the worlds, visit the FAI website. Page 3 Crownlines October 2013 The Summer in Pictures Cancelled— Again We became quite familiar with this sight, as flight after flight was cancelled due to weather at Festivent 2013. Rainbow Delight After the showers we were treated to lovely rainbows in St-Jean-sur- Richelieu while waiting for the weather to blow through before the evening flight. Page 4 Crownlines October 2013 The Summer in Pictures Fog With all that moisture…. Comes the misty foggy mornings…. Take Flight! Eventually, the skies clear, and we get the flight we are all waiting for—clear blue skies and light winds in Sussex, New Brusnswick. Page 5 Crownlines October 2013 Balloons in Science Clockwise from top left: Hummingbird—RVB Balloons Scenic Sussex!—Sussex, New Brunswick Alain Bard’s balloon—St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Balloons inflating—St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Jean Drouin making pre-flight preparations with his crew —St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Page 6 Crownlines October 2013 Balloons in Science Solar Montgolfieres http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/adv_tech/ balloons/mars_mongolfier.htm Solar Montgolfieres are light- weight balloons that could be used for controlled, low velocity impacts of Martian payloads or for exciting imaging and science balloon missions at Mars, as well as at Jupiter and Saturn. These balloons have an open bottom and would be filled with ambient atmosphere as they fall when deployed during atmospheric entry. They wouild be quickly heated by the sun and can pro- vide partial buoyancy to soft- land payloads. After dropping off the payload, the balloon could then re-ascend with a 1-kg gondola that performs imaging and science for the remainder of the day. The required balloon mass to float a 50 kg gondola at Mars is only about 47 kg, and this same Montgolfiere could be used as a parachute to soft-land a 420 kg payload on Mars at 15 m/sec vertical impact speed. Montgolfieres have a big advantage in that numerous small leaks do not impair performance, since leaking air is quickly re- placed and re-heated by the sun. These "Montgolfiere" balloons are named after the two 18th-century French brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier, who were the first to fly hot-air balloons. Solar-heated balloons are nothing new. In fact, they are commercially available as novelty items and have been banned in some countries due to inter- ference with commercial aviation. Since the 1970's, the French have flown over forty Montgolfieres in the Earth's stratosphere (10 mbar - 40 mbar). The longest flight lasted 69 days and encircled the Earth twice. All Montgolfiere testing to date, prior to this JPL effort, has involved balloons that are gently launched from the ground, using either hot air or helium to provide initial buoyancy. The present JPL test effort, which was be- gun in 1997, has concentrated on deploying Montgolfieres from the air, as would be done on a mission to Mars. Military Montgolfieres and non-heated Montgolfieres, which are actually parachute balloons (a.k.a. "paraballoons") have also flown frequently, and have been used extensively by the U.S. Air Force as pilot ejection seat decelerators and to slowly descend bombs or bright observation lights during low altitude bomb- ing runs. The testing being conducted by JPL attempts to combine the high-strength deployment requirements of paraballoons with the lightweight, cold strength requirements of stratospheric Montgolfiere balloons. JPL has recently found altitude control systems that allow precise altitude control. The novel systems would allow balloons to collect and examine multiple ground samples over long distances for periods up to 90 days if deployed at a Martian pole in the summer. They also would allow very long-life balloons on Jupiter and Saturn that can dip into the lower water/ammonia clouds and survive the nights (~5 hours) by climbing very high be- fore sunset. Page 7 Crownlines October 2013 Balloons in Science Giant balloon to study Comet ISON By Amanda Barnett, CNN September 29, 2013 -- Updated 1851 GMT (0251 HKT) http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/27/tech/comet-ison-balloon-mission/index.html CNN) -- Exploring the heavens with spaceships and fancy orbiting telescopes like the Hubble is pretty routine stuff for NASA. But the space agency is going low-tech to get a good look at an eagerly anticipated comet. The space agency plans to launch a balloon -- yes, a balloon -- to study Comet ISON, the much-hyped comet that many hope will put on a big sky show in coming months. Astronomers are scrambling to figure out ways to learn more about the comet, and that's where the balloon comes in. This isn't the kind of balloon you buy for kids at a party store, but they do have some things in common. NASA says its scientific balloons are made of polyethylene film like the material in plastic bags, and it will be filled with helium, just like a party balloon. But the NASA balloons can carry a payload weighing 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms), or about the weight of three small cars. It has a gondola to carry the instruments. Some similarballoons can fly up to 26 miles high and stay for up to two weeks. The 671-foot-tall balloon that will monitor ISON is called BRRISON, or Balloon Rapid Response for ISON. Accord- ing to NASA, it will float about 120,000 feet above Earth to observe the comet -- and other science targets -- using a telescope and other instruments. It is expected to stay up from nine to 11 hours. "By ascending above 99.5% of the Earth's atmosphere, BRRISON will be able to study the materials within the comet," Andy Cheng, principal investigator, said on BRISSON's website. "It's possible that water and organic chemicals on comets may have played an important role in the evolution of life on Earth." The launch, from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, is targeted for 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, weather permit- ting. Comet ISON is nearing Mars on its way toward the sun and will fly about 730,000 miles above the sun's surface on November 8. If it survives, it could brighten and put on a big show as it passes Earth's orbit on its way back to the outer reaches of the solar system. Comet enthusiasts hope they will be able to see it without binocu- lars or telescopes. Its closest approach to Earth would be December 26, and it could be visible from the Northern Hemisphere for weeks in early 2014. Things to know about Comet ISON The comet was discovered by Russian astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok in September 2012. It is named after their night-sky survey program, the International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in 10 countries organized to track objects in space. Amateur astronomers already are posting pictures and making calculations about the comet's future. For those who want to try to track Comet ISON themselves, NASA has some tips on its Comet ISON website.