Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a multi balloon launch system and in particular, this invention
relates to a multi balloon launch system by which relatively small scale scientific
measurements can be done at constant or near constant altitude for a considerable amount
of time. More particularly, this present invention relates to a multi balloon launch system
which can float a set of instruments in a near constant altitude for hours together thereby
facilitating acquisition of scientific data from atmosphere and space at a very low cost.
Furthermore, this invention also relates to the multi balloon launch system which has the
beneficial effects of being futuristic, safe, reliable, light weight, repeatable with low turn
around time and with commercially available power supply.
Background of the invention and the related Prior Art
Large scientific balloons are being used for about a century for scientific data
procurement. It is well known that a balloon with smaller payload would rise to a higher
altitude, though typically the altitude is no more than about 40 km.
Balloons have also been used to launch rockets. Rockets launched from balloons, known
as "rockoons", have been demonstrated but to date, only for suborbital ("sounding
rocket") missions. The size of balloon that would be required to lift an orbital launch
vehicle would be extremely large. This method can take the rocket to a very high altitude,
typically 200-300 km.
The lifting gas of a balloon should necessarily be lighter than air, such as Hydrogen,
Helium, methane etc. Helium is expensive in large quantities. Hydrogen could be used as
it has the advantage of being cheaper and lighter than helium, but the disadvantage of
also being highly flammable. Methane is also flammable.
Very often it is proposed that by using very large balloons it may be possible to construct
a space port in the stratosphere. Rockets could launch from it or amass driver could

accelerate payloads into the orbit. This has the advantage that most (about 90%) of the
atmosphere is below the space port. This proposal has not been materialized.
The patent document WO2004092774 states that in certain applications, however, it is
desirable to minimize the size of the automated balloonsonde launcher system. Where the
system is portable, for example, it is desirable to provide an automated balloonsonde
launcher system that is small and may be easily moved. Also, where the automated
balloonsonde launcher system is to be operated from a location, such as on a commercial
ship deck, where the footprint or volume of the launcher system is an issue, it is desirable
to provide a system that provides a smaller footprint or volume.
The other document US7275496 discloses an automated method of launching a balloon It
has a collapsible protective cover comprising a flexible material forming an inner region
and a balloon. At least a portion of the balloon is inflated under the direction of a
controller within at least a portion of said inner region of said protective cover. When the
balloon has been inflated, at least a portion of the protective cover is opened to expose
the balloon and the balloon is released through the opening of said inflatable structure.
According to the document US8240602 a lighter than air (LTA) balloon and payload for
the LTA balloon are stored on or in an underwater launcher. The launcher provides a
source for a supply of a lighter than air gas, which is operatively connected to the LTA
balloon until release. On deployment, the lighter than air gas is generated. The LTA
balloon is deployed by activating the launcher to fill the LTA balloon and then releases
the LTA balloon.

The document US5125177 describes an inflatable promotional device, comprising of an
inflatable base portion; an inflatable upper portion which rests upon said base portion
when said upper portion is inflated; releasable sealing and securing means for
substantially sealing and securing said upper portion to said base portion such that said
upper portion may be readily interchanged with other upper portions; fluid
communication means for providing fluid communication between said base portion and
said upper portion; and fluid pressurizing means communicating with said base portion
for delivering fluid to said base portion at above ambient pressure.
According to the invention JP2001122194 to make an airship take off and land without
doing away with helium gas without support of an aboveground supporter, dissolve
present 24-hour human watch on the ground, and enable or facilitate launch and recover
of a stratosphere platform. A nose part of an airship body and a tail part of a moored
balloon of a mooring device have an engagement and helium gas transfer function. When
taking off, the airship body united with the moored balloon' is moved up by a winch from
the mooring device, and the airship is detached from the moored balloon in the airship of
a low altitude. When landing, the airship body 1 taking up position for the landing is
docked with the moored balloon moved up from the mooring device, is moved down, and
is moored.
A hotair balloon is inflated with an electric fan, and is sealed automatically when
selenoid switch closes shutters. Electric heating element heats air which is circulated
through the balloon. A thermostatic control unit keeps the balloon at an optimum

temperature whilst internal pressure sensor operates the shutters to allow expanding gases
to escape. Electricity is supplied by a control umbilical which is released until an
optimum distance above ground is reached. Lighting arrangements may project light onto
the internal face of the balloon. Moving pictures could also be projected, or a lazer unit
14 could project images. The balloon could be used for a variety of purposes ranging
from advertising, surveillance, bungy jumping, hang glider launch, parachuting or as a
weather balloon. The shape of the balloon could also be changed which has been stated in
document of patent application GB2297532.
The document JP2006036104 states to provide an apparatus for launch observation
balloon, .which apparatus can safely launch the observation balloon by normally
expanding the observation balloon in a balloon launch tower. A tray can horizontally
move from a launching preparation room toward the cylindrical body of the balloon
launching tower in a neighboring room. The tray is provided with a gas supplying port
on its tip end side in the moving direction. The inlet port of the observation balloon
before being filled with gas is disengage-ably connected to the gas supplying port, and a
ventilation port is formed on the bottom portion of the cylindrical body. A flow
straightening box is mounted on the bottom portion of the cylindrical body in order to
produce an air flow having no disturbance, which air flow is formed by a ventilation flow
flowing upward from the outside to the ventilation port. The flow straightening box has a
large number of ventilation holes having a honeycomb structure in the direction of
ventilation.

The invention stated in KR20000013721 discloses a method and a device are provided to
launch a space craft to the wanted position by easily moving a balloon in the air. The
launching method for a space craft has: a balloon; a GPS(global position system)
installed in a balloon; a controller controlling the balloon direction; a chasing device
informing a correct altitude and position of the balloon; a satellite installing device
installing the satellite in the balloon; a posture controlling device correcting the direction
by controlling the satellite posture; and a dividing device dividing the satellite to rotate
the satellite in a three dimensional space.
The existing systems which are used for scientific purposes require large (typically
millions of cubic meter in volume) plastic balloons and they use the so-called valve and
ballast method to maintain a near constant height. What is done in these cases is that
whenever the balloon crosses a certain height in its ascending journey, some gas is
released so that buoyancy is lost and the balloon stops its upward motion and starts to
descend. At this juncture, some ballast (typically some iron dusts) and dropped from the
instrument box so as to make the instrument lighter. This causes the balloon to lift the
lighter instruments upward. The process is then continued repeatedly till the ballast is
finished. This way of floating at a given height comes at a stupendous cost. A
considerable amount of ballast material such as iron dust (which has no scientific return),
and a very precise height/valve/ballast control system are needed.
The invention which is dealt with here consists of several novel features and a
combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the acconipanying

drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that
various changes in the details may be made without departing from the spirit, or
sacrificing any of the advantages of the present invention.
Summary of the invention
This invention relates to a multi balloon launch system and in particular, this invention
relates to a multi balloon launch system by which small scale scientific measurements
can be done at constant heights for a considerable amount of time. More particularly, this
present invention relates to a multi balloon launch system which can float a set of
instruments in a near constant altitude for hours together thereby facilitating acquisition
of scientific data from the atmosphere and space at a very low cost. This invention is
specially suitable for light weight rubber balloons or plastic balloons. Furthermore, this
invention also relates to the multi balloon launch system which has the beneficial effects
of being futuristic, safe, reliable, light weight, repeatable with low turn around time with
commercially available power supply.
Detailed description of the invention with accompanying drawings
For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the invention, there is illustrations in
the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment thereof, from an inspection of
which, when considered in connection with the following description, the invention, its
construction and operation, and many of its advantages should be readily understood and
appreciated. The drawings are in eight sheets.

Indeed, in most of the meteorological purposes the rubber balloon does not fly more than
about 20-22 kilo-meters and in most of these cases the instrument sent is for one time use
only. In some cases the instrument may be brought back by parachutes after the balloon is
burst or released into space by ejection method.
However, it is always advantageous to have a configuration, with a little extra cost, to
have the instruments floating for a very long time so that much more scientific data could
be procured by a single launch. The impugned invention is to demonstrate that if more
than one balloons is launched, and then systematically either burst or release all or all but
one balloon, depending on the weight of the instruments, the instruments can be floated
for a good many hours and after that they could be brought back to earth. The principal
object of the invention is to provide a multi balloon launch system. The other
embodiment of the invention is to provide a multi balloon launch system by which small
scale scientific measurements can be carried out at constant heights or near constant
heights for a considerable amount of time.
The other embodiment of the invention is to provide a multi balloon launch system by
small scale scientific measurements can still be done at constant or near constant heights
for a considerable amount of time and the balloons could be ordinarily available rubber
balloons which meteorologists regularly use.
The other object of the invention is to provide a multi balloon launch system which can
float a set of instruments in a constant or near constant altitude for hours together thereby
facilitating acquisition of scientific data from atmosphere and space at a very low cost.

The other embodiment of the invention is to provide a multi balloon launch system which
has the beneficial effects of being futuristic, safe, reliable, light weight, repeatable with
low turn around time with commercially available power supply.
The other embodiment of the invention is to provide a multi balloon launch system that
has the advantages of simple structure, light weight and low cost with reasonable design,
and convenient turn around time.
The novel features of this invention, as well as the invention itself, both as to its structure
and its operation, will be best understood from the accompanying drawings, taken in
conjunction with the accompanying description, in which similar reference characters
refer to similar parts, and in which:
Fig 1 Shows a meteorological balloon is being sent to space with a parachute and two
boxes of instruments. The instruments come back after the balloon burst at about a height
of 36 kilometers. The time height plot is shown in (b) where we see that the instruments
landed after about 200 minutes.
Fig 2 Shows a double balloon launch with a single parachute and two instrument
boxes.
Fig 3(a-d) Shows Sequence of a double balloon flight as a technological
demonstration of a long duration flight and data procurement for longer duration (a)
Double balloons of small sizes just after launch, as seen from the camera placed on one
instrument box. (b) The balloons expand about 6 times larger at an altitude of about 35
kilometers. (c) One balloon bursts and the other remains in tact. (d) The instrument is

coming down with one balloon and floating at a fixed altitude as determined by the
buoyancy of the remaining balloon.
Fig 4 Shows Altitude of the instrument in meters as a function of time (in seconds) to
demonstrate longer duration flights. Note that the total floating time of the instrument is
more than 30,000 seconds, or about eight and a half hours as opposed to about 200
minutes for a single balloon (Fig. 1). More than half of the time, the instruments floated
at a height of about 21 kilometers, as illustrated.
Fig 5 Shows Schematic diagram of a single balloon configuration when launched. The
necessary mathematical considerations are written below the diagram. The net system
moves upward with an acceleration a. The free lift L = p (h) V(h) is calculated.
Fig 6 Shows Schematic diagram of how the lift L = p (h) V(h) behaves for sufficiently
general types of rubber balloons which are known to expand when internal pressure is
higher compared to the external pressure. Exact behaviour of expansion, and thus, the
rubber material is not very important. Here V(h) is the Volume of the balloon which may
have any type of behaviour with altitude. The density of air p (h) decreases with altitude.
The product generally has a peak at some altitude depending on the balloon material.
Fig 7 Shows the variation of the free lift L with height (see Fig. 6). For a constant
payload mass Mp, L drives it to a high altitude at an acceleration as explained in Eqn. (1).
The balloon bursts at a burst height hb < Ceiling altitude and the system must come down
by the parachute. It cannot float for long at any altitude due to gravitational pull.
Fig. 8 Shows Schematic diagram of a two balloon system. The description is the same as
in Fig. 5 except that subscripts 1 and 2 have been used for the two balloons.

Fig 9 Shows Schematic diagram of the two general cases where the mass of the
instruments Mp is (a) less than lifts of any of the two balloons (Mp L1 >L2). Intermediate case will have the same
effect. Arrows show the direction of the payload movements. The equipment hangs at
equilibrium altitude he after one balloon bursts or is released. Details are in the text.
Fig 10 Shows a demonstration case of three balloon launch system. As the balloon bursts
one by one, the instruments lifts up slowly and then starts to descend with only one
balloon remaining. The allowed mass can be from 0 to L1+L2+L3.
In Fig. l(a-b), a typical case of a single balloon release with a few hundred grams of
instruments and a parachute is shown. The balloon was filled with hydrogen gas so that it
can lift the instruments. A typical upward speed is about 3-5 meters per second. The
balloon, depending on its make and capacity, always goes up to a height of a maximum
of 40 kilometers or so since the atmospheric pressure drops and the balloon bursts due to
excess internal pressure. After the burst, the balloon initially freely falls up to a height of
about 26-28 kilometers. After this initial descent, the air is dense enough to give a
considerable drag on the parachute. The parachute brings the instruments down for
further study of the data stored in the instruments and to re-use the costly instruments, A
typical flight, from launching to landing, is generally about 3 to 3 and a half hour under
normal condition. By giving lower lift (lesser buoyancy), one can always lengthen the
duration, but by definition, the height of the balloon will always either increase
continuously, or decrease continuously never floating at a constant or quasi-constant
height. Indeed, as soon as the balloon bursts, the drop of the instrument is very rapid due

to paucity of air. Figure lb shows that the dropping time is typically half as much as the
rising time of the balloon. In Fig. 2 a two balloon system launched with a single
parachute is shown. The internal gas fillings are to be carefully adjusted to achieve
desired goal of long term floatation.
Figure 3(a-d) shows a sequence of the fate of two balloons. In Fig. 3(a), shows the
balloons just after launch through a video camera kept on the instrument box. In Fig.
3(b), the balloon sizes are considerably large by a factor of about 6 as they expand in due
to drop of atmospheric pressure outside at about a height of -35 kilometers. In Fig. 3(c),
one balloon has been burst while the other is in tact. In Fig. 3 (d), only one balloon is
shown.
In Figure 4, gives a technological demonstration of how the invention is works in reality.
The altitude as a function of time is shown. In contrast to what is seen in Figure I (b), here
the instruments steadily descended below till an equilibrium height he is reached and the
balloon floats almost at a certain height (in this case at 21 kilometer). This configuration,
where one balloon smoothly takes the other balloon and the payload to the desirable burst
height and then bursts to let the second balloons orbits for a few hours, may be called
'Booster-Orbiter' configuration. Typically, in a two balloon system, the balloon with
higher initial lift, bursts first and acts as the booster. The remaining balloon which floats
with the instrument is the 'Orbiter'. Of course, one can always eject the Orbiter first. So it
is not rigorously important which one acts as which.
It is clear that if more than two balloons are sent, they similarly achieve various heights
and float the instruments for various durations at various heights as is required. The cost
of the launching of the instruments in the double balloon case is not increased at all. In

fact, the instrument returns back with the second balloon with its internal gas intact,
which can be re-used. However, for practical purpose of returning the in-tact balloon to
the launching site for re-use, we may choose to remove the gas at the landing site. If we
so choose, we may even release the balloon in-tact by ejection technique after the goal is
achieved. In that case, the instrument will return back only by the parachute as in the
single balloon launch.
Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of a rubber balloon with a parachute and a payload
instrument box. The mass of the instrument box is Mj and that of the parachute is m. The
net mass of the payload is Mp= M,- + m. The external air density is p (h) and internal gas
(hydrogen or helium as the case may be) is pin (h). Here h is the altitude from sea level.
The volume of the balloon changes with height as V(h) (to be specified below). If g is the
acceleration due to gravity, the product p (h) V(h) responsible for the lift of the
instrument is given by:
L= p (h) V(h) = Mp a/g - MH (1)
We name this term as free Lift. MH is the mass of the gas inside the balloon which
remains constant. The mass of the balloon is not considered explicitly as it is a constant
and it is the free lift (after compensation for the balloon mass from the total, lift) that is
useful for a balloon flight. So the acceleration of the payload depends on the behaviour of
this free Lift. Our discussion does not depend on these constants.
In Fig. 6 shows how the lift L = p (h) V(h) changes with height for three typical
expansion property of the balloon. In all the cases the balloon starts with some finite

volume and some air density. Thus the product is finite. Typically the volume expands
with height much more rapidly than the way air density drops with height. Thus the lift L
= p (h) V(h) initially rises and then, since air density drops to almost zero at high
altitude, L goes down rapidly losing drive to lift the instrument any farther. There is a
ceiling altitude of about 40km height above with a rubber balloon bursts spontaneously
since the air density becomes comparable to internal density and the tension of balloon
material which is about 3-4 mm of air pressure causes the balloon to burst.
Normally L tends to become zero much after the ceiling altitude and the balloon burst
height. After the burst, the instrument and the parachute come down as in the example
shown in Fig. 1b.
Figure 7 shows the typical lift behaviour L1 as described in Fig. 6 as a function of height
(h). Mp remains constant with height. The balloon B1 bursts at hb . For a positive
acceleration a , Mp could be anywhere between 0 and L1 on ground. Here MH is ignored
for simplicity. Arrow represents the upward journey of the instrument box (Fig. 5) with a
positive a, as obtained by Eqn. (1).
If the another balloon is attached and we send two balloons together the situation changes
drastically. Either we eject one of the balloons before the burst height, or wait for one to
burst first, before.
In Fig. 8, we show a similar schematic diagram with two balloons. The symbols are
similar as in Fig. 5, except that subscripts 1 and 2 are used for two balloons and the lift is
now L = p (h) [Vl(h)+V2(h)] and MH contains the mass of the internal gas of both the
balloons a is the net acceleration of the entire system.

In Fig. 9, we show the trajectory of the payload Mp for two cases (a) Mp L1. When this multi-balloon system is launched, the net lift LI + L2 take
the instrument to burst altitude of the first balloon. If necessary we can release one of the
balloons also by ejection method. The lengths of the ropes attached to the balloons are to
at least 13-15 times larger than the radius of each balloon on ground to avoid accidental
bursting of the second balloon when the first one is bursting. In either case, the
instruments fate would depend on the remaining balloon. The second balloon will start to
descend more slowly than when only the parachute was present (as in a single balloon
launch). This already gives space data at high altitude for more time. Depending on the
mass of the instruments, it will reach a height of neutrality. Lower the instrument mass is,
higher is the equilibrium height hc. Depending on the time of launch, the data acquisition
time at an altitude he could be several (12-18) hours.
Exactly the same scenario occurs in Fig. 9 (b), but here the value of he is likely to be
lower than that of case given in Fig. 9a since the mass of the instruments is higher. In
either case, the instruments returns back if we wait till the night fall when the balloon
cools down and its volume is reduced, reducing the lift L1 further (L1 < Mp), allowing
the instrument to come down on it own. Alternatively this balloon may also be ejected
and the instrument will come down with the parachute at desired time.
Note that the instruments return back to the ground using the remaining balloon and no
parachute is to be sent at all thereby raising equilibrium heights. Furthermore, since this
balloon is recovered, one can expel the gas inside and use it again for the next flight.

On the basis of the principle stated above, one can have similar situation when multiple
balloons are launched. By suitably ejecting one by one, or allowing naturally to burst, the
neutrality condition could be better achieved at even higher heights. Figure 10 shows an
example of three balloons where, after the burst of the first balloon, the balloon continues
to rise to higher altitude since the sum of lifts of two remaining balloons is still high
enough. When one of the remaining balloons burst or ejected, the descend starts in the
same way as described in double balloon case.
There are numerous possibilities when a large number of balloons are launched and it
requires an expertize on how to distribute the total free lift among the component
balloons.
Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully illustrate my invention, that others
may, by applying current or future knowledge, readily adapt the same for use under
various conditions of service. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that
such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Advantages over the prior art
The multi balloon launch system proposed by the present invention has the following
advantages over the prior art:
a) It is vastly less expensive as compared to others systems available for space data
acquisition.
b) Using this launch system one can get long duration scientific data even with
meteorological rubber balloons.
c) This system can still be used for intermediate sized plastic balloons.

d) It has the characteristics of simple structure, convenience of use, high efficiency.
e) It is economical in maintenances.
f) For plastic balloons the Booster balloon does not burst and disintegrates, and thus it
has to be ejected.
g) By using this system, long duration satellite quality data can be obtained even with
lesser expensive rubber balloons, which are so far being used only for meteorological
purposes.
(h) Since it utilized modern day miniaturized technology in making payloads, our
invention is futuristic.
It is to be appreciated that the above description is to be interpreted in an illustrative
rather than a restrictive sense and that variations may be apparent to those skilled in the
art of inflatable devices in adapting the present invention to particular applications.
Furthermore, although a single top portion has been described it is to be understood that a
plurality of such top portions may similarly be attached to a base portion. Accordingly, it
is intended that the expression "top portion" be interpreted broadly enough to include two
or more such portions. Similarly a single bottom portion as illustrated in Figures 5 and 8
could be replaced by multiple bottom portions.

We claim:
1) A multi balloon launch system can be made which comprises:
i) Two and above number of balloons;
ii) A set of instruments;
2) The multi balloon launch system as claimed in claim 1 by which small scale
scientific measurements can be done at constant or near constant heights for a
considerable amount of time.
3) The multi balloon launch system as claimed in claim 1 which can float a set of
instruments in a constant or near constant altitude for hours together thereby
facilitating acquisition of scientific data from atmosphere (such as Ozone,
pollutants) and space'(such as charged particles, X-rays, Gamma-rays from various
extra-terrestrial objects) at a very low cost.
4) The multi balloon launch system as claimed in claim 1 in which three balloons
where, after the burst of the first balloon, the balloon continues to rise higher altitude
since the sum of lifts of two remaining balloons is still high enough and when one
of remaining balloons burst or ejected, the descend starts in the same way.
5) The multi balloon launch system as claimed in claim 1 wherein in case Mp