In the heart of Moffett Field, California, where the historic hangar doors creak with the weight of aviation history, Pathfinder 1, a cutting-edge modern airship is taking shape at LTA Research (LTA)—an aerospace R&D company backed by Google cofounder Sergey Brin. This diverse team is dedicated to advancing airship technology with a clear mission: to expand and complement humanitarian relief in disaster areas and pave the way for clean transportation.

On November 8^th, Pathfinder 1, the largest aircraft built since the 1930s emerged from its WW2-era Hangar Two at NASA’s Moffett Field, ready for some outdoor evaluation. It was guided by ropes held by a large team of engineers, technicians, and ground crew. Then it was rolled back in. The white, sleek, rigid airship with an elongated hull, reminiscent of the iconic airships of the past and with a gondola-like cabin suspended below, stretches an impressive 400 feet in length and 66 feet at its widest. Pathfinder 1 is a test airship that combines old-fashioned design, new materials, and advanced engineering. This prototype, if successful, will bring a new generation of larger airships to flight. 

The testing unfolded as expected. The initial objective was to understand how the experimental airship with its one million cubic feet of helium and weather-resistant polymer skin, would react to the heating impact of California’s sunlight. When the sun warmed its skin, the airship superheated, expanded, and got lighter. Powered by small electric motors, it smoothly moved in different directions. “It performed really well,” LTA CEO Alan Weston told Mercury News.  Weston is a veteran in the aerospace field and has a passion for pushing boundaries.In the 1970s, he pursued engineering at the University of Oxford. His career unfolded at the US Air Force, contributing to the strategic defense initiative, commonly known as Star Wars. Weston joined NASA Ames Research Center in 2006 and led over 50 missions, including the development of a low-cost lunar lander. At the Ames Research Center, Weston and Brin developed a professional acquaintance, finding common ground in their shared interest in airship technology.

Modern transportation often leaves a significant carbon footprint, with the aviation industry alone emitting nearly 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) annually. At LTA, the focus is on constructing airships that are not only safer and stronger but also environmentally efficient. LTA envisions a future where zero-emission airships play a pivotal role in supporting and expediting disaster response and relief efforts. These airships can land and take off vertically, even when runways, roads, and ports are damaged, delivering vital supplies to communities in need. If cellphone towers are knocked out, these airships can hover above and provide much-needed communication services.

“It’s been 10 years of blood, sweat and tears,” Weston told TechCrunch on the eve of the unveiling. “Now we must show that this can reliably fly in real-world conditions. And we’re going to do that.”

The initial stages of testing will involve tethered flights to ensure the airship’s readiness. Subsequently, Pathfinder 1 will fly several FAA-approved missions within a restricted zone, not exceeding 1,500 feet over the south side of the San Francisco Bay area, where it won’t interfere with any regular air traffic.

Currently, LTA’s certified airship pilots, flight test engineers, and seasoned ground crew are engaged in rigorous testing and training, preparing for an upcoming extended outdoor flight. Acknowledging the vital role of the ground crew, their skill in guiding the airship in and out of the hangar, and during take-off and landing is deemed as important as the expertise of certified airship pilots.

The Birth and Resurgence of Airships

In the realm of aviation, the first aircraft invented were hot air balloons and gas balloons in 1783 in France. Now, when we talk about lighter-than-air aviation (basically, things that float in the air), there are two main types of aircraft: balloons and airships. Both rise and float due to buoyancy, meaning their total weight is less than the air they displace.
Balloons, both in the past and present, lack engines, but pilots can make them go up or down by changing the amount of gas or hot air inside the balloon. Though they cannot steer it like a car, skilled pilots can control their course and height by riding different air currents at different altitudes.

Since balloons are not navigable, the 19th century saw continued attempts to add methods of propulsion to balloons.  Henri Giffard, a visionary French engineer, crafted the first navigable airship in 1852, propelling it forward with a steam-powered engine. However, practical airships only became a reality with the introduction of the gasoline engine in 1896. Alberto Santos-Dumont continued this legacy in 1898 by developing a gasoline-powered airship. Thus, entered the airship, a powered LTA craft born from the fusion of elongated balloons and engines.

Airships evolved into three forms: the nonrigid blimp, the semirigid vessel offering improved stability, and the rigid giant known as the Zeppelin. The non-rigid blimps rely on the pressure of the gas within, such as helium or hydrogen to maintain their form. On the other hand, semirigid airships introduce a subtle framework, providing some structural support, while rigid airships (aka Zeppelins) have a full rigid structure to ensure steadfast stability.

Typically, as seen with many innovations, the military swiftly identified practical applications for both the balloon and the airship. In the early 20^th century, among various countries engaged in airship construction, the United States stood out as the primary producer of these innovative aerial vehicles. Airships played a role in World War I for military reconnaissance and even bombing missions. Certain massive U.S. Navy airships had the capacity to transport a fleet of biplanes and refuel them using a hook system.

Once the war ended, airships found commercial success, becoming symbols of luxury travel. They were the marvels of the sky and were at the height of travel innovation in the 1920s and 1930s, offering an exhilarating way for sightseeing and traveling over long distances. In fact, the world’s first airline DELAG established in Germany in 1909, pioneered a new era in airship travel. The company offered the world’s first transatlantic passenger airline service, using LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin, which completed an impressive 143 Atlantic crossings before being retired after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937.

The golden era of airships declined in the 1930s, due to the rise of airplanes and some tragic disasters such as the storm-related losses of the helium-filled airships USS Macon and USS Akron, and the explosive incident involving the hydrogen-filled airship, the Hindenburg.

Today, few companies remain in the airship business. The iconic Goodyear blimps, a remnant of a bygone era, still grace the skies during major events, serving as a floating billboard for advertising.

The last airship was built by the Navy in 1960, in the Akron Airdock. By this time, airships were no longer employed for passenger or cargo transport and their use in the military also decreased. However, the past 20 years has seen a resurgence of interest in airships, with various projects and innovations emerging globally.
In 2006, the U.S. Navy resumed airship flights, after a 44-year hiatus. In 2010, the U.S. Army awarded a $517 million contract to Northrop Grumman and UK’s Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) for a Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) system, but the program was scrapped for lack of funds and HAV bought the rights to the project. After years of research and development, Airlander 10, the hybrid airship, went through a complete transformation, and it is being tested for the commercial market.

Pathfinder 1

Alan Weston began researching airships in the archives in Akron, in 2014, and engaging with airship designers, including the German manufacturer Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and the American multinational Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Subsequently, LTA established facilities in Akron, Ohio; Gardnerville, Nevada; and Moffett Field, California, generating new jobs in these regions. In 2022, LTA became the official owner of the Akron Airdock, and a year later after months of pre-flight training and tests, Pathfinder 1 progressed to its inaugural indoor flight in Mountain View, CA, which led to its outdoor testing on November 8^th.

From construction to pilot training, Pathfinder 1 surpasses early 20th-century airships in being lighter, safer, and more capable. Notably, its safety is enhanced by utilizing helium, a non-flammable lifting gas.

The airship’s impressive design features a strong yet light carbon fiber skeleton and a nonflammable outer layer made of lightweight Tedlar. This construction ensures sturdiness, UV resistance, and the ability to block visible light.

Pathfinder 1’s propulsion, powered by a dozen electric motors, along its sides and tail, promises speeds of up to 75 mph with precise control. Two generators (150-kilowatt) distribute power to the electric motors integrated into the airframe.

Solar panels and ongoing research into hydrogen fuel cells hint at a future where these airships are not just clean but also self-sustainable.

The nose cone of Pathfinder 1 has been crafted in partnership with Zeppelin. It’s a mix of titanium dock, aluminum adapter, Kevlar shield, and carbon fiber. This cone doesn’t just moor the airship gently; it can withstand winds up to 80 mph.

Controlled by a fly-by-wire system, Pathfinder 1 responds to joystick commands from pilots in the Zeppelin-built gondola with sensor feedback data to actuate the 12 electric motors and four fin rudders to fly the airship.

The airship’s main frames are like a skeleton. Welded titanium hubs and carbon fiber tubes form a circular rib cage, and reinforced joints in critical areas make sure Pathfinder 1 stays tough and safe even when it’s carrying significant loads for humanitarian missions.

 The interior of the ship has 13 sections, each with a helium cell made from ripstop nylon-based fabric and monitored by Lidar sensors. The company’s website says, “At LTA Research, we treat helium like the precious resource that it is and keep our helium footprint small by containing and recycling it. We are always looking for new ways to increase our efficiency.”

The gondola is designed to accommodate up to 14 people, with a single-pilot operation setup, complete with dual controls for flight testing.

The team also came up with significant breakthroughs in the assembly of Pathfinder 1. Unlike the precarious methods of the past, where workers climbed towering scaffolding, LTA introduced a rotisserie system. The entire airship skeleton rotates, allowing workers to operate mostly at ground level, ensuring both safety and a ten-fold increase in manufacturing efficiency.

Anticipated to transport payloads ranging from 4,400 pounds (2,000 kg) to 11,000 pounds (5,000 kg), Pathfinder 1 has a versatile capacity depending on the airship’s final weight and the nature of each mission. Following the success of this prototype, LTA plans to build much bigger airships with greater cargo capacity in the coming years. The potential of these airships to access remote and disaster-affected areas and transport substantial cargo, holds promise for making a significant impact in saving lives and delivering crucial relief supplies.

However, the airship industry faces several challenges, as is seen in the ambitious undertaking by Flying Whales, a French company dedicated to developing heavy-lift airships for transporting cargo, especially within the forestry industry. Overcoming technical hurdles in loading, unloading, or executing a cargo-ballast swap proves to be a significant challenge. As heavy cargo is unloaded, making the airship lighter and causing it to ascend much higher, it becomes imperative to carefully balance buoyancy and weight. While some solutions appear straightforward in theory, maintaining this equilibrium in a dynamic timeframe proves challenging. Among the available options, adding and releasing large quantities of helium during each flight is economically unfeasible. Modifying the airship’s lift during flight requires extensive research and development. One potential solution entails carrying an equal weight of water as ballast and dispensing it as the airship lifts heavy cargo, but this approach also has some practical challenges.

Additionally, inclement weather conditions, such as thunderstorms or high winds, may lead to the grounding of airships for safety reasons. While modern airship designs incorporate advanced technology and control systems to enhance stability, pilots still need to consider and navigate through changing weather patterns.

However, with technological advancements in manufacturing, Weston and Brin seem optimistic and Weston envisions a fleet of airships darkening the skies. These airships, with their ability to hover for hours without burning fuel, could fill critical gaps in transportation, particularly in disaster relief and humanitarian missions.

In the hangar, the whispers of Brin’s financial commitment reach $250 million. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Brin, with an estimated net worth of $105 billion, also funds a disaster charity called Global Support and Development that provides rapid response aid after volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and storms.

With companies like Hybrid Air Vehicles, Lockheed Martin, Aeros, VariaLift Airships, OceanSky Cruises, Flying Whales, LTA Research and others actively contributing to the narrative of airship resurgence, the once-forgotten giants of the sky may well reclaim their place in aviation history.

Top featured image: Pathfinder 1 tethered to concrete ballast blocks inside Hangar 2 at Moffett Field in preparation for pre-flight testing. Photo Credit LTA Research

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Sitara Maruf
Sitara@ltaflightmagazine.com

Bert Padelt shares the details with Sitara Maruf.

Sitara Maruf: Thank you very much for granting this interview, and congratulations on the preparation for such a great flight. So, what is the status for the upcoming launch?

Bert Padelt:  Thanks a lot. Well, things are in place and ready to go, and I feel comfortable where we are at this point. We have all the equipment in order. On the day of the launch, all pretty much we will have to do is charge the batteries and that kind of thing. We’re still waiting for the weather. The Atlantic Ocean has been very active with tropical storms and hurricanes and so things are very unsettled, but the meteorologists are assuring us that things will start to settle out as we move into October. And, so, we’re being very optimistic that we’re going get a weather system that’s going to work, and we just have to be patient. Towards the end of next week there is a nice high pressure that’s building up in Maine, that they’re keeping a close eye on. So, we’ll see what happens.

Sitara Maruf: Will it get colder?
Bert Padelt: It will, and the nights are going to get longer. That’s the only disadvantage. But, you know, I’ve done a lot of gas flying in the fall and winter timeframes where the nights are longer. It doesn’t really concern me that much. And yes, I am very conservative when I fly, and I’m looking at this flight the same way. If we don’t have the right weather system, it makes no sense to take off. We certainly won’t fly until we get that weather system.

Sitara Maruf: Could you please share some specifics of the balloon?

Bert Padelt: Yes. It’s a hydrogen gas balloon. The material is a four and a quarter ounce per square yard nylon taffeta fabric and we needed 1,200 yards. The volume is 90,000 cubic feet. We most likely will not be putting that much hydrogen in the balloon when we inflate it. It depends on the first day’s flight level. Let’s say the flight level is 8,000 feet on the first day, so we may be putting only 85,000 cubic feet of gas. Our sand ballast is 4,800 pounds and drinking water is 26 gallons, some of which could also serve as ballast. The basket is 72 inches by 60 inches wide.

Sitara Maruf: And the hydrogen inflation will begin after you come to know about the suitable weather window for the launch?

Bert Padelt: Yes. The hydrogen is in place and the equipment is stored in a building just around the corner from the launch field. Everything will be easily transported to the launch field on the day of the inflation. The conditions that we need to launch and fly across the Atlantic, we’ll probably know within three days of the launch. So, we’ll have roughly about three or maybe two days to get everything ready to go.

Sitara Maruf: Wonderful. I hope you’re getting some rest now.

Bert Padelt:  I am. You know, it’s been a lot of work up until this point and there’s been a lot of key things that had to come together to make this work. And at this point, the last key to the puzzle is the weather. Unfortunately, we don’t have any control over that, but that’s pretty much where we stand at this point.

Sitara Maruf: And the weather will have to be fine all the five days across the Atlantic, correct?

Bert Padelt:  Oh yeah, ideally you know, from a weather standpoint, what we’re looking for is a ridge of high pressure that develops and crosses Presque Isle, Maine. And we would launch into that ridge of high pressure and go to a designated flight level, probably between six and eight-thousand feet, and as the days progressed, fly at an altitude to stay in that ridge of high pressure all the way across the Atlantic.

Sitara Maruf: It seems even more challenging to fly a hydrogen balloon in an open basket, across the Atlantic. You’ve been a very successful balloon builder and you have contributed so many great balloons to some epic journeys. So, is it some advancements in materials and technology that have contributed to your decision towards taking this hydrogen balloon flight?

Bert Padelt: Well, to go with helium would be next to impossible for several reasons. One, being able to secure the helium gas, and the other would be the cost. I’ve been building hydrogen balloons for the last 15 years, and we have been flying with hydrogen for some years now. In Europe, they’ve been flying hydrogen for over 200 years and that has always been the choice in Europe. In this country, it is the same now. So, it was a logical decision to go with hydrogen. Plus, we benefit from extra lift with hydrogen.

As for the balloon, it’s obviously designed and built to use hydrogen. The fabric and the load tapes are conductive. Everything on the balloon is conductive and connected so that if there was a static buildup there would be a way for that to be discharged through the construction of the balloon. The obvious biggest concern using hydrogen or flying with hydrogen is avoiding thunderstorms and bad weather. That’s always been the issue with hydrogen, but we will launch by taking a weather window where we will be able to hopefully minimize those risks. In other words, we wouldn’t be launching if there were the possibilities of a storm that we would get into.

That’s not to say that wouldn’t happen, but with today’s weather forecasting and the meteorologists that we’re using are experts at forecasting ballooning weather. Luc Trullemans forecasted the weather for both successful around the world flights. Luc and his protégé Wim De Troyer have done a tremendous amount of weather forecasting for ballooning in general, so, we feel like we have two of the best weather forecasters in the business. And, also, a good friend of mine, Don Day, is a meteorologist that I’ve used for years. Don will be on the sidelines as well, looking at the weather for me. So, I feel very confident that if we get a window of opportunity to launch, we’ll be launching in a good weather system.

Sitara Maruf: Flying in an open basket presents more challenges compared to flying in a capsule.

Bert Padelt: Well, all of the gas ballooning I’ve ever done over long distances has always been in an open basket. This basket that we’ll be flying with has a rain cover that comes down off the load ring. We’ll have it down at night even if it’s not raining because it will be able to retain some of the heat in the basket. That should make it about 15 degrees warmer in the basket than outside air temperatures. I’m thinking possibly our coldest temperatures could be somewhere near five to zero degrees Fahrenheit at night at the higher altitudes that we’ll be flying.

Sitara Maruf: What do you see as your biggest challenge? Possibilities of a rogue thunderstorm, updrafts?

Bert Padelt: Yeah. Probably the first 24 hours will tell us a lot because I will have a very good idea of how the balloon is flying after the first 24 hours, after we go through our first sunset.

And if the balloon is flying well and the flight continues, then the challenge becomes the weather itself. And if we were to get into a storm we would certainly have to ditch. And if we were to ditch in the ocean, we do not have a capsule that floats; however, throughout the whole flight, we’ll have our immersion suits on, so in the event that we have to ditch we would egress out of the basket into a life raft, with our immersion suits.

Sitara Maruf: Okay. So, there are enough safety protocols in place.

Bert Padelt: There are. We’re flying with immersion suits, also a life raft that we would be able to egress into. We’re also flying with trackers that give our position and are updated every five minutes. We’ll be in constant communication with our command center, which will be in Bristol, England. We have two satellite phones, and an Iridium GO which allows us to have a satellite hotspot in the basket, which would allow texting through WhatsApp on our cell phones. And, in addition to all of that, each of us would always have a personal locator beacon on us.

Sitara Maruf: One of the challenges in long-distance gas ballooning is to save enough gas and enough ballast till you land. What would be the strategy here?

Bert Padelt: Yeah. That is correct, and so in some ways flying over the ocean is a positive thing compared to flying over land because there are no mountains and there’s no ground effect that we have to worry about. When you fly over land, you always will use more ballast than if you’re flying over water because the balloon is not as stable over land as it is while flying over water. The way our flight profile is designed, and the meteorologists are aware that we’re ideally looking for a weather system that will allow the balloon to fly basically at its new pressure ceiling every day. In other words, we want to be able to climb in altitude every day with the solar heating.

And if we can find a weather system that we naturally climb every day, then the balloon will benefit from a ballast standpoint, and it’ll fly the most efficient that a gas balloon could possibly fly. Let’s say we start out at a pressure ceiling of about 8,000 feet, then we would ballast 10% of our gross lift at sunset. The next day when the sun comes out, the balloon would heat and naturally climb about 2,000 feet. The next night we would keep it at that altitude by ballasting off 10% of our gross lift, and then the next day the balloon would climb again 2,000 feet, so that by the end of the flight when we come into Europe we could be as high as 17,000 feet and on oxygen, obviously, at those altitudes.

Sitara Maruf: So, you will be taking supplemental oxygen too?

Bert Padelt: Yes, of course. And the way the flight is calculated with the ideal weather system, the last 72 hours of the flight, most likely will be on oxygen.

Sitara Maruf: How would the balloon work in terms of saving and releasing the hydrogen?

Bert Padelt: So, this is a zero-pressure gas balloon. The appendix will be open when we’re climbing to a new pressure ceiling, and it will be venting gas. So, every time it climbs to a new pressure ceiling, the balloon will be venting a little bit of gas. And, if we’re flying below our pressure ceiling at nighttime or we’re not climbing higher than our pressure ceiling, the appendix would be closed at that time to avoid any kind of air mixing with the hydrogen. And there’s a mechanical valve in the top of the balloon that’s used to vent gas and descend in altitude.

Sitara Maruf: As you know, in 1978 the first successful Atlantic crossing by a balloon was achieved. The Double Eagle II balloon had 134,000 cubic feet of helium. Of course, Ed Yost and some others attempted with much smaller balloons and flew most of the distance. With so many advances, now, 90,000 cubic feet of hydrogen, would be the ideal size for a crew of three?

Bert Padelt: You know, it took a little bit of thought into designing what size is the ideal size, and I came up with 90,000 cubic feet because I wanted to keep everything in balance and as lightweight as possible. And so, by designing something bigger doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get more duration because of the fact that everything is heavier. This balloon has a duration of about six days, and it’s designed to fly in that perfect weather system that I described. If the balloon was built larger, it would have to be quite a bit larger to be able to increase that duration, because when you start going bigger, it’s more weight, and it’s really not fair to compare this designed balloon at 90,000 to the Double Eagle balloon which was larger because that was 1978.

At that time, the materials were a lot heavier to begin with, so that balloon system was quite a bit heavier than this balloon system is. The fabric on that balloon was almost twice the weight. The gondola that they flew in was a fiberglass boat, which was extremely heavy. Our basket weighs only 155 pounds. The oxygen equipment that they were flying with back then, you know, they were flying with steel bottles compared to aluminum bottles that we are flying with. The avionics equipment back then was extremely heavy. The power system was more than twice as heavy as what we’re flying with. They were flying with lead acid batteries we’re flying with lithium batteries. So, there’s a lot, I mean, if you look at just the size difference—the bottom line is, you know, the gross lift versus the gross weight and how much ballast do you have when you subtract that.

Sitara Maruf: Have you flown a 90,000 cubic feet balloon before?

Bert Padelt: No, no, I have not.

Sitara Maruf: I suppose it’s almost impossible to try out a balloon that is made for the Atlantic, right?

Bert Padelt: Yeah. This balloon is 90,000 cubic feet, but I designed it around using the same weight ballast bags that I fly in a thousand-meter balloon.  Consequently, at sunset, we’re going to be using a lot more ballast. On the first sunset, we will be ballasting about 18 bags of ballast, which is a lot more compared to the thousand-meter balloon, where you’re only ballasting about eight bags of ballast. But, by the end of this flight, the balloon is going to be down around 40,000 cubic feet, because it will have lost that much gas every sunset and cooling and climbing to a higher-pressure ceiling. So, by the end of this flight, we would be flying a 40,000-cubic-foot balloon which will be very similar to one of my 37,000-cubic-foot balloons when it’s full. So, I feel very comfortable that I will understand how this balloon flies towards the end of the flight.

Sitara Maruf: Anything else you’d like to add about this forthcoming flight?

Bert Padelt: Yes, my two flight companions, David Hempleman-Adams and Dr. Frederik Paulsen. David has done quite a bit in ballooning over the years. You know, he was the first person to fly a balloon to the North Pole in honor of the Andrée’s Expedition that took place in 1897. David’s flight to the North Pole was an incredible flight. As a matter of fact, it was that flight that lured me to meet David. I was so impressed by that flight.  I basically looked up David and introduced myself to him and over the years, I’ve built a lot of balloons that he’s broken records with as well. David and I have developed a very strong friendship over the years. And David has always known of my desire and dream to do this flight. He also understood that I was living that dream through some of his flights that he did, across the Atlantic. David is doing this flight because he knows how important it is for me, and he’s also very good friends with Dr. Frederik Paulsen, who will be flying with us.

Sitara Maruf: Dr. Paulsen owns Torabhaig Malt Whisky, and Torabhaig is sponsoring this flight?

Bert Padelt: Yes, without our sponsor this flight would not have been possible. That’s how this whole thing came together.

Sitara Maruf: How long was the preparation process for getting this whole thing together and how many individuals worked on the project?

Bert Padelt: So, this project has basically been my life over the last year. My wife Joanie, my daughter-in-law Mel Padelt, team member Jim Duncan, and I have been building this balloon since February of this year. My wife Joanie, who is also a balloon pilot, worked side by side with me in the shop, and we have dedicated a hundred percent of our time to this project. But as far as the number of people that have helped this past year whenever we’ve needed extra help, probably about 20 people  have volunteered to bring this project  to where it is right now.

Sitara Maruf: So, are you in Presque Isle, Maine, right now?

No, I’m back at home. Because the equipment is ready to go, and I’ve been involved in so many of these projects like this, and I understand what’s involved. You know, for all of Steve Fossett’s projects, we were always on site waiting for the weather, and usually it’s about a four-week process waiting for the right weather window. I did not want to be in Maine waiting four weeks for the weather because it would drive me crazy.  Fortunately, I’m only 12 hours away from Presque Isle. So, I’m able to be in my shop and I’m doing other things while we’re waiting for the weather, and that just makes it so much nicer for me.

Sitara Maruf: Finally, why do you have so much passion for ballooning?

Bert Padelt: The passion I have for ballooning goes all the way back to when I was three years old.  My first memories that I have was when I was very young, my grandmother would blow up a toy balloon and hand it to me and put me in a chair to calm me down. And so the memory I have is holding that balloon  and dreaming  of traveling with it  wherever the wind would go. That passion and love for flight and for silent flight never left. And I’ve been fortunate to be able to make a living with that passion. And this flight that we’re doing has been a dream of mine since I was 13 years old.

Sitara Maruf: Thank you for sharing all the information and for all your contributions to ballooning. We wish you and your companions a safe, successful, and enjoyable flight.

Interview dates: 12^th and 22^nd September 2023

Please look for updates and track this adventure at the links below.
Updates: https://torabhaig-atlantic-explorer.com/TORABHAIG-DIARY
Track Flight: https://torabhaig-atlantic-explorer.com/

Related articles: Balloonists Aim to Cross the Atlantic in a Hydrogen Balloon

Aeronaut in the Spotlight: Soaring with Bert Padelt
Coming up this week: An interview with Sir David Hempleman-Adams!

The new exhibition traces the stories of inductees, beginning with those who launched the age of human aviation over two centuries ago through ballooning. Since then, people have pushed the technology of ballooning and lighter-than-air (LTA) aviation in order to reach new heights, gain new knowledge, and advance human capabilities. The International Ballooning Hall of Fame recognizes and memorializes the accomplishments of these legendary aeronauts.

“Due to the nature of ballooning and LTA aviation, the inductees have been leading practitioners of science, technology, engineering, and math,” adds Garver.

Technology is a major theme of the new International Ballooning Hall of Fame, which includes a section on airships that features the steering wheel from an early 20th-century dirigible.

In light of this, the exhibition explores how inductees mastered physical forces to achieve flight; experimented at high altitude to better understand our physical world; created and adapted technologies to help us go higher and farther; explored new frontiers and pushed the boundaries of performance through competition and setting records; and they have enhanced, preserved, and shared history, science, and technology for the benefit of each other, as well as the public, government, and private enterprise.

“Without the efforts of these inductees,” says Garver, “our understanding of aeronautics, the natural world, and the cosmos would be greatly diminished along with our potential as humans.”

The “Voyages of Discovery” section of the exhibition chronicles inductees who went beyond known frontiers, were the first to achieve unprecedented milestones and passed thresholds of earlier ballooning records.

Technology is a major theme of the “Science of Flight” exhibit, which includes a section on airships that features the steering wheel from an early 20th-century dirigible.

“There are dozens of legendary aeronauts in the International Ballooning Hall of Fame,” says Paul Garver, Balloon Museum manager. “Of course, this includes a number of people from New Mexico and Albuquerque, in particular, but also people from around the world and from different historical periods.”

The multi-media exhibition includes many unique and never-before-seen artifacts from the Balloon Museum’s extensive collection, including burners, instruments, and inflation devices. A centerpiece touchscreen interactive, nearly 8 feet tall, invites visitors to learn more about all of the inductees.

The World Air Sports Federation’s International Ballooning Commission, or Comité International d’Aérostation, founded the Hall of Fame in 1994 to honor those who have made significant contributions to ballooning and airships, including those who have excelled in business, history, design, engineering, competitions, and record-setting. The Balloon Museum has been home to the International Ballooning Hall of Fame since 2011.

Named in honor of Albuquerque’s pioneering aeronauts Maxie Anderson and Ben Abruzzo, the Balloon Museum opened in 2005 and has since welcomed over one million visitors from across New Mexico, the United States, and around the world. Through its extensive collection of artifacts, interactive special exhibitions, and engaging educational programs, the Museum is a gateway to science, exploration, and discovery. The Museum is open year round and hosts many community-oriented special events, features unique art and architecture, and offers distinctive rental spaces for meetings, weddings and receptions, and other celebrations.

Two weeks after Hurricane Irma slammed into the Caribbean islands, Maria, a category 4 hurricane, devastated Puerto Rico on September 20th, and knocked out the island’s cell phone towers and electrical grid. The destruction left 3.4 million people without power or cellphone reception. As several companies scramble to repair the infrastructure, some help in communication technology has come from above–from huge jellyfish-like balloons, that ride stratospheric winds, 20 km above the Earth’s surface. (about 13 miles; 66,000 feet)

These tennis court sized balloons are serving as floating cell phone towers, as they carry portable cell tower components. When high speed internet is transmitted up to the nearest balloon from a telecommunications partner on the ground, transceivers on the balloons, transmit connectivity from ground stations, across balloons, and back down to users’ LTE phones—allowing basic access to the Internet and text messaging service.

The high-altitude balloons are part of Project Loon that was set up in 2013 by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. The company hopes to deliver internet connectivity to rural and remote areas around the world by creating a network of stratospheric balloons in those regions to serve as cell phone towers. Loon balloons sail on winds in the stratosphere, to extend the reach of a telecommunication company’s networks into areas that are unconnected. While still in its infancy, the project is managed by Alphabet’s division X –devoted to futuristic technology—and has found appropriate use in disaster zones, for the second time.

“Over the last week, Project Loon has delivered basic Internet connectivity to tens of thousands of people in Puerto Rico,” says an October 27th tweet by “The Team at X.”

According to Alphabet spokeswoman Libby Leahy, the Federal Communications Commission granted an experimental license (pdf) on October 7^th, to send 30 balloons for up to six months, to serve hard-hit areas in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

“This is the first time we have used our new machine learning powered algorithms to keep balloons clustered over Puerto Rico, so we’re still learning how best to do this. As we get more familiar with the constantly shifting winds in this region, we hope to keep the balloons over areas where connectivity is needed for as long as possible,” says Alastair Westgarth, head of Project Loon, in a blog post.

Westgarth admits that Project Loon is still an experimental technology and the team is not quite sure how well it will work.

AT&T and T-Mobile are collaborating with Alphabet’s balloon-powered connectivity in Puerto Rico and providing their customers who have LTE-enabled devices, with basic Internet access and texting. In addition, satellite company SES Networks and cable provider Liberty Cablevision also provided the ground infrastructure, so the balloons could get Internet connectivity.   The team works closely with aviation authorities and air traffic controllers to fly the balloons from Alphabet’s launch site in Nevada to Puerto Rico.

Though this is the second time that Project Loon has been launched to restore basic communication, the venture in Puerto Rico is of paramount importance, as the company had not carried out any connectivity experiments with telecom partners there. “We’ve never deployed Project Loon connectivity from scratch at such a rapid pace,” says Westgarth.

The company’s first real experience to bring digital connections in a disaster-struck region was in May, when Peru was battered by extreme rains and flooding. Then Project Loon deployed the balloons for the first time; but, the company had already been experimenting with telecommunications partner Telefonica in Peru.

In Puerto Rico, which is 9,104 square kilometers, theoretically, two to three balloons could cover the island, as each balloon has a coverage area of 5,000 square kilometers. However, navigating these balloons on wind currents in the stratosphere is not easy, and it’s not an exact science. Also, at any given time, few balloons could be off course, so in practice many more balloons are needed for constant and reliable coverage.