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Ali Pourahmad's Inventions | Category: New inventions in the world | Related: Scientific discoveries and technological inventions
New design for High-altitude balloon (NASA's stratostats zero-pressure balloon) with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
◉ Introduction and objectives:
In this article, we briefly explain the invention of the anti-deceleration system in the new "Zero Pressure Balloon" carrying satellites and space equipment to the Earth's stratosphere.
Carrying research and telecommunications equipment into the Earth's atmosphere is one of the most expensive and time-consuming challenges for large space agencies such as NASA. NASA has been using high-pressure (zero-pressure) balloons instead of rockets for research and meteorological purposes in the stratosphere for decades, due to the very high costs of each satellite launch. Stratostats high-altitude balloons are high-pressure flying vehicles that can reach the stratosphere by passing through the troposphere and performing missions in the middle of the stratosphere, in what is known as Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
The troposphere is defined as the area from Earth's surface to an altitude of 12 kilometers, and the stratosphere is defined as the area from 12 kilometers to 50 kilometers, but NASA's high-altitude balloons are limited in reaching the higher altitudes of low earth orbit (LEO). According to Gabriel Garde (chief of NASA's Balloon Program Office at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia), the NASA high-pressure research balloon flight that launched from New Zealand on April 21, 2025, was forced to end its mission early on May 4 after 17 days, 13 hours, and 47 minutes of flight in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. NASA safely landed the balloon in the Pacific Ocean, about 813 miles east of New Zealand. Let's take a look at what went wrong with the zero-pressure balloon's mission!
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
In fact, the changes caused by the expansion and leakage of helium gas due to the increase in temperature of the balloon envelope by sunlight during the day and the reduction in the volume of helium gas as it cools and contracts at night were the main factors in the continuous decline of the balloon's altitude. According to Gabriel Gard, by the tenth day of the mission, almost all of the ballast (sand) had been used to maintain the balloon's altitude, but the altitude loss was still occurring rapidly despite all the ballast being released to lighten the balloon. NASA had originally planned for a mission lasting several months, perhaps reaching 100 days of flight, but this altitude loss presented unforeseen challenges and problems. So, to avoid the public risk of a crash landing, NASA announced an early end to the mission on the seventeenth day.
Although NASA's high-altitude balloons had achieved higher records, such as 46 days or 32 days before the early 2025 flights but, there was a common challenge in all NASA high-altitude balloon missions and that is a steep descent (up to 10 kilometers) during the night due to helium leaks during the day. Almost all zero-pressure balloons (Stratostats) can only remain at an altitude of 30 to 36 kilometers above the Earth for about a week without descending but after that, they suffer from altitude loss during the night.
Although the success of reaching altitudes such as 54 km with a very short duration at this altitude has been achieved by the BS 13-08 zero-pressure balloon before. However, climbing to higher altitudes of the stratosphere or staying in the upper atmospheric layers for a longer time is one of the serious limitations and challenges of this class of balloons because these balloons begin to lose altitude sharply after a few days due to the expansion and contraction of helium. Of course, the rate of altitude loss also varies depending on the latitude in which the balloon is flying. For example, zero-pressure balloons outside the middle latitudes and close to the polar regions, especially in the summer seasons where the sun's rays and radiation can put helium in a state of expansion for a long time, have a lower altitude loss than those in the middle latitudes.
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
In such circumstances, due to the problem of reducing the height of NASA's Stratostat balloons and the inability of the balloon to remain in the atmosphere for a long time, government organizations and space agencies usually turn to an alternative solution, namely launching satellite rockets. But, there is no possibility of permanent and low-cost continuation of scientific and research projects using rocket launches due to the high costs of each low-orbit (LEO) rocket launch. For example, if we want to send equipment that can be carried by a zero-pressure balloon with a suborbital rocket such as Sounding Rockets, New Shepard, or Electron, we have to spend from 1 to 7 million dollars per launch. Now, if we go for more powerful rockets to send heavier equipment, the costs will be much higher. For example, the cost of sending 6,000 kilograms of cargo with a Falcon 9 rocket and a Dragon capsule to the International Space Station is estimated at about 140 million dollars.
In fact, the challenge of reducing the altitude of NASA's Stratostat balloons and not staying on long-term missions, along with the high costs of each suborbital rocket launch by space agencies, led me to create the idea of building a balloon that is not affected by the heat of sunlight, so that it would not lose altitude, but would be able to send heavy cargoes and stay in space for a long time. In other words, my idea is an alternative solution to using booster rockets to send space cargo to low Earth orbit (LEO) with less cost and risk. In this way, first the total load volume is divided into smaller and fewer parts, and then by increasing the frequency of flights, it is possible to send the entire equipment at a much lower cost. By a balloon equipped with my idea, which is a coating that repels hot solar rays.
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
◉ Technical description of the invention:
I named this new balloon "Anti-Temperature High Altitude Balloon" because with the system I have added to this "zero pressure balloon", the possibility of solar radiation penetrating the balloon's envelope shell has reached zero because solar radiation is not absorbed into the helium gas molecules so, no chemical reaction occurs to increase the vibration of the molecules and expand the volume of the helium gas, which of course does not put pressure on the controlling regulators to release gas or cause unwanted leakage.
To better understand how this new balloon works, I should briefly mention the behavioral characteristics of helium gas molecules. Helium (He) is a neutral chemical element that is colorless, odorless and has the lowest boiling point among other chemical elements and also is the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen. This abundance and cheapness have led to the use of helium in various industries such as cooling devices for nuclear reactors or MRI devices, etc. One of the most common uses of helium gas is in the aerospace industry, where helium is used to inflate the envelope of suborbital and low-Earth orbit (LEO) research balloons to ascend to high altitudes in the atmosphere.
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
Helium gas has a very high thermal conductivity, so that it begins to expand even at moderate temperatures, and at higher temperatures the rate of its chemical reaction increases. Helium reacts more to temperature changes than other gases because the kinetic energy of helium molecules changes significantly with temperature changes, and this change in the physical and chemical properties of the molecules leads to an increase or decrease in helium density (depending on the ambient temperature).
In other words, when the balloon's compressed helium gas envelope reaches the end of the troposphere and the beginning of the stratosphere, it experiences an increase in temperature due to exposure to direct, unfiltered solar radiation, and the average kinetic energy of its molecules increases. This causes the gas molecules to spread out more and their volume inside the balloon envelope increases and becomes relatively larger. As exposure to solar radiation continues, the frequency of collisions between gas molecules also increases. This ultimately leads to an increase in pressure and gas leakage through the control regulators, which becomes a strong factor in unwanted altitude reduction. During the night period, when the balloon envelope is not exposed to sunlight and does not receive heat, the molecules begin to contract and condense, which causes a greater and faster reduction in the altitude of current zero-pressure balloons.
◉ Click on any of the gallery images below to enlarge:
The idea I used to prevent the penetration of sunlight heat into the helium molecules is to add lightweight reflective panels to one half of the balloon envelope.
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
The materials used in the fibers of this fabric are also resistant to moisture and most solvents and can withstand long-term performance against the destruction of ultraviolet rays or other solar electromagnetic radiation with different wavelengths. The Heat Reflective Fabrics reflects more than 97% of any radiant heat that hits its surface and is an excellent insulator to prevent heat penetration. This fabric is made using a combination of base materials including: aramid, carbon, silica and with an aluminum layer cover. َAlso, this type of fabric has many uses in the aerospace industry.
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
To prevent the balloon from gaining weight, I used heat-reflecting panels on only one side of the balloon's hemisphere. I designed this hemisphere in such a way that there is a 50-centimeter distance from the envelope's shell so that the temperature permeability reaches zero both in normal conditions and in strong solar magnetic radiation. The panels, covered with heat-reflecting fabric, are connected to each other in the form of rectangular window plates and are mounted along the outer axis of the structure's radius on a circular rod. This rod is made of a very light and strong material with a combination of titanium and aluminum that divides the exterior of the balloon envelope into two parts: the light area and the shadow area. Also, all the equipment used for sending into space is mounted on this circular rod. In other words, this rod is the main structure for connecting all the parts of the balloon to each other.
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
The next challenge that such a balloon will face is the rotation of the balloon due to natural forces such as wind, pressure or temperature differences during the ascent, which will lead to the displacement of the two hemispheres (the hemisphere with the heat-reflecting panel and the hemisphere without the panel). As you can see in the video at the end of the article, I used 6 very lightweight electric actuator controllers equipped with light-detecting cameras to solve this problem. These tiny cameras are capable of continuously tracking the sunlight and are connected to electric actuator box with a smart system to keep the balance of the balloon.
The light tracking in this system is such that with any deviation in the direct sunlight, the electrical sensor of the cameras sends a pulse to activate the electrical system inside the actuator box and the electric actuator, upon receiving this message and the amount of deviation, applies a mechanical shock in the opposite direction of the light to return the balloon to its previous position.
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
This balloon, with its unique design of "solar heat shield", does not lose altitude during the day or night, and in addition to being able to reach higher altitudes in the stratosphere, it will also be able to survive longer missions in this layer.
◉ Invention: Zero-pressure balloon with anti-solar heat capability
◉ Inventor and Patent Owner: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Category: New inventions by inventors
I had originally created the idea for this design using only a heat-reflecting envelope without an light-reactive actuator system, but in order to reduce weight, better control the balloon's rotation, and also to better connect the satellite equipment to the structure, I added a direction control system to my basic idea . Either of these two designs is feasible and could certainly be a better alternative to the current zero-pressure balloons.
Like other inventions, this invention also has the potential for further development and optimization, and by commercializing it, we can significantly reduce the costs of space launches, increase the number of space missions, and help further expand scientific research related to space.
End of article//
◉ Video of High-altitude balloon (zero pressure balloon) with anti-solar heat capability / Category: "Ali Pourahmad's inventions"
◉ Animation creator of this video: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Music composer of this video: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Narrator: Ali Pourahmad
◉ Language: English
◉ Subtitles: None
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