Space exploration has always gripped our sense of adventure and imagination. Novels exploring the idea of voyaging to the moon date as far back as 1827. Today, we're pioneering the latest advancements in Near Space flightIt's clear that as a species, we're fascinated with the great unknown.
We're also obsessed with the heroes brave enough to take that step into adventure, from astronauts to innovators paving the way for others to get closer to the great expanse. One man had the pioneering spirit to go higher than anyone in his lifetime. That man was Auguste Piccard.
Piccard undertook a literally stratospheric voyage, utilizing hydrogen gas to ascend to the boundaries of Planet Earth's atmosphere. Today, Halo is using similar principles bolstered by modern science, making zero-emission space tourism reality in the very near future.
Who was Auguste Piccard? Piccard was a Swiss physicist famous for his hands-on approach and eccentricities. He placed prisms all over his home to create endless rainbow-colored lights and carried two wristwatches with him. He was a tall, striking character and at least partial inspiration for both Tintin's Professor Cuthbert Calculus and Star Trek's Jean-Luc Picard.
Piccard was fascinated by science from an early age. He gained his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Zurich and went on to become a professor at the Free University of Brussels. He undertook a thoroughly practical approach to all his experiments, from balloon flights to deep sea exploration.
This brave and adventurous man was far from just an eccentric. He kept company with other notable scientists of the time, including Marie Curie and Albert Einstein. It was Einstein's general theory of relativity that inspired the first journey into the stratosphere. Piccard wanted to study cosmic rays and see if the resulting data validated Einstein's theory. But at that time, the only way to properly study cosmic radiation was to get as close as possible.
Piccard worked with his twin brother on some test flights years before his pioneering adventure. His major advancement was creating a gondola with a pressurized cockpit and walls just an eighth of an inch thick that could protect him as he ascended higher and higher. The gondola was lifted by a huge, yellow hydrogen balloon and would take him to the heights he needed to observe the behavior of cosmic rays.
The most famous moment of Piccard's incredible career occurred in 1931. He and his assistant, Charles Kipfer, attempted a flight into the stratosphere. But from the start, things did not go according to plan. While planning the launch, Piccard discovered that they had somehow already lifted off. They also had a motor failure that stopped the dark and light sides of the gondola from aligning with the sun properly — a clever heat management technique he had designed. This failure meant that the gondola became far too hot, and their supply of drinking water evaporated.
Surely nothing else could go wrong — but it did. A hole appeared in the gondola, and air started whistling out. A master of quick thinking, Piccard used cloth and Vaseline to patch the hole.
A shattered barometer almost ended the adventure. Like many temperature and pressure measuring devices of the time, the barometer contained mercury. Not only is mercury poisonous, but it dissolves aluminum — the material the gondola was crafted from.
Again, Piccard's quick thinking saved the day. He realized that the virtual lack of air in Near Space would act like a vacuum. He used a hose and a valve to send the mercury hurtling into the stratosphere.
Thanks to his innovative mind and adventurous spirit, Piccard and Kipfer did reach the stratosphere and became the first human beings to view the curvature of the Earth. As the sun set, the gas in the balloon became denser in the cold, causing the balloon to descend back to Earth.
Piccard and Kipfer were given up for dead, according to the August 1931 edition of Popular Science Magazine.Yet they survived, successfully landing on a glacier in the Austrian Alps. Despite the danger, mishaps, and uncertainty of this type of travel, Piccard would go on to make 26 more flights into the stratosphere. The call of adventure and the advancement of science was too powerful to ignore.
His work on capsules and balloons and his findings from his ascents paved the way for future innovators and explorers. His pressurized cabin is the basis for many modern aircraft, making him a major innovator in aviation. He also gathered data about cosmic rays that supported Einstein's theories and contributed to the eventual discovery of muons—the most basic building blocks of the universe as described in the Standard Model of particle physics.
Piccard was a 19th/20th-century Renaissance man — physicist, adventurer, balloonist, aeronaut, and hydronaut. Other members of the Piccard family followed his pioneering example. Notably, his sister-in-law, Jeanette Piccard, was the first woman to hold a balloon pilot license and, in 1934, the first woman to enter the stratosphere. She held the women's altitude record for the next 29 years.
Using hydrogen balloons in this way was very risky. Hydrogen is the lightest element we know of, but it is highly flammable. Every time a Piccard or an assistant went up in a balloon, they knew they were at risk of friction causing the hydrogen to explode. Today, we know that helium is a much safer alternative to hydrogen. Helium is approximately one-eighth the density of air, meaning it rises upwards with ease. But unlike hydrogen, helium is safe and non-flammable. In fact, it's the second-least reactive element in the universe after neon.
HALO Space has followed in Piccard's footsteps, creating sustainable N flights using a capsule attached to a helium balloon. Succesful test flights suggest these incredible journeys could be available to other pioneering spirits relatively soon.
Unlike the Piccard adventures, HALO Space's helium balloons reach an altitude of 35 km, far beyond what was possible in the 1930s. Ultra-thin polycarbonate keeps the balloon as light as possible, and the pressurized capsule provides 360-degree views for the ultimate space tourism experience. Our passengers gain the transformative experience of seeing Earth from a whole new perspective, set against the vastness of space. HALO explorers are walking in Piccard's footsteps by embarking on a space tourism adventure like no other.
Piccard was unusual in that he had an idea and followed it through himself, building the equipment and taking the final step into the unknown — a true pioneer. He had an assistant, but he was the driving force at every juncture, and he had the quick mind that kept them alive when challenges arose.
At HALO Space, we have a whole team of experts in aerospace, engineering, and more — but the spirit remains the same. We design, we test, and we launch our near-space flights with the goal of helping more adventurous souls gain a new outlook.
Our missions don't need spacesuits. We're not astronauts — we're pushing the boundaries of aviation to pilot people just like you to heights that have been impossible to experience until now. Seeing the Earth from space can bring a whole new meaning to your life. Prepare for an entirely transformative experience and joining the ranks of explorers just like Piccard.
Viewing the Earth from near space is an experience like no other. HALO Space plans to make this a reality for thousands of people in the very near future. Our mission is entirely sustainable, using zero-emission helium balloons for the smallest environmental footprint.
Will you join us on a journey to the edge of space and discover this sense of wonder for yourself?
