Balloons of interest
- Lisbon, August 1709. The priest Bartolomé de Gusmão made an innovative exhibition at the Casa de las Indias, in front of the court of Juan V of Portugal and the launch of a hot air balloon.
The invention was new, but the underlying principle was known since ancient times; the balloon, understood as air as fluid, raises the principles of the fluids of Archimedes.
Gusmão's balloon was unmanned, and so the Montgolfier brothers went further, wanted the balloon to be a device to transport people in flight. And they are considered inventors of the aerostatic balloon. The first demonstration was held on 4 June 1783, and at the end of the summer, in September, a balloon flight was first manned in Versailles in front, or above, of the real family to which the French belonged: Louis XVI, María Antonieta, his court and thousands of citizens of Paris. This flight had a famous audience and a peculiar crew: a sheep, a rooster and a duck. A year later, French physicist and chemist
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier had the honour of being the first air traveller.
And two years later, Rozier himself had the misfortune of being the first victim of an air accident.
However, the transport balloons dreamed of by the Montgolfie have not traveled much. High-risk surfaces and balloons were needed to carry small loads. Guided balloons or skewers also had limited practicality – and unlimited risk, as demonstrated by the Hinbenburg disaster in 1937. And so, because of the development of aircraft, manned balloons are used exclusively for exhibitions, advertising or romantic walks.
Before the end of the 18th century, new inventions began to think about what role they could play on the battlefield. Comet balloons would be mainly used to obtain aerial views of battlefields, i.e. manned balloons attached to the earth by rope
But, as underlies the principle of Archimedes behind the balloons, it seems that behind all inventions there is another no-name principle: the military use of anything that is invented, at least when they are not directly successful in meeting military objectives. And before the end of the 18th century, they began to think about what role the new invention could play on the battlefield. Comet balloons would be mainly used to get an aerial view of the battlefields, that is, the manned balloons attached to the earth by the rope. Despite their easy goal in take-off and landing, on arrival they offered an excellent picture of the state of battle and practical help in deciding strategies. They were used in this way during the First World War, because when the aircraft arrived they lost all the sense and the lack of safety left to them.
Since then, and thanks to new technologies, Gusmão’s original unmanned balloon has been squeezed. Weather balloons are the most visible example. They can reach stratospheric heights and, with measuring devices, they can collect all kinds of data. Of course, in addition to weather data, they can receive information on any other issue. In addition, being able to move at very high or small heights, staying at the same point for a long time, not having a specific orbit or trajectory such as satellites, having few metal components and not emitting heat, are practically undetectable in practice. In other words, besides being excellent meteorologists, they are unbeatable spies.
And thanks to the issue of the Chinese spy balloon, in recent weeks we have known another use of balloons, which also serve to exaggerate the tension between the world powers and freely channel the focus of interest.
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