(Wright1902Glider) wrote:

Um,

What happens to the gas bag once it makes orbit? Am I correct in assuming
that
there will be a serious pressure differential between the interior and
exterior
of the bag? I'm thinking "World's Largest Baloon Goes POP!" ?????

Ask yourself, what is the difference between almost a vacuum and a vacuum? Not
much. If it will hold 16 lbs/sq in, that is about all you need. Things like
people only blow up in vacuum in fiction. If they did, then immagine what would
happen to a SCUBA diver as they come up through three atmospheres of pressure
change!

BTW, Echo 1 was one of the first US sats and it was a metal film coated balloon
to bounce communications.

-- Charlie Springer