Balloons for Space

JP Aerospace is more of a garage science project than a company, but seems to hold some potential. A company of four, John Powell and his compatriots are helped by 40 volunteers and $760,000. They’re concept is to cut the cost of a conventional rocket launch by floating an entire miniature rocket launch pad up to 33 km. Once that’s done they will blast a rocket through the remaining atmosphere to deliver a 10 kg payload into orbit. The advantage of JP’s setup is not the height given by the balloons, but the lack of atmosphere. Without it, the rocket doesn’t have to stand as much stress and can be lighter. In addition, the thinner atmosphere takes much less fuel to push through. The rocket platform itself is reusable increasing the rate at which satellites can be launched.