Aerostat physics explorer
How does a tethered kite-balloon work in practice? Pick a payload, altitude, wind and weather. The explorer sizes a TALKON aerostat and shows where its lift goes. It also shows how it holds its altitude in wind, how hard it pulls on the tether, and what rain, wet snow and icing add.
Line of sight
How far sensors and radios on the aerostat can reach over flat terrain
Radio horizon with standard atmospheric refraction. Hills, trees and buildings shorten it; for cameras the range is about 6 % shorter.
Where the lift goes
Size to scale
Required volume vs. flight altitude
Data table
How it behaves in wind
Tether angle above horizon
Steeper angle = altitude held, smaller footprint
Tether pull at the aerostat
kgf
Data table
How it works
The explorer finds the smallest envelope whose lift carries the payload, the aerostat itself, the tether and any water, ice or snow, while keeping the chosen free-lift margin. It is an early-stage estimate. Every TALKON aerostat is designed for its specific mission.
- Atmosphere and lift. Pressure follows the International Standard Atmosphere. The air cools by 6.5 °C per km above the ground temperature you set. The envelope is sized so the gas fills it at the flight altitude, and a ballonet takes up the spare volume lower down. Gas purity accounts for air mixed into the gas.
- Aerostat mass scales with the envelope’s fabric area and includes the fins, ballonet and fittings.
- Wind. The kite-shaped envelope turns wind into extra lift (lift-to-drag ratio 2.75 by default, about 70° on aerodynamic lift alone). Tether drag pulls the angle down somewhat. The tether is paid out long enough to reach the target altitude at the design wind, and its full weight is counted. For comparison, the wind charts also show a typical kytoon and a plain tethered balloon with the same gas volume, free lift and tether. The typical kytoon flies at about 45° and takes 4.5 times the wind force of the TALKON aerostat. The tethered balloon is a sphere with no aerodynamic lift and a drag coefficient of 0.4.
- Weather is taken at its worst: the aerostat is assumed to stay up until it is fully wet or iced.
- Rain forms a thin water film on the upper half of the envelope. Heavy rain is assumed, since any thicker film runs off.
- Wet snow, sleet and icing are one category. This includes rain falling into air at or below 0 °C at flight altitude. Snow or ice builds up on the upper half of the envelope and on the tether. This is extreme weather, so the snow or ice may use up the free-lift margin. The envelope is sized for whichever is larger, not for both together.
- Line of sight is the radio horizon over a smooth Earth with standard atmospheric refraction (4/3 of the Earth’s radius), counted from the flight altitude and from the target’s height.
- Indicative price covers the aerostat only. It applies from 2 to 10 m³; larger aerostats are quoted individually. VAT not applicable. Winch and accessories are priced separately.
- Not included: gas heating by sunshine, humidity, gas loss over days, tether sag, and the effect of ice on aerodynamics.
Have a mission in mind? tadas@talkon.space. We size, build and test the aerostat with you.