Balloon in the context of Latex

Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for control of airspace; attack aircraft engaging in close air support against ground targets; naval aviation flying against sea and nearby land targets; gliders, helicopters and other aircraft to carry airborne forces such as paratroopers; aerial refueling tankers to extend operation time or range; and military transport aircraft to move cargo and personnel.

Historically, military aircraft have included lighter-than-air balloons carrying artillery observers; lighter-than-air airships for bombing cities; various sorts of reconnaissance, surveillance, and early warning aircraft carrying observers, cameras, and radar equipment; torpedo bombers to attack enemy vessels; and military air-sea rescue aircraft for saving downed airmen. Modern aerial warfare includes missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. Surface forces are likely to respond to enemy air activity with anti-aircraft warfare.

Flight or flying is the motion of an object through an atmosphere or through the vacuum of space, in this case also called spaceflight, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift associated with gliding or propulsive thrust, aerostatically using buoyancy, or by ballistic movement.

Many things can fly, from animal aviators such as birds, bats and insects, to natural gliders/parachuters such as patagial animals, anemochorous seeds and ballistospores, to human inventions like aircraft (airplanes, helicopters, airships, balloons, etc.) and rockets which may propel spacecraft and spaceplanes.

Balloon modelling or balloon twisting is the shaping of special modelling balloons into various shapes, often balloon animals. People who create balloon animals and other twisted balloon decoration sculptures are called twisters, balloon benders, and balloon artists. Twisters often perform in restaurants, at birthday parties, fairs and at public and private events or functions.

Two primary design styles are "single balloon modelling", which restricts itself to the use of one balloon per model, and "multiple balloon modelling", which uses more than one balloon. Each style has its own set of challenges and skills, and most twisters practise both styles. Depending on the needs of the moment, they might easily move between the one-balloon or multiple approaches, or they might even incorporate additional techniques such as "weaving" and "stuffing". Modelling techniques have evolved to include a range of very complex moves, and a highly specialized vocabulary has emerged to describe the techniques involved and their resulting creations.

An X-ray telescope (XRT) is a telescope that is designed to observe remote objects in the X-ray spectrum. X-rays are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, so instruments to detect X-rays must be taken to high altitude by balloons, sounding rockets, and satellites.

The basic elements of the telescope are the optics (focusing or collimating), that collects the radiation entering the telescope, and the detector, on which the radiation is collected and measured. A variety of different designs and technologies have been used for these elements.

Eduard Spelterini (2 June 1852 – 16 June 1931) was a Swiss pioneer of ballooning and of aerial photography.

Physical vapor deposition (PVD), sometimes called physical vapor transport (PVT), describes a variety of vacuum deposition methods which can be used to produce thin films and coatings on substrates including metals, ceramics, glass, and polymers. PVD is characterized by a process in which the material transitions from a condensed phase to a vapor phase and then back to a thin film condensed phase. The most common PVD processes are sputtering and evaporation. PVD is used in the manufacturing of items which require thin films for optical, mechanical, electrical, acoustic or chemical functions. Examples include semiconductor devices such as thin-film solar cells, microelectromechanical devices such as thin film bulk acoustic resonator, aluminized PET film for food packaging and balloons, and titanium nitride coated cutting tools for metalworking. Besides PVD tools for fabrication, special smaller tools used mainly for scientific purposes have been developed.

The source material is unavoidably also deposited on most other surfaces interior to the vacuum chamber, including the fixturing used to hold the parts. This is called overshoot.

A weather balloon, also known as a sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments to the stratosphere to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a small, expendable measuring device called a radiosonde. To obtain wind data, they can be tracked by radar, radio direction finding, or navigation systems (such as the satellite-based Global Positioning System, GPS). Balloons meant to stay at a constant altitude for long periods are known as transosondes. Weather balloons that do not carry an instrument pack are used to determine upper-level winds and the height of cloud layers. For such balloons, a theodolite or total station is used to track the balloon's azimuth and elevation, which are then converted to estimated wind speed and direction and/or cloud height, as applicable.

Weather balloons are launched around the world for observations used to diagnose current conditions as well as by human forecasters and computer models for weather forecasting. Between 900 and 1,300 locations around the globe do routine releases, typically two or four times daily.

This is a list of the most-produced manned aircraft types whose numbers exceed or exceeded 5,000. Any and all types of aircraft qualify, including airplanes, airships, balloons, gliders (sailplanes), helicopters, etc.

Brian George Jones OBE (born 27 March 1947) is an English balloonist.

Brian Jones, along with Bertrand Piccard, co-piloted the first successful uninterrupted circumnavigation of the world on board a balloon, the Breitling Orbiter 3. They set off on 1 March 1999 from Château d'Oex in Switzerland and landed in Egypt after a 45,755-kilometre (28,431-mile) flight lasting 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes. For this achievement, he received awards including the Harmon Trophy, the Hubbard Medal, the FAI Gold Air Medal, the Charles Green Salver, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours for services to ballooning.

Balloons and kites were the first inventions used in aerial warfare and their primary role was reconnaissance. Balloons provided a reliable and stable means of elevating an observer high over the battlefield to obtain a birds-eye view of troop positions and movements. An early instrument of aerial intelligence collection, they were also useful for creating accurate battlefield maps, an important ingredient for battlefield success. Incendiary balloons also have a long history. The incendiary balloons carry hot air or something that can catch fire to destroy enemy territory. They could also hold small bombs for combat. The history of military ballooning dates back to the late 18th century, when the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne, first demonstrated the potential of hot-air balloons for military use. The first recorded military use of balloons was during the French Revolutionary Wars, when the French military used balloons to gather intelligence on the movements of the enemy. Balloons were also used during the American Civil War, where they were used for reconnaissance and communication. Balloons had a decline after several incidents in the interwar period.

In the late 19th century, military ballooning began to evolve, as advances in technology allowed for the development of more sophisticated balloons and equipment. Balloons were equipped with cameras, telegraphs, and other instruments that allowed for more detailed and accurate reconnaissance and observation.

High-altitude balloons (HABs) or stratostats are usually uncrewed balloons typically filled with helium or hydrogen and released into the stratosphere, generally attaining between 18 and 37 km (11 and 23 mi; 59,000 and 121,000 ft) above sea level. In 2013, a balloon named BS 13-08 reached a record altitude of 53.7 km (33.4 mi; 176,000 ft).

The most common type of high-altitude balloons are weather balloons. Other purposes include use as a platform for experiments in the upper atmosphere. Modern balloons generally contain electronic equipment such as radio transmitters, cameras, or satellite navigation systems, such as GPS receivers. Hobbyists frequently purchase weather balloons because of their ease of use, low price point, and widespread commoditisation.

Stellar triangulation is a method of geodesy and of its subdiscipline space geodesy used to measure Earth's geometric shape. Stars were first used for this purpose by the Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä in 1959, who made astrometric photographs of the night sky at two stations together with a lighted balloon probe between them.

Even this first step showed the potential of the method, as Väisälä got the azimuth between Helsinki and Turku (a distance of 150 km) with an accuracy of 1″. Soon the method was successfully tested by ballistic rockets and for some special satellites.

Theatrical blood, stage blood or fake blood is anything used as a substitute for blood in a theatrical or cinematic performance. For example, in the special effects industry, when a director needs to simulate an actor being shot or cut, a wide variety of chemicals and natural products can be used. The most common is red food coloring, often inside small balloons coupled with explosive devices called squibs.

The balloon effect is a criticism of United States drug policy. The name draws an analogy between efforts to eradicate the production of illegal drugs in South American countries and squeezing a balloon: If a balloon is squeezed the air is moved, but does not disappear, instead moving into another area of less resistance.