Space Footage and Questions

[Skeletor]

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/guest_bloggers/73/father-and-son-film-outer-space-do-it-yourself-style.html

I saw this footage and I just had some questions. I don't know much about launching things into space, and just from my guess-timations what I'm about to ask I'm sure is impossible but I'll ask just out of curiosity.

The balloon in the video reached some part of the stratosphere. Above it are the mesosphere, the very long thermosphere, and then the exosphere.

First, I was wondering, if there was any sort of timed rocket that you could attach to the balloon that would activate when the balloon pops. Second, how big would the rocket have to be and how fast to reach escape velocity, and last long enough to reach the exosphere and past it?

Just curious is all, I'm sure it's impossible to attempt unless you're John Carmack who has the ******* and resource to send something into orbit.

[Alfonzo]

Nice footage.

Wikipedia states an escape velocity of 11.186 km a second. We'll have to assume this is from the equatorial surface, of course, then make the necessary deductions from the rocket having been activated at 100,000 feet up in the air. I should probably think it not possible. Cool, yes. But not possible:

The mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere combined rack up a good distance of 190,000 km above the surface of the Earth. That's half way to the moon at least, or thereabouts, so if you're going to put the effort in to go that far, you may as well go all the way. Mind you, the exosphere is often considered interchangeable with outer space in any case, so if you don't mind not having escaped the governing body's gravitational influence, you might just want to aim for the thermosphere instead.

That at least sounds plausible. Even for John Carmack.

EDIT: Just realized I completely failed to answer either one of your questions. I'll just settle for "I don't know" to both in that case, if you don't mind.

[Hellbent]

This reminds me of The Unparalleled Adventure Of One Hans Pfaall.

I just realized this for the first time--or at least I don't think I ever articulated it in my mind. A helium balloon that ascents needs atmosphere to go up. When the atmosphere gets thin enough, the balloon stops rising and will remain at the altitude reached. How close was this balloon to reaching the highest it would go before the atmosphere was too thin for the helium to rise above the other gases?

[GreyGhost]

Skeletor said:

[url]Second, how big would the rocket have to be and how fast to reach escape velocity, and last long enough to reach the exosphere and past it?

The odds are that any rocket you choose will be too heavy for the balloon to lift to an appropriate launch altitude.