Military Ballooning—Hot air balloons can be used for reconnaissance
Military use them the most obvious.
Cartography—By providing an aerial view, balloons are useful for more accurate mapmaking
Maps are valuable but the amount of capital invested in map-making was relatively small. The people making the maps likely didn’t have the capital to try to build hot air balloons.
Weather Observation—Balloons can be used to gain knowledge about parts of the atmosphere inaccessible from the ground
I think there’s a good chance that people didn’t know that there was any worthwhile weather observation to be done by gaining knowledge about the upper parts of the atmosphere.
Prestige—The invention of the hot air balloon had tremendous psychological repercussions across the world. In an earlier time with slower technological diffusion, the first state to develop the hot air balloon could use it to boost prestige for decades or longer.
This is essentially what the Montgolfiers targeted. They pitched their prototype to the king instead of just building the ballon in their hometown where their paper mills are located. Out of that, they got a noble title for their father.
I think it’s very counter-intuitive that you can actually steer a hot air balloon well because the wind direction is different at different heights. You need that steering ability for military applications.
Military use them the most obvious.
Maps are valuable but the amount of capital invested in map-making was relatively small. The people making the maps likely didn’t have the capital to try to build hot air balloons.
I think there’s a good chance that people didn’t know that there was any worthwhile weather observation to be done by gaining knowledge about the upper parts of the atmosphere.
This is essentially what the Montgolfiers targeted. They pitched their prototype to the king instead of just building the ballon in their hometown where their paper mills are located. Out of that, they got a noble title for their father.
I think it’s very counter-intuitive that you can actually steer a hot air balloon well because the wind direction is different at different heights. You need that steering ability for military applications.