High Altitude Balloon Ideas (2.0) |
High Altitude Balloon Ideas (2.0) |
Feb 25 2011, 08:32 PM
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#1
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
So - now I live in the USA, I've been researching what's possible over here regarding balloon flights.
Firstly - the laws for ham-radio are much more relaxed, so instead of having to use bespoke 10mW transmitters for tracking... you can use an off the shelf 10W APRS tracking device ( http://www.byonics.com/microtrak/mtaio.php ) . You don't need to contact the FAA if it's below a certain mass. There's a lot more country to land it in, rather than the north sea. So - I'd very much like to start thinking about what unique project we, as a bunch of spacey people, could use a high altitude balloon flight for. Here's some of the things that have been done recently in the field of amateur high altitude balloon flights : If you want to be blown away - a cinematography group used the HD-Hero action cameras to record some genuinely breathtaking footage - http://www.youtube.com/user/kevinmacko - They also used a ShadowBox - a sort of data-logger-of-awesome - http://shadowboxlive.com/ You can now get fairly cheap back-up tracking using the SPOT locators http://www.findmespot.com/en/ There's now an almost off the shelf APRS tracking system including data - http://www.rpc-electronics.com/rtrak-hab.php These guys have pulled off a number of flights including panoramas being shot as they went - http://sites.google.com/site/ucsdnearspaceballoon/ SO - what, if anything, might we do that's new, unique, interesting, given the options that have opened up in the last couple of years? |
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Feb 25 2011, 11:23 PM
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#2
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Director of Galilean Photography Group: Members Posts: 896 Joined: 15-July 04 From: Austin, TX Member No.: 93 |
Maybe something interesting to watch as it rises and falls?
Say a normal party balloon, party inflated, that then expands and pops. Is the system stable enough that a tall glass of water or clear tube of water with an open top could be observed, with sublimation and freezing along the way? A visceral thermometer, if you will. Or maybe water inside a balloon that starts boiling due to the low pressure. Would one of those lightning globes behave differently that high up due to additional ionizing radiation (If there is a battery powered one)? What about a radiometer? What about a radio (Maybe the change in density can change the sound frequency, like Helium?)? -------------------- Space Enthusiast Richard Hendricks
-- "The engineers, as usual, made a tremendous fuss. Again as usual, they did the job in half the time they had dismissed as being absolutely impossible." --Rescue Party, Arthur C Clarke Mother Nature is the final inspector of all quality. |
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Feb 25 2011, 11:35 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 259 Joined: 23-January 05 From: Seattle, WA Member No.: 156 |
How about flights above thunderstorms to look for antimatter and sprites? The trick is, you'd have to be able to launch on fairly short notice, I'd guess, in order to be close enough to the storm to see things you're interested in, but far enough away that you're not putting yourself or the balloon at risk.
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