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High Altitude Balloon Ideas (2.0)
djellison
post Feb 25 2011, 08:32 PM
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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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Posts in this topic
- djellison   High Altitude Balloon Ideas (2.0)   Feb 25 2011, 08:32 PM
- - charborob   Fly two cameras pointing in the same direction, on...   Feb 25 2011, 09:15 PM
- - djellison   I very much doubt it would be worth-while ( there...   Feb 25 2011, 09:37 PM
- - charborob   Doug, how much mass can you reasonably send up? Al...   Feb 25 2011, 10:08 PM
- - djellison   We've had this exact discussion before in prev...   Feb 25 2011, 10:39 PM
- - Astro0   One word - SOUVENIRS! Whatever else you put ...   Feb 25 2011, 11:03 PM
|- - ynyralmaen   QUOTE (Astro0 @ Feb 25 2011, 11:03 PM) Wo...   Feb 26 2011, 12:54 AM
- - hendric   Maybe something interesting to watch as it rises a...   Feb 25 2011, 11:23 PM
|- - Gsnorgathon   How about flights above thunderstorms to look for ...   Feb 25 2011, 11:35 PM
- - ElkGroveDan   Some kind of live images would be cool, with of co...   Feb 25 2011, 11:33 PM
- - djellison   The new HD-HERO cameras really do open up a LOT of...   Feb 26 2011, 01:19 AM
- - eoincampbell   Is a lightweight-camera-arm-boom showing craft in ...   Feb 26 2011, 04:40 AM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (eoincampbell @ Feb 25 2011, 08:40 ...   Feb 26 2011, 07:08 AM
- - hendric   I think a better idea might be to put a reflective...   Feb 26 2011, 05:24 AM
- - Astro0   Along with the HD Hero, add a couple of these tiny...   Feb 26 2011, 08:41 AM
- - elakdawalla   I don't have any brilliant ideas to add to thi...   Feb 26 2011, 05:28 PM
- - Astro0   "Sis boom bah!" Isn't that the ...   Feb 27 2011, 03:11 AM
- - eoincampbell   QUOTE a cinematography group used the HD-Hero acti...   Feb 27 2011, 04:52 AM
- - nprev   Well, I can only echo Emily's "rah rah bo...   Feb 27 2011, 05:30 AM
- - Astro0   For anyone not too familiar with how these flights...   Feb 27 2011, 05:53 AM
|- - Gsnorgathon   nprev's on to something. While you're at i...   Feb 27 2011, 08:35 AM
- - AndyG   1/ I like the idea of returning home, or, indeed, ...   Feb 27 2011, 12:21 PM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (AndyG @ Feb 27 2011, 04:21 AM) The...   Feb 27 2011, 06:06 PM
- - eoincampbell   Is the altitude at which the ballon pops generally...   Feb 27 2011, 07:09 PM
- - djellison   It's something of a bell curve, but yet - the ...   Feb 27 2011, 07:14 PM
- - djellison   I've asked for a pricelist from Kaymont on bal...   Feb 27 2011, 07:59 PM
- - James Sorenson   Here are a couple of potentially interesting scien...   Feb 27 2011, 08:50 PM
- - bkellysky   I'm fascinated by these extreme altitude ballo...   Mar 4 2011, 11:41 PM


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