Last-second adjustments
We launched the balloon from Sturbridge MA at 11:45am on September 2nd, 2009. We concluded from local wind information and Balloon Trajectory Predictor website by University of Wyoming that the winds would be minimal on that day. Because of the limited cellphone coverage in the western parts of Massachusetts, we tried our very best to land the balloon east of Worcester, which is a city in the middle of Massachusetts. We selected the launch site by looking for the first open field after we exited the highway at Sturbridge. That landed us next to a company called Ryders. The vice-president of the company came out and helped us out. He even gave us free floss!
I love the cell phone tower in the background. awesome pic.
I wonder if you could get more height from a black balloon. The color should absorb light and heat and might keep the balloon pliable for a longer period of time. Seventeen miles is about 1/3 of the way. Not bad.
Um, might want to revisit your science class or check out mythbusters car color episode. Black = more heat absorbed, hotter = than white.
Um, the fact that black absorbs more heat is precisely the basis of his theory: warmer balloon material = more pliable = longer, higher flight…
How about using two balloons. The second one not filled as full as the one you used. It would not burst as soon. Possibly taking the payload even higher.
Would a balloon open at the bottom also work?
The balloon they used is specifically designed to expand about 2x before it bursts. So it was underfilled to begin with. Two balloons would probably interfere with the parachute.
The problem with 2 balloons is one will pop first and then the whole thing will start to fall slowly … eliminates the need for a parachute… but it will take forever to drop and drift quite a bit on the way down.
MI
How about a live stream of photos so that there’s no need to retrieve the baloon/camera?
How about a freaking Spaceship equipped with satellites, computer’s, and a Burger King…
The idea was a budget attempt…
Now next time, that is a great idea… Along with actually 3 balloon’s filled differently in helium amount’s like RJ said.
Well said!! ROTFLMAO!!!
People have done live photo stream balloons many times. As in the one linked below though, it usually costs ~10 times as much ($1500 or so).
http://bordelon.net/radioflier-1.html
Hi,
Great project. Checked the KML flightdata path and time stamps and wondered what the decent rate and weight was?
Kind regards,
Kevin
That was great! If you need any technical help, I would like to help you.
Big greeting from Hawaii
Great job!!! Greetings from NYC
To the future NASA engineers, your works will lead to a pursuit of a greater dream..
Obama probably was happy to know that your camera was safely flying in the US sky, not in “some” places else…
How did the balloon get detached upon reentry?
Balloon goes pop.
Outstanding!!!! Very exciting. Thank you for doing something so simple. You are a testiment of what humans are capable of achieving. Keep going!!!!
Great job combing science, financial sense, and art. Should put your guys in charge of NASA. =p
” I think that a large number of streamers dangling off the back of the box might provide enough drag to slow it down to a comparable landing speed.”
LOL.
Could you have used the cellphone camera to capture video and program it to start taking pics only when it reaches a certain height? That way you can save some weight in the payload without the canon camera.
If you sent something to near-space, would you want to settle for low-resolution cell phone pictures?
to go higher, you will need to calculate how much the gas expanded before it popped and get a bigger balloon with the same volume of gas. same amount of gas in a larger balloon will allow the balloon to go higher and allow the balloon to expand as the atmospheric pressure is lessened the higher it goes. 17 miles in 4 hours is pretty fast, so my estimate is 20% less gas in a balloon twice as large.
That would probably work, but it might not pop at all. Or, it might float for fifteen hours and THEN pop. It can travel a long ways. I think they did it just about right!
how about a balloon inside a balloon? You would be able to get more altitude with that, wouldnt ya?
By the way, did u need special permissions to launch the balloon? I mean, even Achmed or his brothers could do something like this, right?
Who is Achmed?
Achmed the dead terrorist
Hey guys just a big congrats from Australia! You guys have been an inspiration to me and i have already looked into making my own!
How much helium did it take to fill the balloon (in litres)?
using a pressure value to release the helium, to avoid bursting may help to move to much higher height.
best wishes.
The problem with this is that at a certain height, the material that the balloon is made of will freeze/dry out and become very brittle, which requires much less pressure to pop than a relief valve would need. By the time the valve would open, the balloon would have been long popped.
People don’t usually realize it’s -250 degrees farenheit or lower at that altitude, even in the sun, even in summer. It’s almost a vacuum. The black balloon suggestion seems the most logical to give the balloon a little heat from the solar radiation, since there is hardly any atmosphere around it to wick heat to/from the balloon.
…Or how about attaching a heavy dressed monkey onto a rocket! It could be one of those trained to use a DSLR, an HD video camera and a 3GS Iphone so it could take extremely sharp photos, great video, keep track of its velocity, acceleration, longitude and latitude coordinates and finally upon reentry, communicate back to base and ask to be retrieved before dinner is served…
C’mon, these guys just had a great weekend! And proved that you can take pictures of the stratosphere with just 150$!
I have seen the launch of several meteo balloons and never occurred to me, that by attaching a camera with time interval capability, I could get some nice pictures. And for that I’m totally envious of you guys!!!
VEERY nicely said my man ! great work guys keep it up !
How can you be sure that the balloon will not collide with a passing airplane and create a disaster?