Guy Sends Camera Up 100k Feet To Photograph Space (And Gets It Back Safely)
from the nicely-done dept
With the recent fighting over NASA funding, a lot more interest has been put on private space flights by companies like SpaceX (and, indeed, the new funding bill encourages NASA to make more use of such efforts). But it's neat to see that you don't have to be a company or the government to at least launching something that gets a good ways up towards space (if not really that close to the border). One guy named Luke Geissbuhler (with his kids and some friends) launched a video camera 100,000 feet into the air connected to a weather balloon. The video is amazing (or if you don't have the time to watch the whole thing, beneath that, there's a still shot from the apex:In August 2010, we set out to send a camera to space.The results are impressive, to say the least. Of course, if you want to quibble, 100,000 feet really isn't space. Some would argue it's not even that close to space (though, the images sure are impressive), but to those who are quibbling: how high have you launched an HD camera via a balloon and then retrieved it?
The mission was to attach a HD video camera to a weather balloon and send it up into the upper stratosphere to film the blackness beyond our earth.
Eventually, the balloon will grow from lack of atmospheric pressure, burst, and begin to fall.
It would have to survive 100 mph winds, temperatures of 60 degrees below zero, speeds of over 150 mph, and the high risk of a water landing.
To retrieve the craft, it would need to deploy a parachute, descend through the clouds and transmit a GPS coordinate to a cell phone tower.
Then we have to find it.
Needless to say, there are a lot of variables to overcome.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Camera-Space-Photos-Earth-Balloon,news-6255.html
maybe that guy should have patented "sending a device into space to take images" and prevented this new guy from doing it with video?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
http://www.workshop88.com/space
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How do you avoid planes?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: How do you avoid planes?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: How do you avoid planes?
You utter ninny.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: How do you avoid planes?
4) Except as provided for in §101.7, any unmanned free balloon that—
(i) Carries a payload package that weighs more than four pounds and has a weight/size ratio of more than three ounces per square inch on any surface of the package, determined by dividing the total weight in ounces of the payload package by the area in square inches of its smallest surface;
(ii) Carries a payload package that weighs more than six pounds;
(iii) Carries a payload, of two or more packages, that weighs more than 12 pounds; or (iv) Uses a rope or other device for suspension of the payload that requires an impact force of more than 50 pounds to separate the suspended payload from the balloon.
No need for name calling.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: How do you avoid planes?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: How do you avoid planes?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: How do you avoid planes?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not that big a deal really..
My buddy Ian did this up in the northwest last spring, I personally will be doing one this spring all to 100K+
Here is another story from March:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/balloon-camera-duct-tape-shoot-earth-pictures-space/story?i d=10210658
DIY for $150 following these instructions from 2009:
http://hackaday.com/2009/09/19/high-altitude-balloons/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Not that big a deal really..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Not that big a deal really..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Not that big a deal really..
They get submissions and read stuff they like to read and then post about what they think is interesting.
So, not all of it is going to be breaking news. It is a discussion on topics they find interesting and they think their readers will find interesting.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Not that big a deal really..
They've documented the whole process at that site.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is simply 'cool'
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Balloon Flight 22+ Years
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Regardless...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Right On!
Father of the year, this beats the shit out of the science experiments I did with my dad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What a waste.
Wow.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
NASA hoax
As in the faked Apollo missions, there are no stars visible!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Heilium NOT!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]