Thanks for the adventure. Now go have one of your own.
March 10, 2011 9:40 AM   Subscribe

A team at National Geographic, for an upcoming show called How Hard Can it Be?, created a real-life floating house inspired by the movie Up.
posted by Lutoslawski (18 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
If only Larry Walters were still alive to see this...
posted by TedW at 9:42 AM on March 10, 2011


If they are going to make an $1e6 ad for a $1e8 show based on a $1e9 movie, they could at least give them more than a few hours to get the thing in the air. Why the artificial time restriction?
posted by DU at 9:46 AM on March 10, 2011


Apparently we are not running out of helium.
posted by casual observer at 9:48 AM on March 10, 2011


Is this the housing bubble everybody's been yammering about?
posted by mazola at 9:52 AM on March 10, 2011 [5 favorites]


If they are going to make an $1e6 ad for a $1e8 show based on a $1e9 movie, they could at least give them more than a few hours to get the thing in the air. Why the artificial time restriction?

At a height of 10,000 feet I'm guessing it was an FAA restriction.
posted by muddgirl at 9:57 AM on March 10, 2011


I'm also wondering if it was due to thermal calculations. iirc gasses expand as they get warmer, so filling the ballons in the cold and then letting the sun hit them would maybe help?
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 10:00 AM on March 10, 2011


I think the best part* is that they picked cheerful, brightly-colored weather balloons to match the ones from the movie.

*Ok, the best part besides the fact that they built a (mini) house and lifted it 10,000 feet into the air via weather balloons.
posted by librarylis at 10:03 AM on March 10, 2011


$1e6 = $1,000,000
$1e8 = $100,000,000
$1e9 = $1,000,000,000

In case you also had to stare at that for 45 seconds to figure it out.
posted by Aizkolari at 10:06 AM on March 10, 2011


Grats! Now pilot it to South America.
posted by Nanukthedog at 10:07 AM on March 10, 2011


SQUIRREL!
posted by briank at 10:10 AM on March 10, 2011 [5 favorites]


The house is 16 x 16 and really more of a shell--no interior walls, etc. How much would it weigh, do you think?
posted by Ideefixe at 10:10 AM on March 10, 2011


Where are the small mailman and the one who smells of prunes?
posted by entropicamericana at 10:12 AM on March 10, 2011 [3 favorites]


At last year's Greenlake Milk Carton Derby, there were two teams that did Up houses, one that flew, but was too small for anything but dolls, and one that just floated on the water.
posted by nomisxid at 10:36 AM on March 10, 2011


A team at National Geographic, for an upcoming show called How Hard Can it Be? Have You Seen the Ratings for Mythbusters?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:57 AM on March 10, 2011 [6 favorites]


Why the artificial time restriction?

In case anyone is wondering what happened to the previously posted WFMU lawn chair stunt, it kind of bombed because they hadn't taken into consideration how much time it takes to fill the balloons. If you fill them too fast the regulators will freeze, and can even crack off.
posted by StickyCarpet at 11:02 AM on March 10, 2011


Nadar, a famous Parisian portrait photographer from the 19th century, built a floating house in 1863:
In 1863 A. Nadar, a Paris photographer, constructed "Le Geant," which was the largest gas-balloon made up to that time and contained over 200,000 cub. ft. of gas. Underneath it was placed a smaller balloon, called a compensator, the object of which was to prevent loss of gas during the voyage. The car had two stories, and was, in fact, a model of a cottage in wicker-work, 8 ft. in height by 13 ft. in length, containing a small printing-office, a photographic department, a ref reshmentroom, a lavatory, &c. The first ascent took place at five o'clock on Sunday the 4th of October 1863, from the Champ de Mars. There were thirteen persons in the car, including one lady, the princess de la Tour d'Auvergne, and the two aeronauts Louis and Jules Godard. In spite of the elaborate preparations that had been made and the stores of provisions that were taken up,. the balloon descended at nine o'clock, at Meaux, the early descent being rendered necessary, it was said, by an accident to the valve-line. At a second ascent, made a fortnight later, there were nine passengers, including Madame Nadar. The balloon descended at the expiration of seventeen hours, near Nienburg in Hanover, a distance of about 400 m. A strong wind was blowing, and it was dragged over the ground for 7 or 8 m. All the passengers were bruised, and some seriously hurt. The balloon and car were then brought to England, and exhibited at the Crystal Palace at the end of 1863 and beginning of 1864. The two ascents of Nadar's balloon excited an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm and interest, vastly out of proportion to what they were entitled to.
posted by simen at 11:55 AM on March 10, 2011 [6 favorites]


The balloon descended at the expiration of seventeen hours, near Nienburg in Hanover, a distance of about 400 m

Hanover is 800km from Paris.
posted by Wolof at 12:22 AM on March 11, 2011


Yeah, "m" is probably short for miles rather than meters. It's an old encyclopedia.
posted by simen at 10:49 AM on March 11, 2011


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