I bet, like the dude trying to run a sustainable farm in the recent post, that this whole thing was highly illegal. posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:12 PM on August 30, 2007
As a Nikon Coolpix owner myself, the fact that the thing kept working through the freezing upper atmosphere makes me happy also. posted by Burhanistan at 10:29 PM on August 30, 2007
And yet it was launched from central (almost northern) Alberta! What else are they lying to us about? posted by blue_beetle at 10:32 PM on August 30, 2007
Site is getting hammered. posted by anthill at 10:32 PM on August 30, 2007
Gorgeous. Wish they had a slideshow. posted by pointilist at 10:35 PM on August 30, 2007
I like this photo best... just after the balloon burst. So that's what you see when you step into space. posted by anthill at 10:37 PM on August 30, 2007
That is sooo fucking cool! posted by serazin at 11:23 PM on August 30, 2007
Unfucking believable. Awsome. I wish I could fav this FPP 300 times.
I get sweaty palms (fear of heights here) just thinking about being up that high. 24 miles.
So is it possible to build a permanent balloon? Something that could stay aloft in the jet stream for a long time? If so, that would make for some pretty nifty civilian spy "satellites" (or stratites?). posted by Avenger at 12:25 AM on August 31, 2007
Wow.
The front page of the site is so exceptionally dull. I clicked on the most recent flight and the image is ...
(I couldn't/can't get around that this is a bunch of shmoes: I mean, they got a view of off-the-planet, of not-this-world-anymore which a paltry fifty(? fewer? more? definitely a hundred?) years ago was afforded to only a tiny tiny select few (I mean the first look, the ability to even _do_ such thing). Can you imagine what this would have done to some/any equivalent shmoe in Galileo's time? Plutrarch's time? Egypt Five thousand years ago?
There is something supra-temporal about this kind of thing, like the invite list of a Sumarian wedding: At once quotidian and extraordinary.
The photo makes me think I could just step off the planet, go check out other things. How far are we from that?
Though a lot of them are like that. posted by From Bklyn at 12:30 AM on August 31, 2007
What is a super cool thing to do. posted by Cranberry at 12:41 AM on August 31, 2007
How beautiful. Great post.
I can't believe that pic at the top of the page of the first link. posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:09 AM on August 31, 2007
As long as they don't get condensation (or frost) in the optics, digital cameras work better the colder they get. posted by StickyCarpet at 5:36 AM on August 31, 2007
Fantastic! Do you have to get some kind of clearance from the government to do this sort of thing? posted by punkfloyd at 7:28 AM on August 31, 2007
Avenger: The idea of balloon "satellites" is old but good. Lots of different groups are working on variations. I can think of at least one science fiction treatment (John Crowley's Engine Summer) dating back to the late 70s / early 80s. posted by lodurr at 7:37 AM on August 31, 2007
Excellent. But there is one thing I don't get about the caption on the last photo...
...Above (from L - R) - Brian VE6JBJ, myself - Barry VE6SBS, Tony VA6TNY, and James VE6SRV...
It's killing me -- I absolutely know I saw something somewhere that gives more context to this effort just within the last few days, but I can't find it. This isn't it (Boing Boing)(original article on MAKE), but it's also cool and related.
If these are the guys I think they are, they ultimately want to put things into orbit by getting them high enough that a gradual acceleration process can get the objects up to escape velocity. Maybe these aren't those guys. If they aren't, does anybody else recognize what I'm talking about? I'm sure I didn't dream it, but I just can't find it in my damn aggregator. posted by lodurr at 7:50 AM on August 31, 2007
"License" is partly right. They're amateur radio geeks. posted by lodurr at 7:51 AM on August 31, 2007
I think these guys, JP Aerospace, may be who I was thinking of, but I still can't remember where I saw them. Looking now... posted by lodurr at 7:59 AM on August 31, 2007
Very cool!
Why are they using helium? Surely the balloon would get a good deal higher before bursting if they used hydrogen, as they would only need to fill it 80% to get the same lift?
"OH THE HUMANITY! wait... digital camera... nevermind... false alarm. OH THE DIGITALITY" :-) posted by -harlequin- at 5:46 PM on September 1, 2007
Hydrogen is a much better choice for obvious economic reasons, too. (Assume you knew that, and thought everyone would -- but they don't.) You can basically only get helium in large quantities if you're in the US's good graces. posted by lodurr at 12:20 PM on September 3, 2007
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posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:12 PM on August 30, 2007