Weather Balloon Photography
Discussion
Gillet said:
Think this is a fantastic project, congrats!
on a side note I found this on the BBC website today and thought it was you till I read your blog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-14119...
Looks like yours went higher and got some much better shots.
Yeah, I thought it was mine too!!!on a side note I found this on the BBC website today and thought it was you till I read your blog
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-14119...
Looks like yours went higher and got some much better shots.
They seemed to need a team of experts. I just had me
, plus Mrs Dave doing the sewing and some friends to help on the day.RosscoPCole said:
Brilliant!
Love these weather balloon photographs.
My favourite was when someone sent teddy bear astronauts up on a weather balloon and recovered them.
British teddy bears!
Saw that. Great! I have a sponsor for my next balloon, and they have a bear as a company mascot, so asked about sending him up into space. I was at the Smithsonian air&space museum a few weeks ago and bought one of these to possibly send up instead Love these weather balloon photographs.
My favourite was when someone sent teddy bear astronauts up on a weather balloon and recovered them.
British teddy bears!
pokethepope said:
. Well, I'm in the Newbury Weekly News today. Isn't that enough? ;-)MattDell said:
RosscoPCole said:
Make sure he has a PH smiley on his spacesuit or a PistonHeads Space Matters sticker!
THIS! 
I have a sponsor for the next launch, and used to own Scoobynet and has the record for the longest drift (2 hours something) which he did years ago in an Impreza WRX, so I'm sure he won't mind
rxtx said:
Simon de Banke (with Neil Smalley in the passenger seat?), didn't know he no longer owned ScoobyNet.
Yeah, quite a while ago - http://bbs.scoobynet.com/news-and-announcements-40...Dave
TheStoat said:
I rarely post on PH these days compared to most people but I have to say this is a fantastic thread. Nice blog and top work! Definitely need a bear in the next payload. How cool would it be to hand a child that bear and say "Look after him, he's been to the edge of space...". Really hope you manage to get the stills camera working next time and hope you can beat the 98,000 ft from last. As the others have said please keep us posted
On a side note that photo of the two bears in their foil space suits is just epic
The camera was just a panic thing. Next time I'm going for a modular construction so I can put both cameras in last. The batteries in both the stills and video camera are a bit marginal on capacity, so once they're powered up you need to get the the balloon launched about within 30 minutes. Thinking that I had problems with the transmitter, the plan went out the window and I forgot to check everything before launch. Next time the box design will allow me to put the cameras in last, instead of first. It'll also mean I'll be able to check the transmissions at home, so te whole thing will be more relaxed.On a side note that photo of the two bears in their foil space suits is just epic
Beating 98,810 feet, or indeed the magic 100,000, won't be a problem. I thought we had a leak in the balloon so I put more helium in than otherwise necessary. The balloon was fine - the filler had a slight leak. So next time I'll put in the correct amount for the height I want to achieve.
Dave
All being well, my second launch will be Saturday morning around 6am or so. Hoping to catch the sunrise (assuming the sun is actually visible!. Well it will be once the balloon is above the clouds ...).
You can follow the track live on http://spacenear.us/tracker/ - click on the "Pan To" link underneath the "CLOUD2" balloon.
The payload is carrying a Canon Powershot taking stills, and a Kodak Zx1 camcorder for the video.
Launch is in Berkshire and the current prediction takes it near Bury St Edmunds, so we'll need to geta move on in the chase car!
Dave
You can follow the track live on http://spacenear.us/tracker/ - click on the "Pan To" link underneath the "CLOUD2" balloon.
The payload is carrying a Canon Powershot taking stills, and a Kodak Zx1 camcorder for the video.
Launch is in Berkshire and the current prediction takes it near Bury St Edmunds, so we'll need to geta move on in the chase car!
Dave
Weeeeell ......
.... an interesting flight and chase! The map errors were because of a stupid bug in my code. The ascent rate was lower than expected maybe because it was underfilled. It was quite difficult to tell how much lift it had with the very gusty wind. I was expecting to see a max altitude of 32km but it jet kept going, eventually floating at around 36km. It beat that marker and is now the 4th highest amateur balloon launch in the UK.
The coastal winds were very strong, and as it dropped it started heading out towards the sea. After a while radio contact stopped almost certainly because the antenna got broken off. One guy nearby did manage to receive some data though.
In the chase car we headed out to Aldeburgh which we thought was somewhere close to where it would land. With no radio contact I kept calling the backup GPS/SMS unit and eventually got some position messages back, all of which told me it was already at sea! We kept going anyway, so I could listen for radio contact at the beach with the yagi aerial. No signal at all. Shame, because if it was still floating and transmitting I'd have gone to try and hire a boat!
So that's the last of that particular payload. I'll post more when I get home.
Dave
.... an interesting flight and chase! The map errors were because of a stupid bug in my code. The ascent rate was lower than expected maybe because it was underfilled. It was quite difficult to tell how much lift it had with the very gusty wind. I was expecting to see a max altitude of 32km but it jet kept going, eventually floating at around 36km. It beat that marker and is now the 4th highest amateur balloon launch in the UK.
The coastal winds were very strong, and as it dropped it started heading out towards the sea. After a while radio contact stopped almost certainly because the antenna got broken off. One guy nearby did manage to receive some data though.
In the chase car we headed out to Aldeburgh which we thought was somewhere close to where it would land. With no radio contact I kept calling the backup GPS/SMS unit and eventually got some position messages back, all of which told me it was already at sea! We kept going anyway, so I could listen for radio contact at the beach with the yagi aerial. No signal at all. Shame, because if it was still floating and transmitting I'd have gone to try and hire a boat!
So that's the last of that particular payload. I'll post more when I get home.
Dave
Yes, it should float. Payload weighed 800g but should displace over 3kg of water. It had a label on it with my mobile phone number, however how long that will last in salt water is an unknown. I didn't waterproof it. Yesterday I stuck an identical label to a piece of duct tape and put in a jar of salted water to replicate the conditions as close as I can , and the label hasn't come off yet. The ink does fade with abrasion though. I spoke to someone else who had a similar experience with a payload landing a few miles from where mine landed, and his was washed up and found 3 weeks later, so fingers crossed!
The payload also had a backup GPS/GSM tracker which you call then it texts back its position. I've tried that lots but nothing yet. By now I think the battery will be flat.
Last reported position was 500m up and 30mph sideways. Previous position was just over 1 mile from there and was sent 2 minutes prior, which also equates to 30mph. Vertical speed was about 10mph, so it hit the water at sideways at some rate. Maybe it broke up, though it was quite strong with plenty of tape round it.
I have photos of the launch, chase and the seaside near where it landed here
, and the label hasn't come off yet. The ink does fade with abrasion though. I spoke to someone else who had a similar experience with a payload landing a few miles from where mine landed, and his was washed up and found 3 weeks later, so fingers crossed!The payload also had a backup GPS/GSM tracker which you call then it texts back its position. I've tried that lots but nothing yet. By now I think the battery will be flat.
Last reported position was 500m up and 30mph sideways. Previous position was just over 1 mile from there and was sent 2 minutes prior, which also equates to 30mph. Vertical speed was about 10mph, so it hit the water at sideways at some rate. Maybe it broke up, though it was quite strong with plenty of tape round it.
I have photos of the launch, chase and the seaside near where it landed here
Oh, and if anyone wants to help me rebuild this thing .... I'm in the market for:
Dave
- An A-series Canon Powershot that takes AA batteries. Mine was an A480. If you want rid of one, let me know the model and how much you'd like for it. It has to be able to take photos and the screen has to work (so I can program it with an intervalometer script), but it doesn't matter what it looks like. Also doesn't matter if it won't zoom out.
- A small camcorder weighing no more than ~100g. Mine was a Kodak Zx1. No need for a zooom. Ideally it takes AA batteries.
Dave
There's a thing called CHDK which is an extensive hack of the standard firmware in many Canon compacts - Powershot and IXUS models. It gives things like extended shutter speed ranges, RAW files and tons of other things. You download it to an SD card, then "install" via the standard menu. The CHDK firmware then takes over until the next power cycle. You can also get it to autostart.
One of the things CHDK gives you is the ability to run scripts, so I put an intervalometer script on the SD card and get it to run that. Mine takes a photo every few seconds, but you can get it to take videos and do all sorts.
Dave
One of the things CHDK gives you is the ability to run scripts, so I put an intervalometer script on the SD card and get it to run that. Mine takes a photo every few seconds, but you can get it to take videos and do all sorts.
Dave
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