21–30 of 37 posts
why people don't attach rockets to such balloons? It is a very old idea, yet nobody so far seems to be doing it. Launch from 30km height without atmospheric drag to speak of would make reaching real space much easier. Is there some obstacle for doing it?
Had this idea before. I search on this internet, if recall properly, it's because to get into orbit, you mainly need a good horizontal (parallel to the earth) speed, and the ballon only give a vertical speed. Plus a ballon have lots of frictions and also cannot lift weight rocket. I hope it help a bit. (If a rocket scientist could answer, that would be awesome)
You're right, it's about lateral speed.
why people don't attach rockets to such balloons? It is a very old idea, yet nobody so far seems to be doing it. Launch from 30km height without atmospheric drag to speak of would make reaching real space much easier. Is there some obstacle for doing it?
In the US, it is not legal to drop objects from amateur high altitude balloons. That includes launching projectiles from them. Laws relating to high altitude balloons vary from country to country, so I don't know the reason for people not doing it outside the US. Speaking of laws, at the minimum some things you should probably check before sending up a balloon is your country's laws on: • What notification you have t…
Also worth noting, consumer GPS chips won't work above a certain altitude (or speed for that matter), due to weapons export restrictions to prevent them from being used in missiles, etc
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the US, it is not legal to drop objects from amateur high altitude balloons. That includes launching projectiles from them. Laws relating to high altitude balloons vary from country to country, so I don't know the reason for people not doing it outside the US. Speaking of laws, at the minimum some things you should probably check before sending up a balloon is your country's laws on: • What notification you have t…
> What methods of communication with the balloon are allowed. Many in the US us GSM cellular devices hooked to GPS units, but from what I've read that it is not legal to use cellular devices from high altitude balloons. Also worth noting, consumer GPS chips won't work above a certain altitude (or speed for that matter), due to weapons export restrictions to prevent them from being used in missiles, etc
Some manufacturers follow the rules as written, and disable if the unit is above the speed limit AND the height limit. Some disable if the unit is above the speed limit OR the height limit.
The former are fine for balloons.
Is anyone familiar with materials and cost involved?
> The local authorities helped us a lot, the forester aranged the cutting of two trees for us We killed two trees for a 15 minute long youtube video. Is this how little respect we all have for life?
may be cutting 2 trees in general isn't that big a deal in some situations, but looking at the photo it was definitely overkill in that situation - these trees were easily climbable and once up there it would be enough just to cut the branches the payload stuck onto.
It was the only option for us to cut those trees down, since the wood workers of the town were just a few kilometers away from us. They directly processed the trees to firewood, which they were intended for. :)
What kind of restrictions are there on airspace use for such project? Airspace might be the wrong word. Is there a chance an aircraft might hit the ballon etc?
Was really hoping to see video of the descent!
We also used a Raspberry Pi Model A+, but recorded 720p video. We powered it using a 9V block battery and regulated the voltage to 5V. Worked like a charm!
Here's some videos and pics: http://www.florianerzons.de/yffzhab/
Edit:
Completely forgot. I also wrote some blog posts for anyone asking themselves how this can be done:
http://mactunes.de/posts/2015/2/25/yffzhab---taking-videos-a... http://mactunes.de/posts/2015/3/2/yffzhab---powering-electro... http://mactunes.de/posts/2015/4/6/yffzhab---bill-of-material...