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Launch HN: Sorcerer (YC S24) – Weather balloons that collect more data

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Re: Launch HN: Sorcerer (YC S24) – Weather balloons that collect more data

#21

Post by kyrofa »

jviotti wrote: post #17

Very cool! How are the balloons transferring telemetry back to earth for analysis, etc? Asking because my research at the University of Oxford was around hyper space-efficient data transfer from remote locations for a fraction of the price. The result was an award-winning technology ( https://jsonbinpack.sourcemeta.com ) to serialise plain JSON that was proven to be more space-efficient than every tested alternative…

From the OP:

> Our payload uses a satellite transceiver for communications

Re: Launch HN: Sorcerer (YC S24) – Weather balloons that collect more data

#22

Post by ptsd_dalmatian »

Very exciting, congrats on this! I’ve been watching numerous weather forecasts over the last couple of years because of my interests in mountain sports, and I am very very curious how will this improve forecast accuracy. Good luck worh everything.

Re: Launch HN: Sorcerer (YC S24) – Weather balloons that collect more data

#23

Post by tndl »

xd1936 wrote: post #12

Very cool, congrats on the launch. You're spending nearly all of your time in the stratosphere collecting data, but what correlation does that have to ground forecasts? Are your "AI models" that you're producing forecasting stratosphere conditions, or more than that?

We cruise in the stratosphere until we gather enough solar power to descend to ground level. On the descent and descent we're collecting soundings, which is the data that's useful for all types of forecasts.

Right now we're focused on the stratospheric forecasts because that's what we know really well (and we already have some interested customers). Our data/models are great for all kinds of forecasts, including ground forecasts, and we'll quickly expand beyond the stratosphere.

Re: Launch HN: Sorcerer (YC S24) – Weather balloons that collect more data

#24

Post by jviotti »

kyrofa wrote: post #21
jviotti wrote: post #17

Very cool! How are the balloons transferring telemetry back to earth for analysis, etc? Asking because my research at the University of Oxford was around hyper space-efficient data transfer from remote locations for a fraction of the price. The result was an award-winning technology ( https://jsonbinpack.sourcemeta.com ) to serialise plain JSON that was proven to be more space-efficient than every tested alternative…

From the OP: > Our payload uses a satellite transceiver for communications

That's the hardware. I meant on the software side through the transceiver. If you transfer less bits through the satellite transceiver, I believe you can probably reduce costs.

Re: Launch HN: Sorcerer (YC S24) – Weather balloons that collect more data

#25

Post by tndl »

faitswulff wrote: post #15
johnsillings wrote: post #3

This is one of the most fascinating Launch HNs in a while. Excited to follow your progress and congrats on the launch!

It’s a literal launch!

Being a balloon company means we get to launch pretty much every day, which is very fun :)

Re: Launch HN: Sorcerer (YC S24) – Weather balloons that collect more data

#28

Post by tndl »

voxelizer wrote: post #16

Wow! I am surprised it is even legan to launch those ballons from SF, specially that close to the airport. What is the regulation? Is it based on the size/weigth of the ballon?

Our balloons fall under the FAA Part 101 weather balloon exemption, which is based on the weight and purpose (basically it has to be small and has to collect weather data)
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