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Yep, cost effectiveness of project is amazing & really nice application for WSPR. WSPRnet for checking readings seems to be still online https://www.wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/map .
High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
21–30 of 61 posts
Re: High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
#22[dead]
If you keep the payload under 4 pounds I believe it's theoretically unregulated in the US except section 101.7 - don't create a hazard. I would still try to be approximately in compliance with part 101 though. Not a laywer.
Re: High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
#23It is super cool - we managed to launch one on a pair of Aliexpress wedding baloons filled with helium and it tracked all the way from Europe to South Korea, for about a week.
It even breached the arctic circle and entered the jet stream for a bit (140+ km/h ground speed) :-)
Re: High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
#24I wish the regulations around HAB were not so lighter-than-air gas centric. Hot air balloons are much more accessible, especially solar heated hot air balllons. But they have much less lift per volume and so the FAA FAR 101 rules basically say they all have to be treated as the type where you inform the FAA beforehand and then every hour about their position among other things. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/c…
FAA wants you to use hydrogen. >roll safe<
Re: High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
#25I wish the regulations around HAB were not so lighter-than-air gas centric. Hot air balloons are much more accessible, especially solar heated hot air balllons. But they have much less lift per volume and so the FAA FAR 101 rules basically say they all have to be treated as the type where you inform the FAA beforehand and then every hour about their position among other things. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/c…
As well they should be. The tether represents far more of a risk to aviation than the actual baloon. Not only it is much larger a collision risk, it cuts through GA airspace where all the delicate stuff flies.
Re: High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
#26I wonder what your liability would be in the event your balloon were to be struck by a commercial aircraft and cause injury to the flight crew or passengers?
https://komonews.com/news/local/weather-balloon-launched-in-...
Re: High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
#27[dead]
If you keep the payload under 4 pounds I believe it's theoretically unregulated in the US except section 101.7 - don't create a hazard. I would still try to be approximately in compliance with part 101 though. Not a laywer.
Four pounds of hardware ingested by a jet engine is going to do a shitload of damage.
Re: High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
#28Pretty cool, although it's polluting so hopefully it wouldn't become too popular (probably not). "And because such diminutive payloads don’t pose a danger to aircraft" even though they are small and wouldn't make a plane crash, I can imagine they would cause some damage if they ever enter a jet engine, although that would be unlucky as they would mostly fly higher than aircraft. I also wouldn't like it to fall on my…
It also reminds me of the recent incident where an object (potentially a weather balloon) struck a plane windscreen and caused significant damage to it, as well as injuring one of the flight crew. I don't know if it would cause the same amount of damage given it's size, but hitting any solid object at cruising speed is sure to leave a mark
That was a much larger balloon that had sand ballast. The sand was what did the damage
Re: High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
#29I wonder what your liability would be in the event your balloon were to be struck by a commercial aircraft and cause injury to the flight crew or passengers? https://komonews.com/news/local/weather-balloon-launched-in-...
That balloon was several orders is magnitude heavier, pico balloons pose no risk.
Note that there are operators running balloons several orders bigger still, like Aerostar. They're essentially flying mid size satellites
Re: High-Altitude Adventure with a DIY Pico Balloon
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you keep the payload under 4 pounds I believe it's theoretically unregulated in the US except section 101.7 - don't create a hazard. I would still try to be approximately in compliance with part 101 though. Not a laywer.
Four pounds of hardware ingested by a jet engine is going to do a shitload of damage.
These pico balloons weigh grams.