Balloon In Space (Nearly)

September 23, 2006 5:50 PM

Project Nova: on the 9th of September three Cambridge engineering students launched a balloon equipped with a camera and tracking devices. It reached a height of 32km and took 857 photographs during its three hour flight, some showing the curvature of the earth. You can also download a KML file to follow the balloon's flight path in Google Earth.
posted by jack_mo (24 comments total)

Those photos are amazing! They also have a selection of 90 of their favorites here. Great post, thank you!
posted by owhydididoit at 6:05 PM on September 23, 2006

Thatsprettycoolthanksforpostingthis.
posted by marxchivist at 6:09 PM on September 23, 2006

Awesome. I wonder how many universities have Spaceflight societies.
posted by matthewr at 6:13 PM on September 23, 2006

Hmm. A guy I met when I was at Cambridge this summer was involved with something similar. I wonder if he is some auxilary member of this group. Anyway, cool pics, thanks.
posted by papakwanz at 6:19 PM on September 23, 2006

"...some showing the curvature of the earth."

Hello new desktop wallpaper! Thanks for he link, jack_mo!
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:28 PM on September 23, 2006

Man, they should not have used auto white ballance...
posted by delmoi at 6:31 PM on September 23, 2006

cool post, thanks jack_mo.
posted by madamjujujive at 6:57 PM on September 23, 2006

Infinitely cool , it is interesting everything but the oscillator worked at well . I'd like to see the manufacturer declared operating temperature range, as I bet it is mostly off the shelf stuff (even if the pic board is assembled)
posted by elpapacito at 7:03 PM on September 23, 2006

Any chance this is a hoax? The balloon looks pretty tiny. It ascended to that altitude and came back down in England again? How is that possible?
posted by longsleeves at 7:32 PM on September 23, 2006

The balloon didn't come back, longsleeves; the camera did. What does size have to do with it?
posted by runehog at 8:10 PM on September 23, 2006

I haven't read the links yet so I don't know, but I imagine it's the same as a weather balloon. The balloon pops and the camera is parachuted back down.
posted by bob sarabia at 8:16 PM on September 23, 2006

Ok, now that I've read that launch report, it explains exactly what I said. Did you read it, longsleeves?
posted by bob sarabia at 8:19 PM on September 23, 2006

Cool stuff. Brings to mind kite aerial photography.
posted by ericb at 8:27 PM on September 23, 2006

Any chance this is a hoax? The balloon looks pretty tiny.

No. Check out weather balloons here.
posted by ericb at 8:29 PM on September 23, 2006

Mea culpa.
posted by longsleeves at 8:30 PM on September 23, 2006

I'd like to see the manufacturer declared operating temperature range, as I bet it is mostly off the shelf stuff (even if the pic board is assembled)

Sure, and the fix is trivial. Next time, spec a OXCO.

But that's how you learn.
posted by eriko at 8:40 PM on September 23, 2006

October Sky, anyone?
posted by cardoso at 9:09 PM on September 23, 2006

Pretty cool, but going through the gallery I got ticked off at all the errors 404 - Resource Not Found Sorry: the file you have tried to access isn't available on the SRCF server. Come on guys, if you're gonna put 857 thumbnails up, don't put 640 pictures on there and make me guess.
posted by hodyoaten at 10:06 PM on September 23, 2006

Beautiful.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:07 PM on September 23, 2006

NERDS!

The pictures are great, though.
posted by pkingdesign at 10:54 PM on September 23, 2006

Awesome! It made me long for a really warm suit and some air cylinders and a ride on that thing!
posted by swlabr at 5:25 AM on September 24, 2006

If only they'd put a "goldenpalace.com" ad on the balloon, they'd be rich now! But I love them for it!
posted by DenOfSizer at 6:08 AM on September 24, 2006

Wow, I can see where I live in one of these!
posted by grouse at 8:48 AM on September 24, 2006

nice one jack
posted by sgt.serenity at 10:12 AM on September 24, 2006