Amateur high altitude balloon launches yesterday

[henryhallam]

NOVA 1 is still tied up in insurance/politics hassle but two other amateur balloons lifted off today from our launch site in Cambridge, U.K.:<br />MiHAB 1 reached 11000ft, while Pegasus III reached 66000ft and landed interestingly close to a large power substation. Pegasus III also tested a low-power radio system which was so successful that we are going to use it for NOVA 2 in lieu of a cellphone.<br /><br />NOVA 2 is a super-lightweight (hopefully avoiding insurance issues) payload that we plan to launch next weekend to about 100,000 ft.<br /><br />Click on the links above for more details and photos taken at altitude. <br /><br />Edit: stupid URL filter

 

[henryhallam]

Photo taken by Pegasus III at about 64,000 ft (higher than Concorde)

 

[drwayne]

I love those high altitude, curvature of the Earth pics!<br /><br />Thanks you very much!<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

<font color="yellow"> .. curvature of the Earth pics</font><br /><br />You'll like these ones then:<br />bendy1.jpg<br />bendy2.jpg<br />bendy3.jpg<br /><br />No, East Anglia isn't being swallowed by a black hole... not really sure what caused this effect, the payload was probably tumbling pretty fast (just after the balloon burst) but the exposure time is pretty short on modern digital cameras. According to the EXIF data, bendy2 was taken with an exposure of (1/1671) seconds and the horizon bends about 45 degrees, which would give a rotation rate of ~12,000 rpm. I find that a bit hard to believe! Perhaps the cold was affecting the exposure time and it was just lying in the EXIF.<br /><br />Anybody have any other ideas? <br /><br />Edit: apparently these forums have some really stupid filter on "s r c" in urls

 

[drwayne]

Things like this fascinate me:<br /><br />http://members.shaw.ca/sonde/<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>