Radar Reflector
You must be logged in to reply.

In the magazine's diagram, it shows the radar reflector between the balloon and shoot. Should it be between the shoot and payload so that radar can pick it up on the way down as well?
Posted by go_junior8 on December 20, 2010 at 21:54:46 Pacific Time

Radar Reflector
You must be logged in to reply.

I asked John, and he says yes, the radar reflector between the shoot and the payload makes sense. Thanks for writing!
Posted by Laura Cochrane on October 04, 2011 at 09:58:33 Pacific Time

Tethered To Space
You must be logged in to reply.

My first thoughts on reading this article is why they use a balloon. A balloon will always expand due to the lower pressures of the upper atmosphere and eventually burst. Apparently many balloon space launches make use of this as a means of having the payload fall back to Earth, via parachute. But I'd suggest using an alternative. If you make a long flexible "tube" of mylar film, say a couple feet in diameter and a hundred feet tall, and fill the upper third with helium you get the necessary lift but as the craft reaches into the high altitudes the helium merely expands into the lower portion of the tube. This means it never pops. The craft can stay aloft for very long periods of time.

The second thought that occurs is, why not make it a tethered flight? That way you can just reel it out into the upper atmosphere, do your science or picture taking, and reel it back in. Now, clearly you need more lifting capability to handle the weight of the tether, but an additional (albeit much smaller) "balloon" added along the tether each thousand feet or so should address that.
Posted by RogerInHawaii on November 14, 2010 at 18:03:23 Pacific Time

More Info
You must be logged in to reply.

I've done a few high altitude launches and the best prediction site (IMO) is located at http://nearspaceventures.com/w3Baltrak/readyget.pl.

Photos of out launch can be seen at http://thetalon.smugmug.com/Misc/Space
Posted by tstowe on November 06, 2010 at 19:48:35 Pacific Time

High school students launching a balloon
You must be logged in to reply.

I'm a physics teacher, and my students are currently working on a science payload for a weather balloon. One thing they want to try is to take pictures of the stars during the middle of the day from high altitude. Anyone have any thoughts on how to do this? Specifically, what camera, and how can they hold the camera still long enough?

More info on the project (and the opportunity to donate a few dollars to make it a reality) can be found here:
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=458390&challengeid=39361

Thanks!
Posted by IgnorantWanderer on October 26, 2010 at 17:39:05 Pacific Time

Near Space Links
You must be logged in to reply.

Thanks for referencing some of my near space stuff, it's good to hear that people are interested in the amateur side of the field.

I have addition stuff on my website you mightbe interested in, NearSys.com
Posted by NearSys on October 15, 2010 at 13:43:32 Pacific Time

Showing messages 1 through 6 of 6.

Join the conversation -- every MAKE article has an online page that includes a place for discussion. We've made these RSS and Atom feeds to help you watch the discussions: subscribe.