Topic: Awesome: Father & Son DIY Satellite Captures HD Video from 100,000 ft.

[sam]

This is a great: amateur rocketeers Luke Geissbuhler and his son Max launched their own DIY satellite via a weather balloon from New York, and using an HD video camera captured some amazing video of the contraption’s rise to near the edge of space  (closer than a lot of us will ever get, anyway….) and its plummeting fall. You gotta love their enthusiasm and their “flight tests” at the beginning of the video. It might help that the Dad is a photographer that works in Hollywood films,  but then again, I think Max’s countdown and lollipop was the real impetus behind the successful mission. They were able to track the device with GPS, and recover the camera. Lucky for us!

SIMPLY WOW!

[Baz]

no link Sam 

[sam]

woops! twas fairly late when I did this...

anyway http://www.universetoday.com/75170/awesome-father-son-diy-satellite-captures-hd-video-from-100000-ft/

just a plan to get this thread read lots... 

[Simon]

[Baz]

thats pretty cool 

Sam, do you know would they need permission to do some thing like that.those lantern things that people set away,you know the paper things with a candle under it,say on the packet not to release near over head cables,obviously,or within 5 miles of an airport or airfiels.

So what about that balloon

[daveeb]

My daughter wants to know why i don't do something like that !  Well for a start if i could afford an i-phone i certainly wouldnt be sending it 16 miles up into space 

[Clive]

Love it!     I would consider that to be a tremendous success.   

[Simon]

That was brilliant! 

[chorleydave]

Superb! 

[sam]

My daughter wants to know why i don't do something like that !  Well for a start if i could afford an i-phone i certainly wouldnt be sending it 16 miles up into space 

I thought they had just attached a GPS unit to it, not the phone but I could be wrong. I'd probably do it differently to how they did it.

I thoroughly intend to build one when back in the UK

[sam]

thats pretty cool 

Sam, do you know would they need permission to do some thing like that.those lantern things that people set away,you know the paper things with a candle under it,say on the packet not to release near over head cables,obviously,or within 5 miles of an airport or airfiels.

So what about that balloon

Lanterns, though annoying for the amateur astronomer (ye olde I saw this thing in the sky... no its a lantern not a UFO) don't go particularly high so aren't a problem... even for airports really. They don't travel more than a few km though.

These high altitude balloons, well you could probably get away with it, but the law states that for this sort of altitude you need to contact the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and request permission, from what I know this is normally quite simple. Actually there is a whole page on how to go about this.. http://ukhas.org.uk/general:beginners_guide_to_high_altitude_ballooning

Looks simple enough to be honest... just need to get the kit together when I'm back.

[Simon]

That would be fantastic, Sam.

[Clive]

What a lovely hobby to have! 

[sam]

won't cost too much either... I might have to send innocuous objects into space

[Clive]

I might have to send innocuous objects into space

Pleased to you've exempted me!