Head Full of Air » balloons

1st Transcontinental & 1st Trans-Atlantic Balloon Overflight- California Near Space

Mathew — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:18:21 +0000

I’m not up on my balloon news! posted here for the purpose of completeness. California Near Space was already slashdotted four days ago.

Amazing, they beat the White Star team and Robert Rochte, who threwdown on transatlantic ballooning earlier in the year with his SDG-10, which appears to still be grounded.

White Star’s not working with off the shelf balloons though– they’ve got a bigger goal: DIY tropospheric superpressure balloons. these will be capable of multi-week flights, if successfully built. Dan Bowen’s talk– Jump to 3:30 into this talk, and see the superpressure tetroon discussion. 5:40, discussion of Rochte’s designs.

Cesar Harada’s GRM balloon kit instructions

Mathew — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:06:08 +0000

These are the best basic balloon kit instructions, beautiful. Check out the awesome maps he got with Bonny and other grassroots mapping folks.

Grassroots Mapping PDX: Taping up balloons

Mathew — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:30:07 +0000

I’ve finally collected and edited the workshop’s videos and instructions:

Taping Instructions

Follow the first two pages of my Balloon Building Guide to make a tetrahedron balloon. Tape carefully.

My balloon guide’s rigging is for short flights in confined urban areas. We’re going to use a different rigging for aerial photography.

One corner of the balloon is used for filling, and is tied off, like a trash bag. A second corner is re-enforced, and a loop of tape attached. To the tape is tied a short length of line. The knot used is a Bowline.

Grassroots Mapping PDX 6/26/2010: Rigging a balloon for flight from mathew lippincott on Vimeo.

attach a swivel to the balloon so that any spinning won’t twist the line or the camera.

Grassroots Mapping @ Gallery Homeland 6/26

Mathew — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:20:44 +0000

Click here for a print-quality image.

Part of Gallery Homeland’s “Doing It To It”

on google maps

Boy Floated Away- NOT EVEN POSSIBLE

Mathew — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:48:20 +0000

Helium can lift approximately 65lb. per 1000 cubic ft. from the images in the video, the balloon was no more than 12ft in diameter, or approximately 900 cubic feet. The boy, the balloon, and all the equipment can’t weigh less than 65lbs. Next time you want to wast millions of public money, do the math first.

Robert Rochte is going to launch on Oct 15 UPDATE:POSTPONED

Mathew — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:27:14 +0000

Robert Rochte and his class at Grosse Pointe Academy build advanced superpressure polyester solar balloons that are normally cylindrical. he just announced through the Balloon_Sked mailing group that he’s getting ready for another launch.
it will be carrying a KA2QPG HF beacon.

http://arhab.blogspot.com/

UPDATE:

postponed due to weather concerns and potential icing on it’s trans atlantic journey.

The First Self-Blogging Aerostat?

Mathew — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:44:39 +0000

I’ve recently gotten in touch with Chris Fries in Chicago through the Balloon_Sked mailing list for amateur near space balloon missions. He’s not going to near space but what his setup is elegant, simple, and very low weight. He attaches a <3oz payload to some standard aluminized mylar party balloons, and his balloons blog for themselves reporting location, images, and video through PCS-band GSM/UMTS cellphone signals. I hope he posts a how-to on his setup. Launches here here and here.