Spaced Out

My High Altitude Balloon Project

A few weeks ago someone told me about this amazing video that documents a High Altitude Balloon project that sent video and still cameras into near space using a latex weather balloon. When I investigated I found that quite a few people have done this, and I resolved to be one of them :-).

I started planning my attempt about a week ago, and I've now started testing some of the kit that I hope to be sending up to around 100,000 feet. Two of the items will be my Canon IXUS 50 camera and Kodak Zx1 video camera, and I needed to do some important tests to find out how long the batteries will last. I don't want to end up, as some people have, with only half of the flight photographed!

For the video test I put a new set of batteries into the camcorder, and then put it in front of what I suspected would be a very slow moving object. Namely, Jasper the cat. The batteries lasted for 45 minutes, and the test showed two things. First, that Alkaline batteries are no use whatsoever so I'll need to use Lithiums. Second, that Jasper only moved the once in all that time!

The 4 photos above are, as you've probably guessed, taken from snapshots of the test video.

You can follow my progress at my blog where I'll be posting updates over the next few weeks. Planned launch date is first weekend in June, but that may change if things go particularly well (or badly), or if the weather at the time isn't suitable.