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#352803 - 25/06/2012 18:27 Operation StratoSphere
RobotCaleb
pooh-bah

Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
In support of a more ambitious launch in the (hopefully near) future, I launched a weather balloon to ~99,000 ft 2 weeks ago. I had a blast and learned a ton from it. I thought I'd share the results with you.

http://hab.robotrising.org/post.html

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#352817 - 25/06/2012 23:12 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: RobotCaleb]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
Maybe next time put some gyroscopes in there.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk

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#352819 - 26/06/2012 00:00 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: wfaulk]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14491
Loc: Canada
Originally Posted By: wfaulk
Maybe next time put some gyroscopes in there.


+2 smile smile

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#352823 - 26/06/2012 00:20 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: mlord]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Or a disco ball.

I'll probably have something more constructive to say or more than likely ask, once I've had the chance to read through the whole site/page. This is something I've wanted to do for years.
_________________________
Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#352826 - 26/06/2012 01:03 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: wfaulk]
RobotCaleb
pooh-bah

Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
Originally Posted By: wfaulk
Maybe next time put some gyroscopes in there.


smile

Keep in mind that video was condensed from 2 hours to 30 minutes. A salient observation, nonetheless. And one to which I have given much thought.

Ideal would be 3 gyroscopes so that the moments of free fall also remain stable. However, space, weight, and power (which means more weight) constraints will rule out any active on-board stabilization measures. I may use a drogue chute of sorts to at least keep it oriented in one direction in regards to the local wind.

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#352828 - 26/06/2012 01:28 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: RobotCaleb]
Dignan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
So very cool! I love these sorts of projects. Thanks for sharing!

Originally Posted By: RobotCaleb
Keep in mind that video was condensed from 2 hours to 30 minutes.

I don't mean to pile on, but couldn't about 9 minutes of video of bugs crawling around in the grass be clipped out of that? Then you could slow down the actual ascent and show it in real time... It might make the spinning a little easier to watch, too.
_________________________
Matt

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#352833 - 26/06/2012 02:03 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: Dignan]
RobotCaleb
pooh-bah

Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
Yep. Time and video editing skills aren't a commodity. I could have done much better. And will in 2 flights.

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#356184 - 09/11/2012 01:32 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: RobotCaleb]
RobotCaleb
pooh-bah

Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
Launch 2 and successful recovery occurred 6 days ago. Launch 3 (final launch) will occur in a little over 12 hours.

You can follow along live at
Noisy live map - http://hab.robotrising.org/map.html
Live photo blog - http://hab.robotrising.org
(The above links will have their databases wiped before the launch.)

Less-noisy live map - http://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FKF5PEP-1&timerange=3600

You can read about the previous launch(es) at http://robotrising.org/

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#357162 - 17/01/2013 04:43 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: RobotCaleb]
RobotCaleb
pooh-bah

Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
And the conclusion to the project. I explain the stitching process, and cover some of the many hurdles I had to overcome. I also share a ton of imagery, including some cool videos.

http://robotrising.org/2013/01/operation-stratosphere-conclusion/

If you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer.

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#357164 - 17/01/2013 13:03 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: RobotCaleb]
DWallach
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
This was fun to read. Huge amount of work went into this! Have you corresponded with the sorts of people who use these sorts of balloons for scientific purposes? It might be interesting if you could pack a scientific payload of some sort on your platform (or, have your cameras hitch a ride on somebody else's platform).

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#357177 - 17/01/2013 17:44 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: DWallach]
RobotCaleb
pooh-bah

Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
It was a ton of work! Thanks for taking the time to read it all. It took an awful long time just to put that together.

I did have some sort of scientific platform on board. It was just a sensor pod I made that measured humidity, internal temp, external temp, and GPS data every 1200 milliseconds. But that's about as scientific as it got.

I am very loosely associated with a group that is trying to put a satellite into orbit from a balloon. That's about it, though.

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#357180 - 18/01/2013 00:45 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: RobotCaleb]
gbeer
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
Ouch! That viewer locks up and crashes safari on ipad.
_________________________
Glenn

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#357181 - 18/01/2013 01:33 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: gbeer]
RobotCaleb
pooh-bah

Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
Sweeeet. frown

Sorry. I don't have one, so couldn't test against it. It is non-functional, but non-crashing, on my Nexus 4, if that helps.

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#357186 - 18/01/2013 15:50 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: RobotCaleb]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31594
Loc: Seattle, WA
Okay, the 360 degree balloon bursting video is fucking spectacular. Awesome.
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#357188 - 18/01/2013 22:16 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: tfabris]
RobotCaleb
pooh-bah

Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin
Awesome! Glad you liked it.

I think I made an error in my image dumping. If I did another pass I could probably clean the video up a bit. Basically, ffmpeg is a giant ball of mystical charms. If you specify -ss before the input parameter it will jump to the closest keyframe before the time you specified. If you specify -ss after the input parameter it will go frame by frame until it gets to the exact time you specified. And, supposedly, if you specify -ss both before and after it will jump to the closest keyframe, then walk to the time you specified.

I was specifying -ss before, so it's possible that each of the six frames dumped per global frame were off from each other a bit. I've had a go at specifying -ss before and after, but it doesn't seem to get me the time I asked for.

If I get motivated, I'll do another pass with -ss after the input. The only problem with -ss after is that it takes a long time to dump the frames. (Longer than usual)

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#357189 - 18/01/2013 22:43 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: RobotCaleb]
gbeer
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
_________________________
Glenn

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#357190 - 19/01/2013 01:31 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: gbeer]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14491
Loc: Canada


And to think we all knew him before he was famous!

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#358500 - 03/05/2013 02:52 Re: Operation StratoSphere [Re: mlord]
RobotCaleb
pooh-bah

Registered: 15/01/2002
Posts: 1866
Loc: Austin

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