Posted 09.24.2009 at 5:48 pm
8 Comments
HD Video From the Edge of Space: BEAR
Before the balloon burst at an altitude of 107,145 feet (sending the camera on a nauseating free-fall), the camera dutifully recorded over four hours of HD footage, with the memory filling up just 53 seconds after the package parachuted to safety.
The craft, BEAR-4 (Balloon Experiments with Amateur Radio) pinged back the team via an APRS transmitter, which enabled them to tracks its GPS coordinates in real time; you can even see their car awaiting its landing toward the end of the video. Great stuff.
Want to read more articles on the military, aviation, and space? Subscribe to Popular Science today, for less than $1 per issue!
8 Comments
To comment, please Login.
138 years of Popular Science at your fingertips.
Innovation Challenges
Popular Science+ For iPad
Each issue has been completely reimagined for your iPad. See our amazing new vision for magazines that goes far beyond the printed page
Download Our App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone or Android phone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
.jpg)
February 2012: The Future of Fun
Science is reinventing play, from extreme sports to gamification to ridiculous roller coasters to the playgrounds of tomorrow, and this issue is chock full of fun. Also, on a less fun note: Did global warming destroy my hometown?
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
Technology
- The PopSci Flash Arcade
- Video: Creepiest Mirror Ever Displays Ghostly Animal Heads Mimicking Your Facial Expression
- The EU is Considering Using Drones to Police Farm Subsidies, Enforce Environmental Rules
- Video: DARPA's Legged Squad Support System (a.k.a. Big Dog) Goes Outside to Play
- Videogame Designers Envision The Future of Fun
- Gallery: Game Designers Talk About the Future of Fun
- Using Heat to Record Information Could Improve Data Storage Speed a Hundred-Fold
- Pretty Space Pics: The Carina Nebula 'Dramatically' Captured in Infrared
- Video: President Obama Test-Fires a Marshmallow Cannon at the White House Science Fair
- UK Report Suggests Soldiers Could One Day Plug Their Weapons Right Into Their Brains
Most Emailed
Technology
- Video: Creepiest Mirror Ever Displays Ghostly Animal Heads Mimicking Your Facial Expression
- The EU is Considering Using Drones to Police Farm Subsidies, Enforce Environmental Rules
- Video: DARPA's Legged Squad Support System (a.k.a. Big Dog) Goes Outside to Play
- Videogame Designers Envision The Future of Fun
- Gallery: Game Designers Talk About the Future of Fun
- Using Heat to Record Information Could Improve Data Storage Speed a Hundred-Fold
- Pretty Space Pics: The Carina Nebula 'Dramatically' Captured in Infrared
- Video: President Obama Test-Fires a Marshmallow Cannon at the White House Science Fair
- UK Report Suggests Soldiers Could One Day Plug Their Weapons Right Into Their Brains
- iRobot's 710 Warrior, Strong Enough to Tow a Car, is Finally Ready for the Field
Most Commented
Technology
- Video: A New 'Smart Bullet' Deploys Fins and Guides Itself to a Laser-Designated Target
- Mitt Romney: The Uncanny Candidate?
- Translucent Blue Spheres Rain Down in the UK, Mystifying Meteorologists
- Judge Rules Americans Can Be Forced to Decrypt Personal Data — What Does That Mean For You?
- Video: PopSci's Favorite Japanese Fembot Gets a Modeling Job at the Mall
- The World's First 3-D, Free-Standing Invisibility Cloak Conceals from All Angles
- Video: President Obama Test-Fires a Marshmallow Cannon at the White House Science Fair
- DARPA Invests In Megapixel Augmented-Reality Contact Lenses
- Attempt at the World's Highest Skydive, from 120,000 Feet, is Rescheduled for August
- Video: People Flying, Superhero Style, Over New York City
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
nicely done.
I don't understand where are all of the stars and satellite?
Stars would be blocked out by the sunlight even in space.
Yes your right, unless you release the ballon when the sun is on the opposite side of the earth. Then the stars and space debris would be incredibly visible. Am I rigth?
Ray C
Yes, the stars would very visible especially since you would be viewing them through very thin atmosphere. Space debris and satellites typically orbit around 220-300 miles above the Earth. This ballon reached an altitude of 107,000 feet which is approximately 32 miles above the Earth. Very high for a balloon, but still way to low for satellites to orbit.
Debris and satellites would still be at least 200 miles above this balloon, but if you were incredibly lucky you might be able to spy the Space Station or Hubble as a bright speck in the distance.
Correction to my previous comment: 107,000 feet is approximately 20 miles, not 32 miles. Sorry.
This is really cool. I only got to watch it in parts because my computer hates me, but it was interesting.
It's amazing. From it, we can see a totally different picture of space. http://www.amerisleep.com/