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My son recently launched a #WeatherBalloon with a #camera and some instruments. This #photo is from about 30km up just before the #balloon burst. It's really cool that you can begin to see the curvature of the #Earth from this height and see the darkness of #space. I was on an airliner in this area on the same day and saw some of the same clouds and frozen rivers & lakes my son captured in his photos.
The balloon payload has a parachute attached, so when the balloon bursts, it falls back to the ground gracefully. He had to get a radio license to be able to broadcast position and data during the flight. If all else fails, you put contact info on the balloon, so if found, it could be recovered. He had a 20m antenna attached along with a GPS and a small go pro camera and other sensors. He did all the planning, design, and code himself with a lightweight payload. Something to keep him busy while he looks for a job after graduating. He'd like to find something in the space industry but not weapons related. It's not been so easy.
@LostGuppy No no no! The earth is flat! Don't encourage young kids to check confirmed science facts, they should believe what others spread without skepticism.
/sarcasm
Very cool pic. ;-)
@LostGuppy @xs4me2 but how do you get the images? You have to find the camera that falls down to earth?
@hanscees @LostGuppy @xs4me2 Yes, usually these have a radio transmitter and are tracked during flight.
Source: I chased a few university experimental balloons with friends. Usually the recovery involves climbing on a tree and/or trespassing private lawns. It's a whole lot of fun!
@hanscees @LostGuppy @xs4me2 There is also a very fancy software called sondehub, which uses a network of amature radio ground stations to show the position of all balloons in tbe sky, as well as the 'chase cars' that try to follow it. It even plots a prognosed flight path based on rudimentary weather data!
@gnarf @LostGuppy @xs4me2 very cool stuff, thanks for explaining
@LostGuppy Very cool! What happens to the camera when the balloon bursts? Does it fall to earth in tact?
@LostGuppy
What happens after the balloon bursts? Does it plummet back to earth? Is there some kind of parachute?
I’m imagining casually walking my dog and being flattened by terminal velocity debris.
@Kirsty @LostGuppy better take an umbrella with you next time! :D https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_debris_fall_incidents
@LostGuppy fun how that middle data point makes it look like it bounced 
@ferrix Lost data for that one.
@LostGuppy yeah that's probably more likely :D
@LostGuppy that's so cool
@LostGuppy This is so cool, and it's so fun how your two lives had this intersection
@carlwheezerr Yes, I kind of regret not taking a photo or two in the airplane so we could compare them. It was cool to recognize some of the landscape features in his photos, though.