Beautiful

neosapien

Well-Known Member
I too was questioning the authenticity of the pic and his character @pabloesqobar . In one thread he was saying he retired before 50, mentioned bitcoin but no occupation or any further explaining. Then this thread he posted a pic of space and was like "I took this" with again no explanation . It all seemed suspect. Yet it all seems to check out. He didn't take the pic. His camera did. From a balloon. He retired early because he doesn't ever spend money. Other than on rockets. For not ever seeing him before today and the content of his posts he did smell an awful lot like a dirty dirty sock at first.
 

tangerinegreen555

Well-Known Member
I too was questioning the authenticity of the pic and his character @pabloesqobar . In one thread he was saying he retired before 50, mentioned bitcoin but no occupation or any further explaining. Then this thread he posted a pic of space and was like "I took this" with again no explanation . It all seemed suspect. Yet it all seems to check out. He didn't take the pic. His camera did. From a balloon. He retired early because he doesn't ever spend money. Other than on rockets. For not ever seeing him before today and the content of his posts he did smell an awful lot like a dirty dirty sock at first.
 

pabloesqobar

Well-Known Member
I too was questioning the authenticity of the pic and his character @pabloesqobar . In one thread he was saying he retired before 50, mentioned bitcoin but no occupation or any further explaining. Then this thread he posted a pic of space and was like "I took this" with again no explanation . It all seemed suspect. Yet it all seems to check out. He didn't take the pic. His camera did. From a balloon. He retired early because he doesn't ever spend money. Other than on rockets. For not ever seeing him before today and the content of his posts he did smell an awful lot like a dirty dirty sock at first.
Yep, and despite your doubt about the photo, you didn't make a knee-jerk false accusation with no basis. Because calling someone out as a liar is kinda hard to take back. You asked for and received an explanation on an unrelated matter because you're reasonable.

Hell, I thought it was just a pic he took from the window seat of a domestic flight. But it turns out to be a cool hobby. And yes, camera's take pics when activated by people.
 

BudmanTX

Well-Known Member
Yep, and despite your doubt about the photo, you didn't make a knee-jerk false accusation with no basis. Because calling someone out as a liar is kinda hard to take back. You asked for and received an explanation on an unrelated matter because you're reasonable.

Hell, I thought it was just a pic he took from the window seat of a domestic flight. But it turns out to be a cool hobby. And yes, camera's take pics when activated by people.
@pabloesqobar hey i thought he was a sock too, i even asked Neo if he was before i started on him. I was surprised of the picture and how he got it. That picture is higher than a domestic flight btw...that's more stratosphere area and if you look at his blog he has alot more. So and that why i did what i did nothing more nothing less. In my mind the only way you can get a picture of that magnatude is semi-space flight, ISS, something within science, government installation etc.....never would have grasped the idea of a rocket possibly and or a weather balloon and strapping a camera to it....especially from a hobbiest of which this person is. After we started the convo, that's when he showed me his/her is legit and i was gonna back off because of it and apologize. That's when you came in, it's all good, i understood where you were coming from and how the convo sounded, but it wasn't meant that way at all......
 

Srirachi

Well-Known Member
Budman and anybody else who doubted it, I don't blame you one bit and I don't take offense at all! The internet is full of bullshitters and to be honest, I would have just shared the link to the blog in the first place except that I figured it'd look like a newb coming in and trying to get blog hits. Don't post statements you aren't prepared to prove, imo.

so do you still do this kinda of work? is it a hobby, school? just curious
p.s nice addition in the quote...lol
I am working on another launch soon. My wife got really ill and I had to focus on that for a year but now that I have some time again, we're going to launch a bigger balloon with better tracking and a 360 cam. If I can afford a vuze camera it'll be one of those but if not, 2 Kodak SP360s. It's just a hobby. There's a pretty big community of people who do it so it's easier than you might think. All the hard shit has been figured out, you just have to read a bit and start buying parts. Check out highaltitudescience dot com
 

BudmanTX

Well-Known Member
Budman and anybody else who doubted it, I don't blame you one bit and I don't take offense at all! The internet is full of bullshitters and to be honest, I would have just shared the link to the blog in the first place except that I figured it'd look like a newb coming in and trying to get blog hits. Don't post statements you aren't prepared to prove, imo.



I am working on another launch soon. My wife got really ill and I had to focus on that for a year but now that I have some time again, we're going to launch a bigger balloon with better tracking and a 360 cam. If I can afford a vuze camera it'll be one of those but if not, 2 Kodak SP360s. It's just a hobby. There's a pretty big community of people who do it so it's easier than you might think. All the hard shit has been figured out, you just have to read a bit and start buying parts. Check out highaltitudescience dot com
that's cool, didn't know there was a community for something like that. I'm impressed on how high you got it for the shots you took. That's a feat all in itself. i always say if you like doing it, keep on, there is nothing out there to stop you. Are you guys shooting for the stratosphere, your prolly already getting to it anyways...are you a member of any weather clubs as well or any science clubs, etc?
 

Srirachi

Well-Known Member
that's cool, didn't know there was a community for something like that. I'm impressed on how high you got it for the shots you took. That's a feat all in itself. i always say if you like doing it, keep on, there is nothing out there to stop you. Are you guys shooting for the stratosphere, your prolly already getting to it anyways...are you a member of any weather clubs as well or any science clubs, etc?
Actually my son wants to start using a rocket lol. There was a team that did it (google "qu8k rocket") but it cost ten grand and they were all university grad students so I'm trying to explain to him that there's a huge difference in cost between that and what we do but he's willing to settle for lower altitudes as long as he gets to play with something that shoots fire and makes noise.

This go we're shooting for more altitude, hopefully 120k feet but realistically we may hit 110 easily enough. The main factor with doing a VR cam launch is they're battery hogs. I need to have a fast ascent time which means a light payload, but the cameras need juice. So it's a balancing act, trying to figure out if we go for a faster climb or more reserve power.

My son does all kinds of stuff in 4H and FFA - he's working on a HAM license this summer!
 

GreatwhiteNorth

Global Moderator
Staff member
Budman and anybody else who doubted it, I don't blame you one bit and I don't take offense at all! The internet is full of bullshitters and to be honest, I would have just shared the link to the blog in the first place except that I figured it'd look like a newb coming in and trying to get blog hits. Don't post statements you aren't prepared to prove, imo.



I am working on another launch soon. My wife got really ill and I had to focus on that for a year but now that I have some time again, we're going to launch a bigger balloon with better tracking and a 360 cam. If I can afford a vuze camera it'll be one of those but if not, 2 Kodak SP360s. It's just a hobby. There's a pretty big community of people who do it so it's easier than you might think. All the hard shit has been figured out, you just have to read a bit and start buying parts. Check out highaltitudescience dot com
We have a few "Flat Earthers" on the site that will no doubt claim you a Heretic.

I'm not one of them mind you.
 

tangerinegreen555

Well-Known Member
Actually my son wants to start using a rocket lol. There was a team that did it (google "qu8k rocket") but it cost ten grand and they were all university grad students so I'm trying to explain to him that there's a huge difference in cost between that and what we do but he's willing to settle for lower altitudes as long as he gets to play with something that shoots fire and makes noise.

This go we're shooting for more altitude, hopefully 120k feet but realistically we may hit 110 easily enough. The main factor with doing a VR cam launch is they're battery hogs. I need to have a fast ascent time which means a light payload, but the cameras need juice. So it's a balancing act, trying to figure out if we go for a faster climb or more reserve power.

My son does all kinds of stuff in 4H and FFA - he's working on a HAM license this summer!
What happens to the balloon and equipment afterwards?

You can't recover them, right?

Do they ever crash near Roswell?
 

pabloesqobar

Well-Known Member
@pabloesqobar hey i thought he was a sock too, i even asked Neo if he was before i started on him. I was surprised of the picture and how he got it. That picture is higher than a domestic flight btw...that's more stratosphere area and if you look at his blog he has alot more. So and that why i did what i did nothing more nothing less. In my mind the only way you can get a picture of that magnatude is semi-space flight, ISS, something within science, government installation etc.....never would have grasped the idea of a rocket possibly and or a weather balloon and strapping a camera to it....especially from a hobbiest of which this person is. After we started the convo, that's when he showed me his/her is legit and i was gonna back off because of it and apologize. That's when you came in, it's all good, i understood where you were coming from and how the convo sounded, but it wasn't meant that way at all......
LOL. Got it.
 

Srirachi

Well-Known Member
What happens to the balloon and equipment afterwards?

You can't recover them, right?
I *HAVE* to recover them. The cameras don't transmit anything. You need a GPS tracker to locate the stuff. Mine actually failed on that flight but I got lucky and a cop found it and I had put my number and a little explanation inside.

The balloon is a one time use thing. What happens is, as it goes up, the air pressure in the atmosphere goes down. The balloon expands more from the pressure of the gas inside until eventually, it bursts. Then a drag chute brings everything back down and if you're lucky you recover it and get the SD cards out of your cameras. Here's everything that I recovered, and a closeup of the remnants of the balloon.

59 - Copy.jpg 56 - Copy.jpg
 

tangerinegreen555

Well-Known Member
I *HAVE* to recover them. The cameras don't transmit anything. You need a GPS tracker to locate the stuff. Mine actually failed on that flight but I got lucky and a cop found it and I had put my number and a little explanation inside.

The balloon is a one time use thing. What happens is, as it goes up, the air pressure in the atmosphere goes down. The balloon expands more from the pressure of the gas inside until eventually, it bursts. Then a drag chute brings everything back down and if you're lucky you recover it and get the SD cards out of your cameras. Here's everything that I recovered, and a closeup of the remnants of the balloon.

View attachment 4163811 View attachment 4163810
How far away do they wind up?

If they go 20 miles up, they hit a myriad of wind streams and jet streams, right?
 
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