Students at Arizona State University recently ran a successful experiment with a large weather balloon to collect panoramic video and thermal imaging data.
The balloon and camera made it up high enough to see the black sky curling around our blue planet, a staggering 94,687 feet. The flight was approximately three hours. When the balloon burst, the payload took about 45 minutes to come back to Earth, landing about 5.7 miles from the launch site.
Experienced “do-it-yourselfer” Jonathon Coco at Forte and Tablada was telling me that he has been experimenting with the use of tethered balloons to get a camera up in the sky and map the area in question. The good news is there are no FAA restrictions on this.
