Originally posted by Bob83 Nice photos. looks like you had some fun
one question, however
How the hell did you get it to come down near you? of did you just follow the gps signal and drive?
This takes the 'find a different perspective' advice to an extreme
Well done
Thank you. We wrote software that models the balloon flight dynamics, and uses wind data from the weather service to predict where we will land. That gives us a good idea where we we need to go. We then track the system that sends the GPS coordinates down to our tracking system in the vehicle, where we can constantly update the prediction. The winds can change quite a bit. Sometimes though, we actually arrive near the landing site ahead of the return of the payloads on parachute, and watch the descent.
The balloon track obviously depends on the day of the year. In the summer, flights are short. In the winter, the jet stream can take the balloon for a ride at over 100mph when it is between roughly 30,000 and 50,000 ft. The longest flight has taken us over
120 miles. The shortest was Friday which was about 12 miles.
You may not believe me, but on a clear day if the sun is low, you can actually see the balloon from the ground at 100,000 ft. This is because the balloon is between 40-50 ft across at that point. I have seen it with my own eyes. I was amazed the first time I saw it. We were parked near the predicted landing spot and I saw it when I looked where the track said it was. It was a clear white speck. Then it burst and I could see it no longer for about 40 minutes when then we saw the payloads reappear on parachute around 5,000 ft. It landed across the street from us in some trees. Of course that was the day I forgot to pack my camera in the truck...