Well you could use phones, but the image quality would suffer. Placing multiple cameras in the payload container would work too, but the reality is that the payload normally spins during flight, so you end up getting pics of everything anyway. Having a camera pointing out the side and one pointing out the bottom would possibly be neat. The problem is always weight, so an extra camera isn't always doable.

Launch Success! The payload traveled a lot farther than expected and we can to climb a small mountain on an indian reservation to get it back! Pictures will be posted in the next few hours.

We are launching again on Sunday morning. Stay tuned.

That's my worst nightmare. Sometimes weather balloons and planes do physically contact each other. There is always a risk, but a weather balloon would really only be in the same altitude range as airliners for about 6 minutes. So we follow the rules and guidelines set by the FAA, and cross our fingers that nothing goes wrong.

The National Weather Service launches hundreds of weather balloons per day in the United States. How often do you hear about a mishap in the news? From what I understand, pilots regularly see weather balloons, and do their best to avoid them.

The camera will take a picture every few seconds throughout the entire launch, flight, descent, and landing. According to the math, the balloon and payload will ascend at a rate of 560 ft/min. The projected altitude is 134,000 feet, and the time it will take from launch to the balloon pop is 4 hours. Then I suspect the payload will take an hour or so to parachute back down to earth.

Does anyone have any further questions?

Well, unless the weather prohibits us from launching on schedule or some other unforeseen obstacle gets in our way, we plan to launch on April 10th. We got word that our new fancy GPS tracking unit should be arriving in the mail sometime this week.

As far as the pictures go, I would expect to see some of the photos either the evening of the launch or the following morning. I will be sure to post them here as soon as I can.

Stay tuned for more updates and thanks for the questions! Keep em coming!

I would like to share with you a project that some friends of mine are working on. First let me say me say that these guys are hilarious. Second, they are hilarious. And third, well you get the point.... Go check out their project! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/patthompson/small-timers-a-new-webseries

Thank you everyone for helping us exceed our project goal. We are excited to share our results with you. Keep a watchful eye on this project page. In the next two weeks, things will really heat up as the clock counts down to launch day. Expect movies and pictures as we prepare.

THANKS!!!!!!!

In our experience, the payload travels about 200ish miles. It all depends on how hard the wind is blowing in different layers of the atmosphere. Sometimes the direction of the winds are different in different layers, so the balloon and payload can travel in funny directions sometimes.

The balloon is made of latex. In a nutshell, you need to keep the camera and other electronics warm so they don't freeze up at high altitudes. We use a styrofoam cooler.

The parachute is attached between the payload and the balloon, so when the balloon pops, the payload parachutes back down.

I will add a picture of our rig including the balloon to the "project home page." The balloon pictured is a 1500 gram balloon. The balloon we are going to launch this time is a 3000 gram balloon.

We have captured pictures of satellites before. Unfortunately, there is no real way for us to easily control the direction that the camera points without adding weight to our payload. Weight is our enemy. The more weight you have, the more altitude you sacrifice.

A few questions to answer!

The reason we only asked for $200 is because we weren't sure what kind of response we were going to get. The balloon alone cost us $300 plus shipping. Then you include the price of the tracking unit - $150, the service for the tracking unit - $150, the altimeter - $150, the camera - $80, the high capacity media card - $30ish, the price of the hydrogen - $40, and the price of the gasoline for all the traveling... well it adds up.

Honestly, I hope that this project will help us generate some buzz, as we plan to announce another project that will be simply AWESOME.