Cool to see these shots! I accomplished my flight on Sept 5th, 2010 as well. Good to see so many successful attempts. You can see vids and more pics as well as how it was done at my website, aerialparade..com
I was looking up one evening around sunset and saw a white semi-translucent round object in near space moving steadily east over Boston Ma. I estimate it was at 100K ft. as an Airbus jet flew below it at about 30K ft. ( contrails from the Jet were visible, its aprox. airspeed 450 knots) The Balloon travelled like a satellite you might see at night, so its was moving pretty fast. Appeared 1/4 size of the jet, 1/3 its speed, 3 x the jets altitude.
As an unpowered device, the speed of the balloon depends of the speed of the air mass on wich the balloon is traveling. When they are caught by a jet stream they could reach speeds up to 400 km/hour.
The total length of the "thing" (I don't know the name) is probably around 250 meters-from the top of the balloon down to the payload. So, the balloon has got to be somewhat large.
It's amazing to think that there's still wind at 230,000 feet! The atmosphere is remarkable, truly.
VIR092 1 year ago
Cool to see these shots! I accomplished my flight on Sept 5th, 2010 as well. Good to see so many successful attempts. You can see vids and more pics as well as how it was done at my website, aerialparade..com
Cody
codykode 1 year ago
What's the normal air speed for these balloons?
I was looking up one evening around sunset and saw a white semi-translucent round object in near space moving steadily east over Boston Ma. I estimate it was at 100K ft. as an Airbus jet flew below it at about 30K ft. ( contrails from the Jet were visible, its aprox. airspeed 450 knots) The Balloon travelled like a satellite you might see at night, so its was moving pretty fast. Appeared 1/4 size of the jet, 1/3 its speed, 3 x the jets altitude.
Thesniper21 1 year ago
@Thesniper21
As an unpowered device, the speed of the balloon depends of the speed of the air mass on wich the balloon is traveling. When they are caught by a jet stream they could reach speeds up to 400 km/hour.
Stratoballoon 1 year ago
Excuse me while I go watch paint dry...
pf126p 2 years ago 2
I know right..
Coeyzorz 2 years ago
whats the scale on this thing? Is that 3m accross or 300m?
sirchristopher2000 2 years ago
sirchristopher2000:
The total length of the "thing" (I don't know the name) is probably around 250 meters-from the top of the balloon down to the payload. So, the balloon has got to be somewhat large.
normanforlife 2 years ago
boring O.O
wotlk1234 2 years ago
agreed
gbultimate 2 years ago