Show HN: We chased a weather balloon across Montana and never found it(radi8.dev)
32 pointsby radeeyate2 hours ago4 comments
  • happyopossuman hour ago
    Fun writeup! I was surprised by the part about styrofoam boxes though:

      Despite their popularity, they have a few disadvantages:

  They come in predefined sizes which mandate a certain weight allowance
  They cannot be flexible for your specific payload, making it hard to be efficient with payload layout
  They are expensive compared to more custom solutions
    This shocks me, as styrofoam is one of the easiest materials in the world to cut, shape, fasten, and customize to your heart's content. I'm all for 3d printing stuff, but in the theater world we build a ton of very detailed (and shockingly durable) stuff out of foam all the time....

    Buying a styrofoam box and just accepting that it's gotta be that shape and size feels like a huge waste.

    • nkriscan hour ago
      In my intro Industrial Design class long ago we fashioned styrofoam and many other kinds of foam into every shape imaginable with a hot wire, some utility knives, and contact adhesive. A wood rasp worked well for organic and rounded forms (wear a mask), though that’s probably not needed in this application.
    • rtkwean hour ago
      Seems like the simple solution is a Styrofoam sheet, a $10 hot knife and some glue solves the customization problem almost trivially.
  • verelo2 hours ago
    Wait, so at 28k/km the temp goes up to 15C?

    This is all very cool but this temperature reading caught my eye as unexpected.

    • radeeyate2 hours ago
      I found that surprising too! This probably isn't a completely accurate number, as the sensor is black and likely experienced some heating from the sun. Something also worth noting is that different layers of the atmosphere experience different temperatures www.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmosphere/layers-of-atmosphere
      • vereloan hour ago
        Amazing. I love that i didn't know this. When i was studying weather as part of my pilots license i noted the basic mental math that i'd lose ~2 degrees celsius per 1000ft, but never did i take a second to ask, what happens when i go up 28,000 km.
        • newtwentysix40 minutes ago
          the article says 28.42 km. where are you seeing 28000 km ?
          • verelo36 minutes ago
            yeah i have no idea why my brain decided to type that (twice...), its clearly 28km
  • macintux2 hours ago
    Impressive level of detail, impressive work for anyone, much less high school students.
  • ErroneousBosh2 hours ago
    The images seem a bit scrambled, presumably due to missing data blocks. At that low a resolution, have you considered maybe Robot36 SSTV?
    • radeeyate2 hours ago
      Images are all in order, but some have missing packets.

      The problem with SSTV is the power required. From some looking it seems that transmitting would need at least 5 watts. This wouldn't be feasible running on the balloon, as it was powered by Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries.

      • ErroneousBosh7 minutes ago
        Oh, yeah FM transmitters can require a fair bit of power.

        What is it using then, LoRA type stuff?