Category Archives: Near Space

Help capture a 360 deg view of solar eclipse from stratosphere above the North Pole

The high-altitude balloon near-space adventure company zero2infinity has opened a crowd-funding campaign to sponsor a balloon project to film the upcoming total solar eclipse that will be visible above the arctic circle: bloon: 360 view of a Total Solar Eclipse from Space – Indiegogo

Help us record the first ever spherical video of an
eclipse from the Stratosphere!

This is our last chance to capture the shadow of the Moon
over the northern ice cap before it melts

On the 20th of March 2015, at the North Pole, there will be a total solar eclipse. This is an extraordinary and very rare event, that has never been thoroughly documented and will take thousands of years to happen again. After 6 months of polar night, the Moon will pass between the Earth and the Sun and will darken this infinitely white snow-covered region. Add to that, the very high probability of Northern lights lighting up the sky, and you can imagine what a magical moment this will be.

SolarEclipseImaging

Unfortunately there is a very high probability of cloud cover at those latitudes, which means the event will not be as impressive seen from the ground. What we are proposing is to fly higher, much higher, with a stratospheric helium balloon, from Svalbard in Norway, the only populated area from which the eclipse will be fully visible. The balloon won’t only fly above the clouds, it will come close to space, and the view will be incredible.

On the day of the eclipse, when the Moon will obscure the Sun, the stars and the planets will become visible and the shadow of the Moon will be seen going over the Earth. We will record this with a spherical camera that will cover a 360º angle. We are the only company in the world ever having flown such a camera in Space. The results are spectacular: www.abaco-digital.es/360plus/zero2infinity.html

Check out what you will enable us to do:

We need your help! Recovery and distribution are crucial aspects, and time is of the essence! Help us here, choose one of our exciting perks and let’s make it happen! 

JP Aerospace carries out high alt balloon flights in UAE

JP Aerospace, based near Sacramento, California, recently flew two high altitude balloons for a UAE bank promotion campaign and national day celebration: Video from the UAE Mission – JP Aerospace Blog

JPA Conducts Two Flights in the United Arab Emerates! – JP Aerospace Blog

In celebration of the UAE’s 43rd national day JPA flew the UAE flag to the edge of space. It was a great mission and adventure. The first vehicle, Away 111,  verified winds aloft and the second vehicle, Away 109 was our largest Away vehicle ever at just over nine feet long. It carried carried a huge 8 X 4 foot flag, signs from our sponsor, four HD cameras and the first 50 PongSats from the middle east.

Away109_in_flight

UAE_BankBanner

UAE_Flag

See also the video at Video: UAE flag in space by Al Hilal Bank ~ Frequency.

Taking pie where no pie has gone before

High school freshman Mike Alex Hoppe feels compelled to fly a pie on a high altitude balloon. His π1 project is apparently inspired by the otherworldly taste of a great pie and also by this project: FPV to Space and back – RC Explorer.

Alex has a Kickstarter if you want to kick in on his dessert adventure :  Pie In Space! by Alex Hoppe — Kickstarter

Why the pie?

I don’t know!  Really, I’ve just always had this thing for pie: Pumpkin, Apple, Chocolate.  I love them all. 😛  When I was designing this project I thought to myself, “How can I make my project different from all the other weather balloon projects?”  Then it hit me, “PIE!  No one has sent pie into space before!”

And that is why there will be pie in space!

JP Aerospace sends 6 balloons and 1700 student PongSats to edge of space

JP Aerospace carried out more Near Space flights last weekend: Mission Success, Six Flights to the Edge of Space –

Sunday Oct 26th we flew six high altitude balloon to the top of the stratosphere. We carried over 1700 PongSat student experiments, two MiniCubes, twelve HD cameras and a host of in house experiments. We also flew the reward signs for our Kickstarter effort that raised the funds for the flights. The last flight of the day was our 171st mission.

Some of the photos from the flights:

A103-108_launch2-1[1]

 

Away104-105[1]

 

Away105_PongSats1[1]