I often get ideas for cool new projects, sometimes original, and other times I'm inspired by what other people are doing. In this case, I was mainly inspired by the success and simplicity of this project. (Shouldn't be surprised by what kids at MIT can do.) Of course there was also this British guy who got his balloon up to 22 miles, and this dad from NY who used his iPhone for video and GPS tracking. I definitely got jealous every time I read a new story about this.
In case you can't tell by now, my plan is to strap some cameras to a big helium balloon and launch it from the desert. From what I've seen, no one has ever tried this in Los Angeles or Southern California (and maybe not even on the West Coast). I figure it's about time someone does. Of course launching it is one of the easier parts of this whole project (just let go). Recovering the cameras and images is obviously the ultimate goal. I'll be using the same GPS tracking method as Project Icarus, since it's cheap and also lets other people track it in real time on the web. I'll have at least 2 cameras going up- one for the horizontal view and one looking down. The shot to get with the horizontal camera is the curved surface of the Earth with the black backdrop of space. (The balloon won't technically go to space, just the stratosphere) For the down camera, the shot to get is the coastline of Los Angeles and maybe Catalina and the Channel Islands if things work out just right.
So I've created this site to keep track of my progress, which should keep me motivated and also save me the time of documenting everything later. Expect plenty of pictures and updates over the next several weeks until launch.
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