Near Space Balloon Flight, shot with HD HERO cameras from GoPro on Vimeo

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1. Near Space Balloon Flight, shot with HD HERO camer…

1 year ago

We are a group of engineers/designers from San Francisco. This was our second balloon launch on 6/5/2010. Shot with 2 HD Hero cameras from GoPro. Launched from the California coast near Davenport, landed in Crows Landing 70 miles away. Peak altitude 80,000 feet. Acquired GPS, pressure, accelerometer, and temperature data with a Shadowbox (shadowboxlive.com). The payload was tracked with a SPOT satellite personal tracker.

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carloscasamentos.com
13 hours ago
Paul Slupski
17 hours ago
Pedro Alvarez
1 day ago
clio
2 days ago
chesterone
3 days ago
Goonk Vilaivanh
3 days ago
benbirkackisiyiz
3 days ago
cagdasunal
4 days ago
k-skee
6 days ago
Robert Morris
6 days ago

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DCJ 1 year ago

Very cool - great work and thank you for putting together this edit!
EyeOfMine Multimedia 1 year ago

what was the lowest temperature that the GoPro was subjected to? Love the lens flair. Reminds us of the movie 2001.
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

I'm still trying to track down the temperatures from our shadowbox data logger. The typical temperature I've seen for this altitude is around -60F. On our next flight we are going to have temperature sensors on the inside and outside of the capsule to see how quickly things cool down (this time it was only on the shadowbox circuit board). The GoPro cameras worked flawlessly though, and we only saw a little bit of condensation/icing on the lens on the way down.
kprod 1 year ago

.. engineers are supposed to build things. using a prebuilded shadowbox data logger is lame.
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Actually, a few people in our group were on the Shadowbox design team, so we were testing it out for them. We also built our own data logger with temperature and pressure sensors but that didn't make it onto this flight.
kprod 1 year ago

this was not clear .. looks lot better like that :)
Justin Wilkenfeld 1 year ago

amazing vid...how cold was it at 80k feet?
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

We'd expect around -60F, see my previous comment reply for more details
GoPro 1 year ago

I would like to purchase 1 ticket into outer space, please.
Bob Tango 1 year ago

OUTSTANDING. You guys are AMAZING !
Paul Bowman 1 year ago

Outstanding idea!
Sure says a lot for the gopro too..
Bernhart Dambacher 1 year ago

Wow !!! I am in awe !
BloomingtonFPV 1 year ago

It would be interesting to run the video through a barrel lens distortion correction so you could see how curved the earth was without the distortion messing with it. Amazing footage!
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

We had a regular lens Canon Powershot on board too, but its battery died before it reached the peak. A video from our first launch shows some undistorted photos from a peak altitude of about 60,000 feet: youtube.com/watch?v=EWhg_97-8kE
RCSchim 1 year ago

Great work guys! Did the Gopros survive the hard landing?
You were lucky on the random landing spot - first I thought it might go down in the mountains - or even worse in the ocean...
But you surely checked the windconditions to guess where it might go.
GPS tracking to find it was a good idead too :-)))
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Yeah, we had no damage to any of the equipment. The styrofoam capsule didn't even have any cracks, so I would say the parachute did its job :)

We did check the wind patterns ahead of time and it landed within ~10 miles of where we predicted. We definitely didn't want it landing in water or the mountains, and we got lucky that it landed so close to a road on a farm without a fence!
kokliu 1 year ago

Very interesting! Very good idea!
planetMitch 1 year ago

I'm glad to read (down in the comments) that you contacted the FAA etc... but what are the other risks and I think you should make sure that others are aware of these issues when you post this stuff... I mean, what if this hits a car on a highway on the way down? People could be seriously hurt. There seems to be lots of danger involved.
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

@planetMitch I calculated that the odds of something like this landing on a California highway are less than 1 in 500. Even if it did land on a highway, the payload weighed about 3 pounds and its outer layer is mostly styrofoam, so very little damage to people or property would be expected. That said, I recommend to anyone who does this to use a good sized parachute and plan to launch/land in relatively unpopulated areas.
The Film Artist 1 year ago

Very nice is an understatement! Brilliant work beautifully captured :) added to vimeo.com/channels/worldhd
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Thanks!
karl superd 1 year ago

Excellent and enjoyable to watch.
mpared 1 year ago

very cool posted at the curious brain
Giovanni Romero 1 year ago

This is pretty tiqht,.
MYVIMEO 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing!
Brad Kremer 1 year ago

Pretty awesome guys!
Matt Bushlow 1 year ago

Rad. You should send this in to Wholphin. This would be a perfect short for their quarterly DVD magazine.
wholphindvd.com/
Syndrome Pictures 1 year ago

Wow.
Zack McTee 1 year ago

so sick! awesome idea!
DELUXE 1 year ago

Very interesting video, I like the procede
Garrett O'Brien 1 year ago

one small step for gopro, one giant leap for the little guys!

really fascinating stuff!
Greg Jordan 1 year ago

Awesome video. Congrats. What a thrill.
JAK Pikey 1 year ago

Amazing! Awesome!
Aaron Morrell 1 year ago

One tough little beggar, those GoPro cams.
Great idea to have them tag along. Can't wait to see what comes next.
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Hopefully more GoPro's on the next launch :)
Mark Klink 1 year ago

Fantastic little camera! Loved the lensflares and the amazing landscapes! Wow! Was the camera in any other type of protective housing or just the gopro housing? Is it still operable??
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

We had one camera inside its waterproof housing, but we cut a hole through it for our power cord, so it wasn't technically completely sealed. The other camera just had a plastic piece and a lens protector in front of it. Everything we retrieved still works, except for the balloon of course ;)
MetalAlien 1 year ago

You need one more camera.

One pointing up, one down, and one to the side.

Incredible video!
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Agreed, with the light weight of these cameras we can probably fit a few more
javier Ramos 1 year ago

how really nice sy hello from cali colombia men
Fearless Dan 1 year ago

Well Done! Love the GoPro cameras. They just can't be beat for the size/price!
Andrew Alvarez 1 year ago

Simply amazing!
RGota 1 year ago

one of the most amazing stuff I've seen in a test! congrats
Erick James 1 year ago

Wowsers!
Pascal Scheffers 1 year ago

Very, very cool.
Jim McKenzie 1 year ago

Excellent!!!
Rick Read 1 year ago

Loved it!

I wonder if the return to earth might be more scenic, if less dramatic if the camera were mounted on a glider trimmed to do slow turns, or radio controlled. OTOH, at 80K feet (!) it would probably drop like a stone.
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Yeah that would be pretty awesome! Would also be nice to program it to return to where it was launched so we didn't have to drive/hike somewhere to retrieve it
Sebastian TR 1 year ago

Very very awesome - did you guys hang out tracking it while waiting for it to return or ?
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

We drove to where we predicted it would land. Ordinarily we would have had real time tracking, but unfortunately we got interference from the other electronics on board and didn't get a tracking signal until 6 hours after launch. We were very excited to finally hear from it!
Ryan Wiklund 1 year ago

great video!

did you guys need to contact the FAA or any other protocols to launch a balloon to an altitude like that?
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Technically for payloads under 4 lbs there are no FAA restrictions, but we made sure to stay out of SFO and SJC airspace. We also put the radar reflecting material on the capsule and called the FAA to let them know what we were doing
Deltree 1 year ago

Inspiring! Take us to space....
joe howarth 1 year ago

Great Work! Did you have any concerns launching it in a major airway between SFO and LAX? did you have to notify the FAA in advance to avoid any type of collision?
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Yes, we did notify the FAA and made sure to stay out of the takeoff/approach airspace of the surrounding airports.
SAYER DAN4TH 1 year ago

love it. I tried this a year ago with a weather balloon and a kite sting (i wanted the camera back) and i couldn't get the footage from being crazy shaky. looks like you weighted it down well and balanced it out quit nicely. good work. gotta love the gopro
MetalAlien 1 year ago

I could see them doing a series of videos. "Will it survive in space?"

Put one more camera inside the box and each video include a gadget or something to see if it will survive space.
kprod 1 year ago

.. kids can do better.
Felipe Macedo 1 year ago

What a genius idea!!!

Congrats!!

Yeah!!

We are from Brazil and flew with you guys.

Thanks nice trip
Rob Imbs 1 year ago

scary cool!
Benjamin Dowie 1 year ago

That is incredible guys, well done.
Rick Elrod 1 year ago

wow... what a great ad for GoPro..."Our cameras can fall from 80,000 feet and still work."
Bill Ingalls 1 year ago

As a NASA contract photographer I must say, Fantastic! Very cool! My own little GoPro vids can not compare.
Pavlos Dimitriadis 1 year ago

Μπράβο και από μένα!
Pavlos Dimitriadis 1 year ago

το έβαλα στο ιστολόγιο μου να το βλέπουν οι φίλοι μου!
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ για την κοινή χρήση του βίντεο!
Agustin Barrutia 1 year ago

what was the fastest speed????

Beautiful images!!!!!!
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

The peak speed on the way down was about 50 miles per hour. This was high up where the atmosphere was thin and the parachute was not as effective. At the bottom it slowed to about 30 miles per hour.
Austin Steele 1 year ago

awesome idea. Just wondering if there was any damage to the gopro after the drop? Or was there some protective housing? I wanna jump of a cliff into water with my gopro surf but afraid the impact might damage it..
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

There was no damage at all to the GoPros - I think it helped that the brunt of the impact was absorbed by the styrofoam container. We actually didn't even see any cracks in the styrofoam, so the parachute must have slowed it down a good bit. It's hard to say how the camera would hold up if it impacted water - probably depends on how fast you're going when you hit.
thevigia 1 year ago

veryyyyyy gooooddd
Callum Rice 1 year ago

Astonishing.

Did anyone else see the UFO fly past between 01:54 to 01:59 ?
Péter Dancsó 1 year ago

It came from OUTER SPACE!
Btw that'd be a great weekend trip.
Christian Wichterman 1 year ago

Very cool idea and execution. Why did the footage go full screen as it was plummeting back to earth though?
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

The footage from the downward facing camera is full screen throughout the video. The upward facing camera footage is cropped because I had to rotate the video during editing to have the balloon at the top of the screen.
Narendra Raman 1 year ago

Wow ! Fabulous work...GoPro quality is excellent.
Wayne Slater-Lunsford 1 year ago

Awesome piece of work, gentlemen. I read your comment that you penetrated the protective housing on one camera for aux. power, and it sounded like you didn't use the GoPro housing on the other camera. Do I have that right? Both cameras were exposed to the pressure changes and atmosphere throughout the flight, right?-- waynesl@waynesl.com
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Yes sir, there was no air tight seal around the cameras. We had a separate battery pack that provided power to both cameras through their USB ports. On the camera that did have the protecting housing around it, we drilled a small hole in the side to get the USB cord through.
Wayne Slater-Lunsford 1 year ago

Cool. Thanks for stretching the envelope and sharing tech. We'll be using GoPro HD Heros on an aircraft soon, with aux. power for endurance. Was the external batt. you used anything special?

---WayneSL (661) 478-9039 CELL
waynesl.com
desertsong.net
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Nothing special, we just built our own little cradle that used 5 AA lithium batteries and output to a USB jack. This powered the cameras until their own lithium-ion batteries kicked in. This combination powered both cameras for well over 3 hours.
James Trosh 1 year ago

Hey Kevin, I'm planning on trying out something similar. Did you just wire the battery pack with a 5v regulator to the + and - points of a USB cable to keep the Gopro charged?
Jay Yu 1 year ago

Beautiful people! Beautiful work! Way to go man~ It's always great to know people out there are doing such works. Have you guys try to add some Gyro sensors or motors for more control on device? Perhaps 3Kg might heavy for balloon you use. Anyway, keep going. I am looking forward you people will come up another amazing shot!!
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

That would be cool to add some attitude control, but I agree that it would probably add quite a bit of weight to the payload. Our goal has been to keep it under 4 pounds to avoid the stricter FAA regulations.
Neil Irwin 1 year ago

very nice! especially liking the camera on the top of the module showing the sun. Would it be possible to go higher you think or could you lose it completely?
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Yes, we can definitely go higher by using a bigger balloon and inflating it with less helium. The GPS tracker may not work above a certain altitude, but we could certainly track it again once the balloon pops and it decends to a working altitude. I think a goal for our future flights is to get above 100,000 feet.
David Rees 1 year ago

From what I've read...
Height - approx 80,000ft
Time - approx 2 hours - 7200 seconds
Vertical Speed - approx 11ft per second
Terminal velocity - approx 70mph
Crash landing - approx 30mph

This GoPro was a solid purchase!
Jay Yu 1 year ago

Therefore I got one because of this vedio.
ACTIVIDEO COMMUNICATIONS 1 year ago

Great shots, great fun.
I see you had some fins, were they to stabilise rotaional movement? Maybe a gyro could smooth out twisting?
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

Yes, the fins were to stabilize the capsule. A gyro would help but may add some weight.
Jamil Hassan 1 year ago

Crazy dude. Love the footage
Risa Dickens 1 year ago

Stunning - I featured this in the DIY Frequency! frequency.com/video/near-space/154132
Ryan Barnes 1 year ago

Hey guys, nice job. I was wondering what size card you used, what mode you filmed in, and what the raw file size was? Again, nice job.
Kevin Macko 1 year ago

32 gb sd cards
1280x960 mode
each 43 minutes of video was a little over 3gb
martin ewens 1 year ago

Truly fabulous
Copenhagen 1 year ago

Awesome.
The landing was kind of hard, you should work on that :)
Tradewinds Studios 1 year ago

Very inspiring video guys! WAY TO GO!!!!
Snow R. Shai 1 year ago

Outstanding... and the sound...
It would be great if you guys edit a super-fast zoom-out-of-earth clip...
Congratulations! ... and thanks.
jumanous 1 year ago

wow.. nice one.
Alexander Khudokon 1 year ago

jesus
Nam Spam 1 year ago

I like the video and all but... this thing crashed a short distance away from a road and a farmhouse.
What if this thing landed on a roof, a car... heaven forbid, you could have easily killed a young child.
I'm sorry, but no amount of entertainment or educational value is worth a life.
You sir, are selfish and ignorant asshole.