Manchester Meteor - Successful Flight!

[Ian]

As you may have seen on the updates to the older article, we launched the Manchester Meteor high altitude balloon yesterday and it was a complete success! Image and Video data was better than we expected and the recovery was relatively trouble free... we had some very good luck!

In the next 24 hours, we'll have a much more detailed article on the flight - along with plenty of pictures and videos. In the meantime, here's a sneak preview:

I'll be writing a walkthrough of the day and a technical article to appear on PC Review, whilst Dr Chip will be creating an article aimed at encouraging students/teachers to embark on a project like this at their school.

 

[V_R]

Poor lego dude being swung round by his feet! lol

Thats the balloon bursting right? How high did it get? I'm guessing it must have been more than Felix did as the curve of the earth looks more pronounced? He got to what, 23 miles?

 

[Taffycat]

It's a breathtaking view of our planet... and so impressive! ... And aww... such bravery from the little Legonauts.

Very much looking forward to your article and more video footage, it's all so interesting.

 

[crazylegs]

Can't wait to see more!

 

[Anon_F]

Lego man did a space walk!
Keep the videos/pictures coming Ian!
Your a lot cheaper than branson is to get in to space!!

 

[EvanDavis]

Awesome

 

[floppybootstomp]

There's a tiny geezer getting swung around

Looking forward to the full Monty

 

[Ian]

Made ITV news in the North West tonight

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/upd...-astronomers-launch-north-west-space-balloon/

I did name-drop the site, but I guess it didn't make the cut!

 

[Naylor]

What on earth are you guys doing in the background of that scene?! It looks like you are REALLY interested in showing it to each other.
Well done though guys - this is an amazing achievement!

 

[crazylegs]

Brilliant Ian

Can't wait for the night flight next then!

 

[Ian]

What on earth are you guys doing in the background of that scene?! It looks like you are REALLY interested in showing it to each other.
Well done though guys - this is an amazing achievement!

TV fluff! We had to pretend to actually be doing something

 

[V_R]

Awesome stuff Ian, Nice to see you got some recognition from it.

 

[Anon_F]

Good job to both of you.

 

[Taffycat]

Congrats! It's great that your achievement received some well-deserved media coverage. You guys came across awfully well, so take a bow.

Shame the journalist couldn't manage to say "PC Review" rather than "Computer Review" ...

PS... any chance of an autograph?

 

[bootneck02]

Great stuff Ian, looking forward to your next adventure

 

[balloonnews]

This looks like a fun first attempt. Here are a few pointers to improve your flight. Tracking: Mobile phones make bad trackers (strictly locators). They are unreliable and don’t work at all outside mobile phone coverage areas. Personal locator beacons are much more reliable. SPOT is a good one. There is also radio tracking for the more experienced and skilled in electronics. A GSM locator (like your phone) makes a good back-up. Dedicated GSM locators are better than phones. CattraQ is a good example. CAA permission – it would be good to mention this.
For your future projects I am happy to let you test fly a skyprobe flight computer which can record temperature, pressure, humidity and several other weather parameters if you like. It also has a suitable GPS receiver to show burst height and ground track. Regards Chris – Balloon News

 

[Anon_F]

Dont knock them with your 1st post!!
Good attempt from Ian & the Doc.
And very enjoyable write up.

Perhaps with more money etc we could all go in to space!!!

 

[Becky]

This looks more like constructive criticism to me, feckit

Chris - welcome to the forum! I imagine there is a lot that Ian and Chip can learn from you

 

[Anon_F]

Me told off.

 

[V_R]

This looks more like constructive criticism to me, feckit

Chris - welcome to the forum! I imagine there is a lot that Ian and Chip can learn from you

Indeed.