Tag: Balloon
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Seattle’s space sisters get great views (and learn lessons) from eclipse balloon flight
The moon’s shadow can be seen in the background of this picture taken by a camera on the Yeung sisters’ Loki Lego Launcher. A picture of the Yeung family’s late cat, Loki, and a Lego minifigure of Amelia Earhart take up the foreground. (Rebecca and Kimberly Yeung Photo) Not everything turned out the way pre-teen…
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World View downs KFC’s stratospheric chicken sandwich early due to balloon leak
World View Enterprises said its “Zinger 1” mission to keep a KFC chicken sandwich aloft in the stratosphere was terminated earlier than planned, due to a small leak in an altitude-control balloon system on its Stratollite platform. The company’s CEO, Jane Poynter, said today in a statement that the payload was brought down about 17…
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World View balloon sends up KFC’s Zinger chicken sandwich amid space send-ups
A basket-shaped receptacle holds KFC’s Zinger chicken sandwich during its balloon flight into the stratosphere. (KFC Photo) That’s one small step for high-altitude balloon research, one giant cheep for KFC’s Zinger chicken sandwich. After one weather-related postponement, Arizona-based World View Enterprises sent the sandwich to the stratosphere today from a spot near Page, Ariz., and…
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World View’s stratospheric balloon mission for KFC isn’t just about a chicken sandwich
A fanciful view shows KFC’s Zinger chicken sandwich in a “bucket satellite.” The actual bucket satellite won’t look quite like this. (KFC Illustration) Yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken is planning to fly its Zinger sandwich up to the stratosphere and back on a World View balloon platform. But no, the mission isn’t merely a publicity stunt.…
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Donald Trump gets an astronaut’s words thrown in his face from stratosphere
If someone can send a Donald Trump bobblehead tribute up into the stratosphere on a balloon, we suppose it’s only fair that a protest of President Trump’s policies can go up there, too. That’s what the totally unofficial Autonomous Space Agency Network did with its Aphrodite Program balloon launch of a printed-out tweet that’s addressed to…
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World View shows off its HQ and Stratollite platform for near-space balloon missions
The 100-foot-high red tower at World View’s headquarters plays a part in testing the parasail for the company’s hybrid balloon platform for stratospheric observations. (World View Photo) World View Enterprises declared its Tucson headquarters and its hybrid balloon technology to be ready for prime time today, in the wake of a pathfinder mission that captured…
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Judge voids Arizona county’s development deal for World View’s strato-balloon base
World View’s team prepares a high-altitude balloon to carry a solar observatory payload into the stratosphere. (Credit: Carmen Noriega / World View) A judge in Arizona has struck down Pima County’s $15 million development deal with World View Enterprises for a stratospheric balloon launch facility near Tucson. Thursday’s ruling by Pima County Superior Court Judge Catherine…
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Happy 75th birthday, Stephen Hawking! Here’s a stratospheric balloon tribute
Party balloons and a spacey view: Not a bad way to mark Stephen Hawking’s birthday. (NEAR via YouTube) Famed British physicist Stephen Hawking has long wanted to go into space, so what better way to celebrate his 75th birthday than sending him a greeting from near-space? The greeting comes courtesy of a stratospheric balloon experiment,…
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World View stratospheric flight company settles into Spaceport Tucson, just in time
The Breitling Jet Team flies over Spaceport Tucson in October. (World View Photo) Arizona-based World View Enterprises is settling into its new offices at Spaceport Tucson and gearing up for what could be a high-flying year ahead. World View offers a flight system that uses high-altitude balloons to loft payloads, and eventually people, beyond 100,000 feet in…
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Balloons rise up on the strato-frontier
Project Loon’s balloons are getting better at staying in one place. (Credit: Project Loon via YouTube) Drones, satellites and rocket planes are all well and good for high-flying missions, but sometimes the best craft for the job is a balloon. Google’s Project Loon, for example, is enlisting machine learning to pilot its experimental data-beaming balloons through…