When Skyhook balloons go wrong (video)

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Don't you you just hate it when this happens?:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/04/29/2885724.htm

Ouch! It looked to me like the balloon was too small for the payload.

Jeff
--
"Take heart amid the deepening gloom
that your dog is finally getting enough cheese" - Deteriorata - National
Lampoon

In sci.space.history Jeff Findley wrote:
"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Don't you you just hate it when this happens?:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/04/29/2885724.htm

Crikey!

Ouch! It looked to me like the balloon was too small for the
payload.

Those things expand considerably at altitude don't they?

rick jones
--
oxymoron n, Hummer H2 with California Save Our Coasts and Oceans plates
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Jeff Findley wrote:

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Don't you you just hate it when this happens?:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/04/29/2885724.htm

Ouch! It looked to me like the balloon was too small for the payload.

Too much wind. When released, the payload swung like a pendulum into the
ground, faster than the balloon could raise it.

--
Mvh./Regards, Niels Jørgen Kruse, Vanløse, Denmark

Don't you you just hate it when this happens?:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/04/29/2885724.htm

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
On 4/29/2010 12:15 PM, Jeff Findley wrote:
"Pat wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Don't you you just hate it when this happens?:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/04/29/2885724.htm

Ouch! It looked to me like the balloon was too small for the payload.

That's what it looked like to me also...it didn't look like there was much
helium in the balloon at all when they released the payload.
Did the payload detach from the launcher prematurely, or did the balloon
have a leak?

Pat

From what I've heard (I'm live in Aus) on the news, the release let go too
early when a gust of wind picked up and pushed the balloon.

Pretty nasty though, doesn't look like much of that gear is salvagable...

Cheers Dre

On 4/29/2010 12:15 PM, Jeff Findley wrote:
"Pat wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Don't you you just hate it when this happens?:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/04/29/2885724.htm

Ouch! It looked to me like the balloon was too small for the payload.

That's what it looked like to me also...it didn't look like there was
much helium in the balloon at all when they released the payload.
Did the payload detach from the launcher prematurely, or did the balloon
have a leak?

Pat

""Niels Jørgen Kruse"" wrote in message
...


Too much wind.


Yep it looks like the crane was being pulled more
to the side, than up. Go-fever I suppose.


When released, the payload swung like a pendulum into the
ground, faster than the balloon could raise it.

--
Mvh./Regards, Niels Jørgen Kruse, Vanløse, Denmark

On 4/29/2010 12:19 PM, Rick Jones wrote:

Those things expand considerably at altitude don't they?

Yeah, they get huge at full altitude:
http://www.aerostar.com/aerospace/images
They were responsible for a lot of UFO sightings back when they were a
classified program, including the famous (and fatal) Mantell P-51 case.
Having seen one going over Jamestown many years ago, I can tell you they
are spectacular looking, particularly before sunrise or after sunset,
when their altitude means they are illuminated by the Sun while it is
under the horizon.
Then they glow like a ball of fire that is brighter than Venus.
They were originally developed to fly cameras over the USSR:
http://www.designation-systems.net/d...4/ws-119l.html
The end results of that program were vast numbers of photos of Siberian
forests, and one of the camera pods parachuting itself into Poland.

Pat

"Pat Flannery" skrev i meddelelsen
dakotatelephone...

Don't you you just hate it when this happens?:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/04/29/2885724.htm

Seems to have been gusty winds. First the balloon tore the payload
strongly sideways, then the deflated cloth of the balloon fell gently nearly
straight down.
Oh well. **** happens. :-(

Jon Lennart Beck.

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
On 4/29/2010 3:59 PM, Dre wrote:


From what I've heard (I'm live in Aus) on the news, the release let go
too
early when a gust of wind picked up and pushed the balloon.

Pretty nasty though, doesn't look like much of that gear is salvagable...

Yeah, the frame and scientific equipment would be built as lightly as
possible, so that probably ruined most of it.
Must have broken the hearts of everyone who worked on it.
Here's some info on what it was apparently carrying:
http://www.ssl.berkeley.edu/gamma/nct.html
Another Australian balloon flight earlier this month worked fine:
http://stratocat.com.ar/fichas-e/2010/ASP-20100416.htm

Pat


Did you manage to see the footage??

The equipement hit a sizable 4WD and *knocked it over* completely before
launching off again and hitting the ground where it smashed into lots and
lots of pieces

Cheers Dre