Yeah, I was wondering about that myself. I would hate to start seeing whales wash up on shore with a big latex balloon stuck in its throat. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

The article only mentions that the balloons eventually burst from internal pressure once they float high enough. I assume that the remains will land somewhere, like someone's front lawn, rather than disintergrate somehow on the way down. There's no bounty on the balloon, so you'll have to dispose of it yourself if it lands on your property.

Oh, so it's like a geocaching thing where they have like a website of downed transmitter coordinates? Pretty smart. Don't have to hire many people to recover them then. $50 a transmitter is way cheaper than the cost of keeping a bunch of people on the payroll to go out and recover these units from who-knows-where.

Yeap, they kinda market the recovery to the geocachers since they have the experience of tromping through the woods to find stuff.

The box was a styrofoam thingy with the antenna on one end and a parachute on the other. Sort of boring but cool at the same time.

Are the balloons plastic or mylar or something else?

Sue

the parts left on the box were latex or something like it and were falling apart just touching it. Wasn't much left of it after a few days in the outdoors.

I don't think they are a health risk after a few days of UV light.

Thanks! I realy like they went that far to think of the environment! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

That's the way I took it too.

We tried something similar many years ago. Got a surplus weather balloon and attached a small dual band amateur walkie talkie. Set the walkie in cross band repeat mode and raised it on the teathered balloon. Worked great, but was quite expensive to purchase the gas.

Then we tried it on a para-wing type kite. A rather large one. This worked better as no gas was needed. In both cases we tried to raise a long wire antenna and the weight of the wire (super flex antenna wire) was too much. The walkie was a bit lighter, but I think it had something to do with the way the wire loaded the balloon and kite. Sagged quite a bit. I keep a kite in the camper now. Hmmmm that was fun to do. Think I will try it again now that I have more time to play with it. An advantage of being retired.<smirk>

Those of you who are interested in what these weather balloons and radio systems look-like, I highly recommend you "check this link." mvastro As you can see, the ballon was sucessfully tracked by the Herrett Center Telescope (follow the links for more info, BTW that is me [stargazer] sitting in the wheelchair.) We believe this is the first ever civilian video following one of these balloons. The cargo consists of a radio telemetry package using the local HAM bands. Additional gear is Slow Scan TV, Still Photography, Minor Weather and GPS equipment. Using the tracking trailer, we follow the progress via the APRS radios until touchdown and usually recover the balloon and equipment ourselves. Sorry, we are not paying to recover anything, but we are offering a reward for the one we did lose. As another poster has said, the gas is very expensive. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> We are planning a launch this April from the Herrett Center parking lot on either the 22nd or 29th. I will know which date this coming Saturday when the group meets for a monthly star party and astronomical society meeting.

Enjoy the videos.

Take care,
Stargazer

ASAP = Always Suspicious, Always Prepared

No, -I think "Project Manhigh" refers to something else. But the name does ring something of a bell.

Its also since occurred to me, -that the "P" beginning as I talked of, -probably refers to its base of operations, -Palestine Texas. And that the Program / Project went by something of the likes of "National Atmospheric / (or) / Balloon Research....(whatever)". Thanx anyhow! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]Susan[/email]