Robert Harrison's Weather Balloon Photos Of Space Stun Even NASA (VIDEO)

Robert Harrison, an IT director from Highburton, West Yorkshire, has an unusual hobby: Using duct tape, weather balloons, and a used camera from eBay, he builds high-altitude balloons that snap space photos so gorgeous, they've caught NASA's eye.

The method and materials behind Harrison's feat are stunningly simple, the Times Online explains:

The contraption comprises an ordinary Canon camera mounted on a weather balloon. Using free software downloaded from the internet, Mr Harrison reprogrammed the camera to wake up every five minutes and take eight photographs and a video before switching off for a rest.

NASA took interest in Harrison after he posted photos from his experiments online.

"NASA had heard what was happening and wanted to know how I'd done it so cheaply," Harrison told the Telegraph. "People think this is something that costs millions but it doesnt."

Learn more about Harrison's weather balloon space photos in the video below, then check out more pictures from space, including gorgeous photos of mars, stars, earth, and more.

WATCH:

Comments

[Simon Nava]

11:41 PM on 05/11/2010

By the way here is a very short video of the STRATOS-I mission showing when the balloon pops, it free falls, and when the parachute engages.... Check it out! I hope you like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2WkR3hIpy8

[Simon Nava]

11:38 PM on 05/11/2010

Try doing the same thing Harrison did, with a lot less money, limited space, and a lot of ocean water surrounding the launch and landing area. Check this project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHwgQiMr5VE

STRATOS-I Balloon Launch in South Florida! We got some amazing pictures of space.

[mamacat]

05:12 AM on 03/31/2010

Brilliant.
Still, if the balloon got caught in the jet stream, I think it would end up coming down over the ocean occasionally, since he is launching from an island. A rawinsonde balloon can come down over 75 km away, if it goes up to 35 km or more, gets caught in winds of over 150 km/hr once it gets to altitude, and is up for an hour or more.

[Simon Nava]

11:37 PM on 05/11/2010

Try doing the same thing Harrison did, with a lot less money, limited space, and a lot of ocean water surrounding the launch and landing area. Check this project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHwgQiMr5VE

[mlaiuppa]

03:15 PM on 03/30/2010

Just shows what a little outside the box and innovative thinking can do. Ingenuity.

[JScott]

11:59 AM on 03/30/2010

Didn't they do something like this with a chair for a Toshiba flat screen TV commercial?

[sigh34]

01:50 AM on 03/30/2010

This was already done before in September of 2009 by two MIT students.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/the-150-space-camera-mit-students-beat-nasa-on-beer-money-budget/

[Travis Mays]

10:20 AM on 03/30/2010

If you watched the video you would have heard this gentleman started in 2008!

[GoDogGo]

06:40 PM on 03/29/2010

One glaring omission from this story: How are the photos retrieved?! Taking the photos is the easy part! Kids do it with rockets and remote controlled airplanes all the time.

I presume they're radioed back (since the balloon could end up thousands of miles away) but that's not clear at all.

[ramblingjohnny]

06:49 PM on 03/29/2010

They just put a pre-paid GPS cell phone in the beer cooler!

[Perspicackle]

03:36 PM on 04/10/2010

The balloon pops in the end and it falls back down - he has a GPS transmitter in the box and he tracks it down where it lands.

(Just like the earth doesn't move between your feet when you jump up , the balloon doesn't drive that far)

[justadood]

06:01 PM on 03/29/2010

imagine the pricetag if Rockwell had built that little duct-tape box and circuit-board......I'm seeing 6 zeroes.....

Bravo, Mr. Harrison

[czs5056]

04:05 PM on 03/29/2010

nice

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

02:40 PM on 03/29/2010

Amazing what you can do with a little ingenuity, skill and time.

[Pilotincommand2]

12:40 AM on 03/30/2010

free enterprise at its best.

[mamacat]

05:05 AM on 03/31/2010

He didn't do it to make a profit, which is why it was so much cheaper than what a business could have done it for. He did it for the excitement of doing it, like mountain climbing.