GoPro camera launched, lost in 2013 returns to reveal Grand Canyon from space

Fox News ^ | September 13, 2015 | FoxNews.com

[Reno89519]

It took five friends a couple months of planning to record the perfect GoPro shot. It took two years to get the footage back.Members of the group recounted the amazing journey that took a GoPro camera from the terrain of Tuba City, Ariz., to the edge of space and back in posts on YouTube and Reddit. The June 2013 expedition was designed to capture breathtaking aerial views of the Grand Canyon and its surrounding area via a GoPro, camcorder and Galaxy Note II launched on a weather balloon.

After reaching a maximum altitude of about 18 miles, during a flight time of slightly more than 90 minutes, the payload fell to the desert floor – where it remained for about two years. The team was using the GPS on the smartphone to track the package, but they encountered a problem during the descent.

[Reno89519]

Check out the video! My twin boys want a science experiment, what better effort than launch a camera to almost 100,000 feet? Took this group a bit to get the camera and video back but it was an incredible experiment.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

That’s an amazing video! But . . . did this thing just crash to earth without benefit of parachute? I saw the ‘chute on the lines but it appeared to come down pretty quickly. Perhaps someone who has more expertise in this can comment. I just have this image of well-meaning people trying this, and having a GoPro crash down on someone’s head . . . ruin your whole day!

[TigersEye]

“TWO YEARS LATER, in a twist of ironic fate, a woman who works at AT&T was on a hike one day and spotted our phone in the barren desert,” trexarmsss wrote. “She brings it to an AT&T store, and they identify my friend’s SIM card. We got the footage and data a few weeks later!”

And you thought they didn't have coverage there.

[Reno89519]

I got to think the parachute worked, once it got to lower altitude--otherwise terminal velocity would have destroyed it; and the landing seemed pretty tame, though the case was broken open. Sure quick immediate descent after the balloon popped.

Just looked online and weather balloons are very cheap. Not sure I'd want to part with a camera, phone, and recording altimeter, or have to potentially track it halfway across the state, but this is very intriguing.

As for it crashing on one's head, reminds me kid in my high school who threw rocks directly up in the air. Pretty stupid and resulted in a few stitches.

[TigersEye]

I’m amazed that it landed only fifty miles from the launch site after going that high. It must have been a very calm day all the way up to 98k ft.

[Kirkwood]

That’s more of an engineering project than a science project.

[dr_lew]

Well, you know, STEM ... the new word for Science.

BTW, I was peripherally involved in an aquatic GoPro project recently ... underwater lake footage. Nothing newsworthy, but rewarding to me.

[publius911]

Bookmark

[diverteach]

Like any other electronic device they don’t stay the latest and greatest for long. GoPro had a good run but are going to quickly become obsolete. The 360fly is going to replace the GoPro.

With 360fly it would be hard to miss the great shot since it takes a continuous, seamless 360 video then you just swipe the screen to the view/perspective you wanna see.

www.360fly.com and checkout the video

[ETL]

I took a screen shot, enlarged it, and added the arrow to point out the Grand Canyon --from about 90,000 feet. The Colorado River is about the length of the arrow in front of the arrow's tip (dark snake-like thing).

[Reno89519]

Nice, but isn’t the quality a bit lower? Trade-off I guess.

[ETL]

[equaviator]

There’s something not quite right about that. However, stranger things have happened.

[oldplayer]

That weather balloon goes about straight up early in the flight and is really zooming vertically. When the height versus the distance is graphed out, it doesn’t look to be so unusual. Apparently the students had a decent idea of how the flight should go and this flight path followed it.
My two cents.
Oldplayer

[philman_36]

Lost weather balloon turns up two years later with stunning views of Grand Canyon

A link to another flight.

[philman_36]

They used a fish eye lens and it is evident throughout the video...especially at 1:07-1:10 and at 1:27.

9/12/2015

[diverteach]

Nope, it’s full 1080p

[Kirkwood]

STEM is not the new word for science.

[JoeFromSidney]

They should have used ham radio instead of depending on cell phone coverage.