Sunny dry, seasonable and a DIY RC Spaceplane project to do

Good morning Augusta.

This morning it is clear, then partly cloudy. High of 68F. Winds from the WSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight it will be partly cloudy with a chance of rain after midnight. Low of 52F. Winds less than 5 mph.

The readings from my own instruments are:

The humidity is 84% with a Dew Point of 50.3ºF and a wind chill of 55.3ºF.

The temperature Is 55.3ºF.

We have East Southeast winds between 2.0 mph and 6.1 mph.

Our Barometric pressure is 30.01 HPA 1016.2 and rising with a weather graphic indicating sun.  

We have a UV rating of 1 out of 16, sunset will be at 6:48 PM with Moon Rise at 4:20 p.m. and the moon phase is waxing gibbous.

For the pilots out there, Raw Metar readings are:

METAR KAUG 151153Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 11/09 A3010 RMK AO2 SLP195 T01060089 10106 20072 51010

Visibility is 10.0 miles/16.0 kilometers with clear conditions.

We've had no rain here in the past 24 hours.

Having grown bored with weather related postings, I thought that, as fall foilage season approaches a new and inovative way to look at the wonderful  colors would be fun.,

How about looking at the leaves from the comfort of a car or from your living room, from the camera feed from your own remote controlled balloon launched space plane?

Hey why not? What else are you going to do as the weather cools off? Rake leaves?

A video of this very project can be found at:

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2013-03/build-your-own-diy-space-plane

And this is the article you will find at the website

A Swedish man modified an RC airplane, stuck a camera on it, and then flew it to space and back.

By Kelsey D. Atherton

71359

18.5 miles. David Windestål, of RCExplorer.se

One of the more delightful YouTube video genres involves sending a camera into towards the blackness of space beneath a weather balloon. The first one I ever saw featured a father and his young son in Brookyln. Other have used it for everything from college admission letters to Hello Kitty to Natty Light, to even a LEGO version Felix Baumgartner's jump. Okay, that last one didn't actually make it to space, but it fits the genre: slow launch, frantic first person footage as it plummets, and then a triumphant recovery. Most of these drops rely on a tough camera casing that can survive the fall back to Earth.

David Windestål of Sweden had a different idea. What if, instead of just sending a camera into space, he sent a drone?

Well, technically an RC model plane. Here's how he did it:

Start with a model airplane

Windestål picked the FunJet, an RC plane with enough interior space to hold the gadgets he wanted to add.

Add a video transmitter

The video transmitter allows for first-person-view remote control flying. Essentially, it gives the controller a view from the camera mounted inside the cockpit, allowing Windestål to fly the plane as though he were on board. Windestål chose the Lawmate 1W 1.2GHz, a transmitter with an overheating problem that actually becomes an asset in the cold upper atmosphereof space.

Cut the balloon

 

The most inventive part of Windestål's design is the mechanism that releases the plane from the hydrogen balloon that carries it to space. While it didn't work perfectly in flight, the device is still a good solution to a tricky problem. When the balloon that is carrying the plane gets high enough, it will inevitably burst as the gas inside expands beyond the ability of the balloon to contain it. When that happens, the tangle of balloon risks getting in the way of the radio antenna and covering the camera. Not fantastic. To try to cut the plane loose from the balloon before that happened, Windestål tied a wire around the string holding the balloon, and then at the flick of a switch ran more electricity through the wire than it was rated for, causing it to burn through the rope over the course of 10-30 seconds.

 

Enjoy the fall

 

After the modified FunJet disconnected from the balloon, it began plummeting toward Earth. Windestål got control of the plane after 20 minutes and was able to fly it back to the ground, steering it past a road before gracelessly striking a tree. Watch the video...

(you have to go to the website to watch the video, but its worth it.)