trying to find a reason to put up a balloon and payload into near-space? Not that one’s necessary, but the global space Balloon challenge has got a variety of good reasons for you to do so, in the form of prizes and swag from their sponsors. choose highest altitude, best photograph, longest ground track, best on-board science payload, or a bunch more. have a look through the gallery to check out last year’s winners, including teams that dropped a 3ft paper airplane or floated an R2D2 replica.
Basically all you need to do is register on their web site and then go fly a high-altitude balloon between April 10th and 27th. Last year 60 teams took part, and this year they’ve already got 90 teams from 31 countries.
And if you’re just getting into the (hobby? sport?) of high-altitude ballooning, be sure to check out their tutorials and forum. Of course Hackaday has been covering folks’ near-space balloon efforts for a while now too, so you’ve got plenty of reading.
So what are you waiting for? Helium’s not getting any more affordable and spring is on its way. start planning your balloon launch now.