HALO Project

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right forum. I tried to post in Research, but I'm not allowed. I attend RMU outside of Pittsburgh, PA. I'm going for my Ph.D in Information Systems and Communications. I have an M.S in Software Engineering. Me, and my colleagues from Hope College and Michigan U. are in the early phases of a HALO, high-altitude observation platform. You've probably seen the videos of the weather balloons that go to the stratosphere and record earth and space from 100,000 ft. We're doing a similar project, but using an infra-red camera, and a still camera to capture images of the stars, and "other" objects that may be lingering in our skies. We are looking for some people to help us, engineers, researchers, etc. There is no money or anything like that required to join, as we are being sponsored by RMU's Department of Engineering. Our planned launch date is in June of 2011, at an annual Star Party in central PA, 50 miles from any light pollution or airports. If you want to jump in on this project, even from a remote location, e-mail me at [email protected]. Any field of study will do. Here's an example of what we're working on:

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by DocEmrick
Nice idea.

I like the 'other objects' plan.

Be careful, the gubbermint might shoot your platform down.

Nice Video! It definitely lets you see the world from a different perspective, literally. Don't let anyone's comments here discourage you guys. Keep doing what you're doing and here's to the success of your HALO project. Have you guys decided what you're going to do with the data that you're able to collect? How will you present the data and what is the goal that HALO is supposed to provide? You had mentioned specifically that you're looking to have an infrared camera facing towards the earth's surface, obviously to measure the heat patterns but how is that data relevant to your audience? Same with the stars? Are you looking to make a correlation between the stars alignments and heat on the surface of the earth? If so, you may need to provide some historical data as well.

Those are just some of the questions that I would think about if it were me moving forward with the project. I hope my perspective is relevant and welcomed.

Great video. It's people like you that continue to give me hope in the younger generation. Good luck on your next launch.

Originally posted by butcherguy
reply to post by DocEmrick

 

Nice idea.

I like the 'other objects' plan.

Be careful, the gubbermint might shoot your platform down.

You never know what may be up there.

Originally posted by Stryker Ops
Nice Video! It definitely lets you see the world from a different perspective, literally. Don't let anyone's comments here discourage you guys. Keep doing what you're doing and here's to the success of your HALO project. Have you guys decided what you're going to do with the data that you're able to collect? How will you present the data and what is the goal that HALO is supposed to provide? You had mentioned specifically that you're looking to have an infrared camera facing towards the earth's surface, obviously to measure the heat patterns but how is that data relevant to your audience? Same with the stars? Are you looking to make a correlation between the stars alignments and heat on the surface of the earth? If so, you may need to provide some historical data as well.

Those are just some of the questions that I would think about if it were me moving forward with the project. I hope my perspective is relevant and welcomed.

Thanks, that means a lot to me! We are presenting the data, which will consist mostly of still images to amateur astronomers and scientists at the Cherry Springs Star Party.

One of the issues that astronomers face is a lack of equipment, or a dark sky. Our goal is to provide a multitude of high-altitude images of space, from earth's atmosphere. Any information obtained from the earth's troposphere or stratosphere will be collateral. Your idea for making a correlation between the alignment and surface heat is very intriguing, and is something I'm going to look into further. Historical data would be a must in this case. Ultimately, the goal is to provide the highest quality images possible from the stratosphere.

Originally posted by fltcui
Great video. It's people like you that continue to give me hope in the younger generation. Good luck on your next launch.

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words! Hopefully, projects like these serve as an inspiration for our younger generations to reach beyond the TV remote or the Xbox controller.