Some more great photos from Don and Joe in the Atlantic Ocean. They used the kytoon and the white and red rokkakus today, using the higher kite to take photos of the lower kite. They also engineered an aerial photo of the research team on the deck. This day they traveled from sample station #3 to sample station #5. Upon arriving, everyone went swimming.
Yesterday Dudu inflated both of the new balloon kites in the shop and left them overnight to insure that there were no leaks. Today we inflated one with helium and launched it outside.
Balloon KITE DATA:
Diameter of Burger: 2000m Height to Diameter ratio: 0.6 Height of Burger: 1200mm Volume of an ellipsoid: 4/3 * PI * a*b*c (a,b,c are each radii, so a=b and c=height) Volume of our Burger: 4/3 * PI * 1*1*0.6 = 2.5 cubic meters 1 cubic meter = 35 cubic feet Volume of Burger: 88 cubic feet
We used the 110cubic feet tank of helium to fill and there was some left.
The Gas Kite is a lifting device that mixes the use of lighter-than-air gas lift with lift from a kite. Perfect for missions when the wind is too light to use our ROK kites to lift cameras, we take advantage that it will go up with almost no wind, then it will catch the light breeze that will help to stay even higher and stable.
Our main development this time in the factory was to study the 3D inflated shape of the lifting balloon. The original Gas Kite is made by welding 2 flat circles. The resulting inflated shape is not a sphere, but a “flattened sphere”, more like a pancake… or a burger. Because the balloon is made with […more]
