Balloon overhead for the last week?

[cappt]

This balloon has been floating over one spot in the western U.S., specifically central Nevada for the past week! It's been as high as 71K but usually in the FL500-600 range. Very interesting how they can keep it in one geographic area for weeks at a time.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1238x720/opera_snapshot_2019_06_01_191239_www_flightradar24_com_17627 cffde47cf8297cf5222d21354dcfa59f81c.png

The world needs more surveillance apparently.
https://www.flightradar24.com/N105WV/209f745c

[WillFlyForCheese]

It’s a stratollite balloon.

https://mobile.twitter.com/stratoballoon (https://mobile.twitter.com/stratoballoon?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr% 5Eauthor)

[cappt]

It’s a stratollite balloon.

https://mobile.twitter.com/stratoballoon (https://mobile.twitter.com/stratoballoon?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr% 5Eauthor)

Cool, I had no idea this was going on. It looks like the one over NV is shattering records for endurance, it launched May 18th. and is still up there!

[Smythe]

There was some talk about these being used for broadband networks.

[Carbon Bootprint]

There was some talk about these being used for broadband networks.
Yes, that's the ambition of Google's Loon Project, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon_(company)) though I have no idea if its related to the Strato venture.

[etudiant]

Seems that multi months long Project Loon balloon flights are already routine. See the twitter feed from here: https://stratocat.com.ar/indexe.html

[pattern_is_full]

Seems like an ultrasophisticated analog to Albuquerque's famous "box winds," where a pilot can take off to the south in the "down the valley" early-morning breeze, climb into the prevailing southerly winds, pass back over his/her take-off point north-bound, and then descend back into the valley winds to return-to-base. Or even "hover" in the shear layer.

[Anon-x]

Amazing project. Much easier to spot them on Flightradar 24 with the reduced airline traffic at present.

[double_barrel]

Yes, that's the ambition of Google's Loon Project, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon_(company)) though I have no idea if its related to the Strato venture.

Kenya recently announced that they were partnering with Google loon too provide low cost 4g over the whole country as part of the response to covid. No timelines available as far as I know, but potentially incredibly helpful.

[jimjim1]

Amazing project. Much easier to spot them on Flightradar 24 with the reduced airline traffic at present.

If you set a filter to say Altitude 45-65,000 ft (65 is max available which may prevent the inclusion of some of the balloons) the balloons usually show up very clearly. Perhaps alternative ADSB sites may have more flexible filters?

Costa Rica,South america and Africa are favourite locations. There is a launch site in Nevada, I can't recall the exact location at present.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/990x1053/google_loons_a9fa1eb12c716cb16f7777e9da9734bdb8ec3687.jpg

[Anon-x]

If you set a filter to say Altitude 45-65,000 ft (65 is max available which may prevent the inclusion of some of the balloons) the balloons usually show up very clearly. Perhaps alternative ADSB sites may have more flexible filters?



Thanks jimjim1

[jimjim1]

If you set a filter to say Altitude 45-65,000 ft (65 is max available which may prevent the inclusion of some of the balloons) the balloons usually show up very clearly. Perhaps alternative ADSB sites may have more flexible filters?


I had a look and ADSB exchange allows 5 digit filters so max is 99,999. This though may not be relevant to the google Project Loon since at the time I looked there were none over 65,000ft anyway.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/565x372/adsb_google_loons_9a0ae142994a5928274bc6040f32b620b5f57d49.p ng