An Unprecedented View of Earth & Space: 360-Degree Video
Well, here’s the big thing my friend Greg Pitner and I have been working on for RPI-SEDS the past few weeks! I am delighted to present an unprecedented approach to experiencing Earth and space. In this 360-degree immersive panoramic video, you will witness an abridged journey of our recent high-altitude balloon launch. If you want some background, read my tragically comical story about what it took to get to this point. Take a look:
UPDATES:
Here’s a list of some mentions we’ve received:
- RPI Official Press Release: Rensselaer Students Reach the Edge of Space—and They Have a Video To Prove It
- All Over Albany: RPI students send balloon to edge of space
- Fox 23 Albany: RPI students get panoramic view from near space
- Hobby Space: RPI-SEDS team’s high-altitude balloon returns with 360-degree video
- http://balloonnews.wordpress.com/international-missions-2012/
The Video
NOTE: For best results, let the video load for a bit before playing, to minimize choppiness.
The “Flattened” Version (watch in full quality!):
Why I’m Excited: “Grassroots Space”
Let’s face it: space isn’t sexy anymore. The zeal for the cosmos that once pervaded the American public consciousness has gone flat, and we’re not going to rediscover that passion through politicians or NASA administrators. It will reemerge through the efforts of entrepreneurs in the private space industry and through the legions of professionals and students inspired by their actions.
Three battlefronts define the growth of this new space movement. At the boundary of technological knowledge, space entrepreneurs fight for business models that can bring sustainable profits. In the political arena, commercial space advocates are creating the necessary relationships with NASA and the U.S. government so that the industry can grow.
The third battlefront is an intellectual mission to inspire the future generations of space scientists, entrepreneurs, and workers. Educational outreach efforts aimed at students primarily define activity on this front. The national student-run organization Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is one example, dedicated to fostering enthusiasm for space among young people. I founded the RPI chapter of SEDS to bring that excitement to my campus by engaging students with space-related projects.
Our first effort, the high-atmosphere balloon, is an innovative variation on this increasingly common project. The idea that regular students can realize grassroots space projects like this embodies new opportunities to inspire people unlike ever before. That is the central idea behind presenting the high-atmosphere in a 360-degree interactive medium.
How We Did It
A block of extruded polystrene (i.e. foam) served as an effective vessel for an ARPS (for tracking), three GoPro HD Hero cameras, associated components, and handwarmers (to keep the transmitter batteries warm). We attached this payload to a helium-filled balloon and a drag parachute.
We mounted the three cameras on a piece of plexiglass we screwed to the top of the foam block so that they looked outwards, radially equidistant at 120-degrees. Shooting at 720p mode offered a 127-degree field-of-view for each camera, leading to approximately 7-degrees of overlap between any two adjacent cameras (at best).
In retrospect, we needed more overlap between adjacent camera field-of-views. We initially intended for a seamless (i.e. no visible frame edges) 360-degree video, but we did not have sufficient overlap to achieve this realistically. Fortunately, I think the final product demonstrates the original vision effectively enough.
The Payload
After successfully launching, chasing, and retrieving the balloon, video post-processing became the game. This is the workflow that resulted in the video above (omitting nitty-gritty details):
- In Final Cut Pro 7 (FCP7), create a custom-size canvas 3840x720px and place all three camera feeds, making sure that all feeds are time-synced.
- Tons of processing, including: skewing segments of movie to align horizons, image correction, cutting down movie to two minutes, adding music.
- Export video to an .mp4 using H.264 codec, saving at an appropriate quality for display on the Internet.
- Use krpano Tools to create a 360-degree panoramic video.
Had we the opportunity to do seamless stitching between cameras, we would have followed the following workflow (omitting details, again):
- In FCP7, align all camera feeds on a custom-sized canvas the size of three adjacent feeds, making sure that all feeds are time-synced.
- Edit the video length to your desired outcome.
- Export ALL frames from the three feeds as high-resolution images.
- Use PTGui Pro to automate batch stitching process for ALL frames.
- Import panoramic images as a movie in Quicktime Pro, then save as a movie file.
- Use FCP7 to edit video to final outcome (e.g. doing color correction, adding music).
- Export video to an .mp4 using H.264 codec, saving at an appropriate quality for display on the Internet.
- Use krpano Tools to create a 360-degree panoramic video.
The Launch
I'm passionate about tech product management, commercial spaceflight, the Liberty Movement, and swing dancing. I'm currently at an NYC tech startup, and it's been a blast. I graduated RPI '12 with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering. 
how does it come back down? does the baloon burst? how long did it take to fall down 20 miles?
The balloon burst at peak altitude (89,777ft) due to the expansion of helium. The balloon was about 10ft in diameter at launch and swelled to about 30ft diameter at peak altitude. The descent time was about 30 minutes if I recall correctly.
Hi, this is arielle Jeff Mockelmans friend. I came up and visited last year and just sat in one of your meetings for this. This has got to be the coolest thing I have ever seen. Congratulations. Its amazing.
I remember you! Thanks for the nice words
Did you fly the GoPro’s with the case? UB-SEDS flew one back in October, but the sealed case trapped moisture and caused fogging at high altitude.
We did. All three cameras had were in the cases, and we didn’t run into any fogging issues. It seems to be a relatively common problem based on a quick survey of YouTube videos.
Just read about this in the Rensselaer Alumni Magazine. How fun! Would you be interested in helping others build and fly one of these? Perhaps post plans and sources for parts and supplies.
I have two school age boys and this would be a great project for a scouting group or a science class. Fostering a real hands on experience like this in grade school or high school could further your goal of getting space back on the minds of our future leaders. Would love to launch one of these out here on the left coast (San Francisco).
John, that’s a great idea. I think I’m going to make an instructional “how-to” post soon. I’ll let you know when it happens. And thanks for mentioning the Alumni Magazine. You prompted me to find a copy to keep for nostalgic reasons.
Great project, one of the most inspiring things I have ever seen from RPI.
I also read about this in the Alumni Mag and looked it up on rpi.edu, btw. Some questions:
Did the project team chase the balloon across New England while it was in flight? Was there a crew waiting at the expected destination? Was it downloading location and altitude data to you in realtime?
Thanks for sharing the details- great work!
Bill, thank you! That means a lot to hear. To answer your questions: yes, we had two different cars of RPI students (one leaving from RPI, another from New Hampshire) chasing the balloon. Because the balloon payload carried an ARPS transmitter, we were able to use an iPhone APRS tracking application while driving. In other words, we had live readouts of the payload’s speed, height, and location. Very exciting! To determine the expected location, we had done some modeling based on the physical properties of the balloon as well as weather conditions for the day, so we generally knew where to go: the Lake Winnipesaukee, NH area. Our NH car got there first, but not before it landed. I actually recount the story in more detail here: http://orianbreaux.com/2012/01/reaching-space/. It’s entertaining because I recount all the things that went wrong that day.