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Weather balloons for flat earthers to carry up drones that return the camera to the original take-off location

Darko Savic

Darko Savic Jun 02, 2022

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Weather balloons made for and marketed to flat earthers. They carry drones as high as possible. When the balloon pops the drone returns the camera to its original take-off location. 
Why?
People who believe the Earth is flat are willing to prove it to others. So let's make it easy for them to take a video going as high up as possible without a rocket.
A way for anyone to verify the Earth is actually round.
How it works
A weather balloon that carries a cheap drone as its payload. The drone has a camera attachment. It's best if people attach their own cameras - ones they can trust haven't been tampered with:)
The idea is to market these as ready-made products to flat earthers.
The drone's only function is to steer the free-fall back to the place where the balloon lifted off from. The owner will be waiting there. The drone tries to land or at least slows its fall as much as possible so that the camera can be recovered in one piece. It doesn't need to be a quad copter, it can be a glider or something more suitable for what it has to accomplish.
There's no need for remote control or a big battery. This cuts the cost. The drone gets automatically activated by the free fall. The lightweight battery provides plenty of power to control the fall and slow it down for landing.
8th minute of this video shows the weather balloon bursts at the height of 109.000 feet / 33 km 

flat earth product ideas conspiracy theories

2

Creative contributions

A parachute for the drone

Povilas S

Povilas S Jun 02, 2022

I'm not sure how efficient the drone would be in slowing down the free fall. Not very efficient, as my guess. Since the balloon would carry the drone to a very high altitude, the drone would likely start rotating during the free fall and it would be very difficult for the propellers to get it in a stable position again.
Also, who would control the drone to do this? Would it be programmed to land automatically? The remote control connection would fail. To design a drone that can stabilize itself and get back to the lift-off location automatically might significantly increase its price.
I propose at least equipping the drone with a parachute that spreads automatically once the drone reaches a suitable altitude. Then it might reestablish the remote connection to be controlled manually (given the winds didn't carry the balloon with the drone too far away to the side) or get back to the original coordinates automatically.
Another option would be to simply attach a camera with an automatic parachute to the balloon. When the camera lands, it sends the signal with the coordinates to a dedicated app on the user's smartphone. The user then navigates to the place and picks the camera. In this case, the location from which the balloon is released has to be chosen wisely - uninhabited area, a field with no or few trees, no water bodies, etc.

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Darko Savic

Darko Savic3 years ago

What if the drone was shaped and weighted so that it doesn't rotate? A deployable parachute adds one additional mechanism/complexity/cost that has to work right when the time comes. If upright, the drone should be able to slow the freefall to a halt

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Povilas S

Povilas S3 years ago

Darko Savic Right, but adding substantial weight to stabilize the drone might also require putting more powerful rotors that could carry the weight, this could increase the cost as well. Reshaping the drone = a different design, so time and effort to make it. I'm not sure which option is better/cheaper. This would have to be tested in practice.

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Darko Savic

Darko Savic3 years ago

Povilas S the done can be shaped like a glider and use minimal power to steer the fall

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A proper camera/lens

Darko Savic

Darko Savic Jun 03, 2022

Judging by this video, the camera/lens will play a crucial role in convincing doubters that the Earth is round

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