
English: 
Stanford University.
The basic goal was to see
if we could successfully
launch a high powered rocket
from a high altitude balloon.
When you launch
from altitude, you
to skip the whole
lower atmosphere.
It's like a big soup,
really thick and viscous,
hard to get through.
It's basically having to
push away all those molecules
to get up.
If you can lift it up above
all that and then launch it,
you actually get a
huge performance gain.
The two big systems that
we needed to actually fire
the rocket when we wanted
to fire it and do it
in a safe manner were the
control systems and then
the actual ignition system.
And so what the control
system was looking at
was basically taking
a bunch of inputs
from a bunch of
different sensors--
GPS, accelerometer, pressure.
With all of that data,
we wrote a program
that was the brains
of the flight launch.
We wanted to launch
from about 30,000 feet.
Once it reached that altitude,
that was the first check,
and the second check
was to make sure

English: 
[MUSIC]
Stanford University.
>> [SOUND] The basic goal was to
see if we could successfully launch
a high-powered rocket from
a high-altitude balloon.
>> When you launch from altitude you
get to skip the whole lower atmosphere.
It's like a big soup, really thick and
viscous, hard to get through.
>> [SOUND] It's basically having to push
away all of those molecules to get up.
If you can lift it up above all that and
then launch it,
you actually get a huge performance gain.
The two big systems that we needed
to actually fire the rocket
when we wanted to fire it and do it in a
safe manner, were the control systems and
then the actual ignition system.
And so, what the control system was
looking at, was basically taking a bunch
of inputs from a bunch of different
sensors, so GPS, accelerometer, pressure.
With all of that data, we wrote a program
that was the brains of the flight launch.
>> We wanted to launch
from about 30,000 feet.
Once it reached that altitude, that was
the first check, and the second check was

English: 
to make sure that the rocket would
be oriented within about 10 or
15 degrees of vertical so that it wouldn't
shoot off sideways or even worse, down.
>> But we were able to estimate
the altitude it achieved on both the video
results and the rocket equation.
And so we estimate that it
went to about 40,000 feet.
>> One of the really cool benefits we
saw to this project is that is a way for
amateur space enthusiasts to
reach very high altitudes or
potentially even space
through this method.
>> It's kind of a disruptive
way to launch rockets.
Normally you have to have
very expensive equipment and
materials to get a rocket to the kind
of altitudes that we're talking about.
But when you use a balloon you can
sort of compete with much larger
entities using this cheaper technology.
We didn't come into this with
a whole lot of experience.
Basically just the idea and
the passion to do it.
I think it was a pretty
cool way to translate
a lot of conceptual tools that we get,
here at Stanford,
into very practically applications
of those tools in the real world.

English: 
that the rocket would be
oriented within about 10
or 15 degrees of vertical so
that it wouldn't shoot off
sideways or, even worse, down.
We were able to
estimate the altitude
it achieved from both the
video results and the rocket
equation, and so we
estimate that it went up
to about 40,000 feet.
One of the really cool
benefits we saw to this project
is that it is a way for
amateur space enthusiasts
to reach very high altitudes
or potentially even
space through this method.
It's kind of a disruptive
way to launch rockets.
Normally, you have to have
very expensive equipment
and materials to get a rocket
to the kind of altitudes
that we're talking about,
but when you use a balloon,
you can compete with much larger
entities using this cheaper
technology.
We didn't come into this with
a whole lot of experience,
basically just the idea
and the passion to do it.
I think it was a pretty
cool way to translate
a lot of conceptual
tools that we get here
at Stanford into very
practical applications
of those tools in
the real world.

English: 
For more, please visit
us at stanford.edu.

English: 
[SOUND].
For more please visit us at stanford.edu.
