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back to article LOHAN leaps aloft & ports into virtual flight logger

Last October, our US allies at Edge Research Laboratory sent up a Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) avionics package to determine just how our Vulture 2 spaceplane's servos and batteries would handle the cold way up in the stratsophere. Shortly afterwards, the chaps from "Drone Flight Logbook" outfit Exmaps got in …

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  1. imanidiot Silver badge
    Alert

    Any closer

    to finally setting a flight date?

    0 0 Reply
    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Any closer

      The ways of the FAA are mysterious and inexorably languid. We're still working on it.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Any closer

        What about the Kickstarter tankards, any word on when the "arrives in kit form" issues will be resolved and the beerholders will ship? I have a pint here, waiting...

        0 0 Reply
        1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: Re: Any closer

          Hi -

          Throw me a message on Kickstarter and I'll chase.

          0 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: Your first picture...

    ...if the actual launch and sustained flight into the stratosphere doesn't look exactly like the photo, then i'm bringing in the 'Heavy Mob' from the ASA to do you over!

    0 0 Reply
  3. Captain DaFt

    Secret developments?

    I'm keenly interested in the new tech you've displayed on the balloon here: http://regmedia.co.uk/2014/10/27/balloon_inflation.jpg

    Balloon legs... what could they be used for?

    0 0 Reply
    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Secret developments?

      They're for running downwind to achieve safe launch velocity. They fall off immediately after and are recovered for reuse.

      3 0 Reply
      1. Martin Budden Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        Re: Secret developments?

        Presumably they need to be refuelled with a barley & hops mixture before reuse?

        2 0 Reply
        1. Anonymous Custard
          Reply Icon
          Pint

          Re: Secret developments?

          I think you may have that backwards - I'm sure aforesaid mixture is supposed to make you legless, not to recover from them falling off...

          2 0 Reply
  4. Jonathan Richards 1

    Time axis mismatch

    The exmaps rendering seems to have an axis labelling problem. The 3D view has Lohan bumbling around at ground level until 1654 UTC, (the bumbling presumably due to GPS jitter in and around the hangar). However, the altitude line graph has the flight starting at (close to) 1554 (timezone not specified). I'm guessing this is a daylight-saving time glitch in the processing of the raw log?

    PS I'm viewing http://exmaps.com/c835c8 with GoogleTM Chrome: my Firefox won't render the 3D view even if I allow scripts etc. from all over the place.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Lyndon Hills 1
      Reply Icon

      Re: Time axis mismatch

      Same here, Chrome worked for me. FF had a message that it supports webGL, but there was an error. The site is pretty cool though. Be better to run this on Friday afternoon, since the whole flight is about 2 hours.

      1 0 Reply
    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Time axis mismatch

      "PS I'm viewing http://exmaps.com/c835c8 with GoogleTM Chrome: my Firefox won't render the 3D view even if I allow scripts etc. from all over the place."

      I didn't even work in Chrome here. It's an old Dell D600 running XUbuntu 12.something. I guess WebGL can't fall back gracefully to software rendering and requires hardware rendering with new gfx drivers. And yet Youtube works with Flash deinstalled. Maybe it's just the way the website designers implemented it.

      0 0 Reply
  5. Exmaps

    Exmaps

    Hmm.. if it works on Chrome but not on FF try updating FF? As for WebGL not compatible with older hardware, sorry, its a limitation that we have to live with now.

    Also checking out the time series plot.

    0 0 Reply

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