Scientists Create Real-Life ‘Up’ Flying Balloon House
- Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:18am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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It’s quickly becoming an iconic scene from the animated movie “Up.” The old man, heartbroken, creates a flying house using only helium balloons to escape his pain. Now, a team of scientists have succeeded in successfully recreating that scene using hundreds of real helium balloons and a mock-up of the little yellow house seen in the movie.
First, the original scene:
Now the successful recreation:
TG Daily explains:
“We’ve discovered, really, that it’s probably close to impossible to actually fly a real house – but what you can do, as we’ve done here, is actually fly a lightweight house and actually fly it safely with people on board,” says the team.
The project was carried out by a team which included the National Geographic Channel and movie creator Pixar, along with two balloon pilots, engineers, scientists and volunteers.
The house was launched on Saturday from a private airfield in Los Angeles. It was hoisted into the sky by more than 300 weather balloons, each nearly three meters tall and holding an entire tank of helium. It was the largest cluster balloon flight ever.
The house flew for almost an hour, reaching an altitude of over 3,000 meters, and made a safe landing.
The project is part of an upcoming fall National Geographic series, “How Hard Can it Be?”
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Comments (63)
shipwreckkelley
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 1:36pmMaybe this has something to do with the new NASA mandates from the White House. Coulda been a Mooselum house.
Report Post »Protege
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 12:58pm“Why?”
“WHY?”
“WHY!?!?!”
Because.
It’s that simple. American spirit knows no bounds. The curious and brave will always push the boundaries. This nation was not founded for the weak or the faint of heart. It was founded on courage, inspiration, and the willingness to TRY. Bravo to them!
Report Post »Clarke80
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 12:03pmisn’t your job whatever someone will pay you to do cattlechik?
Report Post »cattlechik
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 11:53amthats amazing, but you know shouldnt they be doing their job? not being children.
Report Post »Seth Patriot
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 11:47amI’m waiting for my windmill powered car.
Report Post »clarktellart
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 11:27amThis was done for a new television show that will air on National Geographic channel. It is called “How hard can it be”. It is for a private production company and no US tax dollars were used for it. I know this because I was there. Chill out people.
Report Post »I also was one of the people popping ballons after it landed. 323 ballons were used to fly it. It was pretty amazing.
Lemon47
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 11:05amDespite a lot of negative reviews in here about this story, I’d like to say this: sometimes, you just need a little break from the world. It’s depressing, hearing the same stories over and over about corruption, spending, etc. This story is a nice refresher from that. Nobody likes a doomsday-speaker, who never mentions anything but serious matters all the time. No government money, it’s ok.
On another not, UP was an awesome movie. Loved it.
Report Post »CARBON HOG
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:57ami liked the balloon boy panic story better…………
Report Post »Tipdog
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:51amAnother classic case of “Because It’s There” happening. This is a cool story.
Report Post »avgconservative
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:46amI love America. You don’t see this going on in any Moslem country. They‘re too concerned about killing people who don’t think the Moon God wants blood.
Report Post »cranes
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:43amI am confident it was paid for by the sponsors of the new show. I studied physics thinking I wanted to go that route. It is all so serious, it is great to see them have some fun once in a while and I enjoyed watching the little house go up in the air. I would have liked to see it land. What a sight. Have a great day!
Report Post »scrapadapolis
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:40amAnd this helps the country how?Im afraid I will have to take up arms in my own community,live in the dark for fear of being looted from,Running zigzag to a place to get food.And a house lifted with ballons helps me how?While the people working to float a house rejoiced,I was stocking food and reloading shells.
Report Post »WBOB
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:37am*readies blow dart*
Report Post »dontbotherme
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 7:13pmha ha ha! :D
Report Post »flintandsteel
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:32amJust a waste of helium, a scarce natural resource. Check it out, http://www.livescience.com/11137-phht-helium-prices-balloon-world-runs.html
Report Post »avgconservative
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:50amHey, FLINT
The Helium can be recycled back. Besides, if you want Helium, go to the Sun. (Environmentalist wacko)
Report Post »Islesfordian
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:30amIt’s simple engineering. No house built as a simple house will be able to be lifted by ballons. The house has to be built with this purpose in its design. A normal house fights gravity by PUSHing upwards from the bottom to resist the house collapsing down. A balloon house must PULL the bottom upward, and this pull must be distributed properly through the joists and wall supports.
In the real world the house in UP would have been pulled apart by the balloons within seconds unless the balloons simply ripped the fireplace straight out first.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:19amThrough animation imagination has no boundry.
Report Post »jedi.kep
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:57amI love it! Dreams really can come true.
Report Post »absolutely
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:50amWe can be critical, but it appears to me that no tax money was used or “wasted” in this little experiment, all private sector funds which makes it even more unique and enjoyable. Absolutely
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:11amYou don’t actually have to sign your post every time… we know it’s from you by the emboldened “Absolutely” prior to the post.
Report Post »CanteenBoy
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:33amYet he can if he wants to… are you the signature police?
Report Post »912828Buckeye
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 11:59amAbsolutely may absolutely sign Absolutely to his posts if Absolutely
Report Post »absolutely chooses to………;)
coffeeking425
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:47amWhich brings me to my next point, that movie was awesome! Although the first 10 mins is enough to make anyone cry… thankfully you can skip chapters :D
Report Post »NickDeringer
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:33amStill waiting for the solar powered 747.
Report Post »Insipid
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 12:23pmYou could probably fuel Air Force One with the hot air spewed from Barry and Michelle’s yaps.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:31amcould we do this to the white house while its occupied ????? pretty please?
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:09amThumbs up
Report Post »ThomasUSA
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:30amNext challenge – The talking dog! – “Squirrel”!
Report Post »randy
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:27amI guess these scientists have nothing better to do? And, it takes a scientist to figure out how many balloons it takes to fly a house?
Report Post »Hoosier Daddy
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 11:46amIn a way it’s a hopeful sign. As long as we can piss away our time, money and energy on such trivialities, we have not yet been reduced to forraging for grubs and skinning our cats for something warm in which to wrap our feet.
Report Post »roxee
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:27amI guess we will need more traffic controllers,if loads of people start flying their homes…job creation?
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 12:18pmThis is a big break through in science , they’ve just invented the wheel !!!! … oh wait …
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:23amThe impossible just means no one has done it yet; the mythbusters demonstrated how to fly a “lead balloon” and made it work.
Report Post »Obama Bin Lying
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:33amI guess the next steps is making pigs fly
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:35amMy question, as always with these kinds of things, is “why?”
Seriously, why? If they’re real scientists, don’t they have actual real things to do? Please tell me that this was on their off time, for fun, and not something funded by tax or investment dollars?
Report Post »absolutely
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:40amWhole new meaning to the term mobile home. Absolutely
Report Post »absolutely
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 9:42amActually, just thought of this but also the term upwardly mobile comes to mind. Absolutely
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:00am@GhostofJefferson
I have to agree with your question of “Why?”
I wish they would have gone into the reasoning behind this experiment; there could be some good ideas behind it indeed, and hopefully such was done on their own private time as well…as the old saying goes…
“The World Awaits the Answer…”
Report Post »JJ Coolay
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:07amUnless there was some useful informational revelation, this would be a waste of time.
Report Post »Hopefully they learned something from this, but I can’t imagine what. It seems like this is technology that’s already been uncovered: hot air balloons, flight, buoyancy, etc.
rodamaa
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:08am…Or tell us how this deficit balloon will actually fly
Report Post »Tipdog
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 10:50amWhy? Waste of time? So is climbing Mt. Everest. They do it, because it’s there! That’s why. Because it’s there.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 11:01am@Obama Bin Lying
When BHO was elected we had an out break of flying pigs….“SWIN FLU”!!
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 11:51amNice to see shovel ready jobs being created for??? Thanks Barry
Report Post »silentwatcher
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 12:02pmYup,,,to hell with the people on the ground should it fall….smart.
Report Post »marine249
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 12:41pma new way to put wings on the taxpayer money
Report Post »White Devil
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 12:43pmAnother colossal waste of money and time. There are more serious things that need to be done right now as the world burns.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 1:16pmHelium is a scare resource, why the heck would they piss away 300 tanks of it for this? We know how much weight a volume of helium will lift, this is just a waste.
Report Post »libsaredumb
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 1:32pmFor those who asked, “Why?”
Imagination. Ingenuity. Creativity. Passion. Inspiration. Curiosity. Pleasure. Delight. etc. etc.
Conservative doesn’t mean dead, lifeless and boring. Some of you are so concerned with what other people are doing and so quick to judge. My guess is you lead a pretty passionless and non-eventful life. Maybe it makes you feel better to tear down others actually enjoying life. You sound more like libs, sticking your nose into other people’s business and criticizing. I know no simpler way to put it but, “Get a life.”
“Adventure is out there!”
Report Post »-Ellie
11
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 2:55pm@Libsaredumb: Well said!
The answer to the question of “Why?“ is ”Reward!”. We embrace Capitalism because we know that people simply wouldn’t work (at least as hard) if there wasn’t a reward (money) and the entire system would collapse. Same thing goes for scientists. For them, the best reward is not necessarily money but the excitement and joy of doing the impossible. Who knows what might come of this. If it only serves to inspire other scientists then I’d say it was has value.
Bottom line, if we want these scientists to continue to make discoveries and advance technology then we must reward them by allowing them to have their fun.
Now, the subject of using taxpayer dollars is another matter entirely. I personally don‘t believe the federal Gov’t has any place in any school or research organization outside of the military.
Report Post »Mark Tripp
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 4:20pmWhy? I have been that “Funny Science Guy” for over 30 years. I worked with Don Herbert (Mr. Wizard) back in the day… so here is the reason….
…because children of all ages will look at that and say “cool.” Ideas will spin in their heads, and with just a bit of encouragement they will find even more joy and wonder in Science. As I closed ever show (with thanks to Cole Porter):
Before you leave these portals
To meet less fortunate mortals
There’s just one final message
I would give to you
You all have learned reliance
On the sacred teachings of science
So I hope, through life you never will decline
In spite of philistine
Defiance
To do what all good scientists do
Experiment
Report Post »Make it your motto day and night
Experiment
And it will lead you to the light
The apple on the top of the tree
Is never too high to achieve
So take an example from Eve
Experiment
Be curious
Though interfering friends may frown,
Get furious
Aat each attempt to hold you down
If this advice you’ll only employ
The future can offer you infinite joy
And merriment
Experiment
And you’ll see
Taquoshi
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 6:16pmThis is just the intermediate step from the Obamanation to “Beam me up, Scotty, there’s no intelligent life down here.”
Report Post »Robert W
Posted on March 7, 2011 at 6:37pmIs this all “scientists” have to do with their time?
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on March 8, 2011 at 10:04am@libsaredumb
“For those who asked, “Why?”
Imagination. Ingenuity. Creativity. Passion. Inspiration. Curiosity. Pleasure. Delight. etc. etc.”
OK, all well and fine. But it serves no scientific purpose of any seriousness. Maybe I’m missing something though, what precisely can we engineer from what they “discovered” by making a flimsy home and lifting it with balloons?
“Conservative doesn’t mean dead, lifeless and boring. Some of you are so concerned with what other people are doing and so quick to judge.”
Where did I judge? I asked a question. This entire thing is not science, fist, it’s applied engineering. And thus the question of “why”, because engineering generally is performed to solve a problem. I wasn’t aware that homes not being lifted by a bunch of balloons was a problem that needed solved. Maye I’m out of the loop though, perhaps there are a myriad of practical applications for this innovation.
“My guess is you lead a pretty passionless and non-eventful life. Maybe it makes you feel better to tear down others actually enjoying life. You sound more like libs, sticking your nose into other people’s business and criticizing. I know no simpler way to put it but, “Get a life.””
Bitter, much? Are you that concerned with what others think that you feel the need to insult them for asking a simple question?
Report Post »Hudson Rush
Posted on March 8, 2011 at 10:22amThey should be using all that brain power to invent obamas magical green energy. And those awesome green jobs.
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