[deepfrdpancake]

Hi I am the creator of the site

to answer everyone's questions: 1. it is supposed to be a for fun sandbox, a 'toy' if you may 2. it can in no way become a credible source for any level of military intel 3. the altitude is at 100hPa 4. I really should add a disclaimer about how this is for fun purposes only 5. adding othe levels will give me even more data chunks, but it is certainly doable 6. I want to add (programmable) steering too! will do soon

[hluska]

I’m having an absolutely awful day. My Dad had to call 911 to get my stepmother the care she needed and everything just went downhill from there.

As rough as my day has been, I have spent a lot of time with your app today. It’s not perfect (of course) but I have had a lot of fun with it today. As dark as today has been, that really means a lot.

You have gotten some really solid feedback today and I can’t disagree with it. But speaking as a user, this product has made my day significantly better. Thanks for putting this out into the world.

[deepfrdpancake]

thank you for your support!

I hope your stepmom and dad all the best

[RheingoldRiver]

A little bit of UX feedback: It would be great if the balloon were a draggable object, not just click once & then again, I tried to do this about 10 times before I realized: click once on the balloon and then again on the map! Or maybe edit the instructions (click balloon and then map).

Either way, I enjoyed this greatly! Thank you for building this.

[deepfrdpancake]

I see, thank you for your feedback!

[kebman]

I absolutely need a cloud to blow on it from time to time!1 jk, great sim!

[wkat4242]

I love the disclaimer "not a credible source for military intel". I know you are probably putting that to disclaim knowing where a particular balloon came from but it sounds a bit like "If you want to spy on another country, build your own simulator" - lol.

[deepfrdpancake]

well I'm putting that to stop people from screaming about my site's 'credibility' and actual military offices have way more advanced tools anyways

but yea some people just won't stop so

[sillysaurusx]

Thank you for making my Antarctica balloon simulator dream a reality.

[deepfrdpancake]

haha antarctica is a fun region to simulate

at around 60 deg south there is no land at all, causing the wind and sea current to be exteremly strong, meaning the balloon can 'circumnavigate' the globe in time as little as 5 days, it is also known as the screaming sixties

[wkat4242]

Isn't the actual distance to cover much shorter also at those latitudes, in order to 'circumnavigate' the globe? Because an equilatitude circle is much smaller.

[KMag]

Correct. Look at the specifics for Burt Rutan's Voyager world-record non-stop heavier-than-air circumnavigation. They specified the need to cross the equator twice in order to avoid such shenanigans, perhaps with a few more constraints.

[rexarex]

They try to launch at least one balloon a year from Antarctica https://www.csbf.nasa.gov/mission.html

[rob74]

Reminds me of one of my favorite games from my youth: https://youtu.be/LgWo0xjQvBM?t=702 - with real atmospheric data, but with less control :)

[PM_me_your_math]

That game was built with the same engine as maniac mansion, aptly called Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion (SCUMM)

[hennell]

This was really fun to mess about with. Interesting how some balloons take very similar paths for a bit, but then go on an entirely separate second stage. UK and Norway can follow a very similar path to get to the US, but then Norway's loops around Canada for a bit while the UK's head south. It's fascinating.

If you're bored and want to run mass simulations with your data I'd love to know which country is the hardest to spy on via balloon.

[renonce]

I wonder if there is a way to simulate a balloon in reverse, i.e. given its destination figure out which sources it could come from. Maybe it would just be a matter of reversing the winds and time? Would be interesting if it were doable.

[jsjohnst]

You’d need to know it’s previous altitudes.

[PM_me_your_math]

Thanks! I now know that I need to release my 20m Winnie the Pooh balloon from the Aleutians islands in order for it to sail over China 22 days later.

[linhns]

Big thanks for creating this. A great simulation to show anyone that their knowledge of how the atmosphere work actually have some applications.