Oh man… I want to be involved! This is so unbelievably cool. It’s better than it looks even, besides the shear audaciousness of it. They will be putting it at high altitudes of greater than 60km, so how about hanging a few instruments from it (noctilucent clouds anyone?), because that part of the atmosphere is poorly known. Can they pull it off? Sure! Browse their papers, there are many successful technology studies.
What a fun project! Thanks, for the post.
Jackie M.
Er, is it artistically important that the banana stay put over Texas? Because the best you could do is either to put a geostationary banana over Peru… or a banana that oscillates diurnally between Houston and Buenos Aires.
Oops, I was looking at the technology papers. The altitude for this project is a little lower: 30-50km. Still an interesting part of the upper atmosphere to study! I wonder why they chose the project name Geostationary Banana instead of The Banana Blimp (more catchy and at the same time more accurate, no?).
Arun Thalapillil
Funny 🙂
Bob Munck
Aren’t all bananas essentially geostationary most of the time? I just checked the ones we have in the kitchen; they’re just sitting there.
Amara, do you really think “Banana Blimp” is catchier than “Geostationary Banana?” I don’t want you writing my advertising copy.
Bob — yes, but are they over Texas? That part is key.
Tom Renbarger
It has a nice acronym, too — GBOT.
Jackie M.
Ah. Hmm. Well…. I too must vote for Banana Blimp. Or perhaps Banana Zeppelin? Zeppelins remain inherently cool, despite the association of blimps with product placement.
Core
Knowing Texans, they’d probably just find some way to shoot it down.
Aaron
Awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Like Jackie M and Amara, however, I am a little disappointed that the banana is not actually in orbit. 😛
Core — I’m too lazy to look up typical hunting rifle muzzle energies, but I’m guessing it would take something a little less legal to shoot down something at 50 km. 🙂
Dubya would send up a nuke. And then fried banana fritters would rain over Texas.
Paul Valletta
This could well have been “the one that got away” from either Yorick (alas, I knew him well? ) or maybe sam?
Sam, a rhesus monkey, was one of the most well known monkeys of the space program. His name was an acronym for the U.S. Air Force S chool of A viation M edicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. He was launched on December 4, 1959, housed in a cylindrical capsule within the Mercury spacecraft atop a Little Joe rocket in order to test the launch escape system (LES). Approximately one minute into the flight, traveling at a speed of 3685 mph, the Mercury capsule aborted from the Little Joe launch vehicle. After attaining an altitude of 51 miles, the spacecraft landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean. Sam was recovered, several hours later, with no ill effects from his journey. He was later returned to the colony in which he trained, where he died in November 1982 and his remains were cremated.
The only surviving photo I think is here, prior to lift off:
The Banana is Mightier Than the Sword.
Banana Prevents that Sinking Feeling.
He Who Thinks Banana, Drinks Banana.
The Queen of Banana.
Daddy or Banana?
Do you, uh, Banana?
I’m getting to this late, but that is clearly a banaballoonana, a very catchy name whose proper, rapid pronunciation would rapidly become a badge of honor among high altitude atmosphericists. Its operation requires an understanding of cosmic as well as botanic inflation.
Slogans are one thing. Poetry is quite another, and more serious matter (unless you’re Ogden Nash or Winnie-the-Pooh). My favorite poetry about poetry is this one.
Poetry
by Pablo Neruda
And it was at that age … Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don’t know how or when,
no they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.
I did no know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing.,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.
And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.
Comments
22 responses to “Geostationary Banana Over Texas”
OK, just really hurt myself laughing at that! Not quite sure why – maybe just the pure Monty Python-ness of it.
Oh man… I want to be involved! This is so unbelievably cool. It’s better than it looks even, besides the shear audaciousness of it. They will be putting it at high altitudes of greater than 60km, so how about hanging a few instruments from it (noctilucent clouds anyone?), because that part of the atmosphere is poorly known. Can they pull it off? Sure! Browse their papers, there are many successful technology studies.
What a fun project! Thanks, for the post.
Er, is it artistically important that the banana stay put over Texas? Because the best you could do is either to put a geostationary banana over Peru… or a banana that oscillates diurnally between Houston and Buenos Aires.
Jackie, you are making a hidden assumption that doesn’t apply to this case.
So Sean, now that we have observed the orbitting banana, will we ever be able to empircally verify the existence of the Space Teapot?
Oops, I was looking at the technology papers. The altitude for this project is a little lower: 30-50km. Still an interesting part of the upper atmosphere to study! I wonder why they chose the project name Geostationary Banana instead of The Banana Blimp (more catchy and at the same time more accurate, no?).
Funny 🙂
Aren’t all bananas essentially geostationary most of the time? I just checked the ones we have in the kitchen; they’re just sitting there.
Amara, do you really think “Banana Blimp” is catchier than “Geostationary Banana?” I don’t want you writing my advertising copy.
Bob — yes, but are they over Texas? That part is key.
It has a nice acronym, too — GBOT.
Ah. Hmm. Well…. I too must vote for Banana Blimp. Or perhaps Banana Zeppelin? Zeppelins remain inherently cool, despite the association of blimps with product placement.
Knowing Texans, they’d probably just find some way to shoot it down.
Awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Like Jackie M and Amara, however, I am a little disappointed that the banana is not actually in orbit. 😛
Core — I’m too lazy to look up typical hunting rifle muzzle energies, but I’m guessing it would take something a little less legal to shoot down something at 50 km. 🙂
Dubya would send up a nuke. And then fried banana fritters would rain over Texas.
This could well have been “the one that got away” from either Yorick (alas, I knew him well? ) or maybe sam?
Sam, a rhesus monkey, was one of the most well known monkeys of the space program. His name was an acronym for the U.S. Air Force S chool of A viation M edicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. He was launched on December 4, 1959, housed in a cylindrical capsule within the Mercury spacecraft atop a Little Joe rocket in order to test the launch escape system (LES). Approximately one minute into the flight, traveling at a speed of 3685 mph, the Mercury capsule aborted from the Little Joe launch vehicle. After attaining an altitude of 51 miles, the spacecraft landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean. Sam was recovered, several hours later, with no ill effects from his journey. He was later returned to the colony in which he trained, where he died in November 1982 and his remains were cremated.
The only surviving photo I think is here, prior to lift off:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_in_space
Looks like someone slipped on one 😉
Could this be the culprit, cause:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_in_space
>I don’t want you writing my advertising copy.
Oh please, please, pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeeease
The Banana is Mightier Than the Sword.
Banana Prevents that Sinking Feeling.
He Who Thinks Banana, Drinks Banana.
The Queen of Banana.
Daddy or Banana?
Do you, uh, Banana?
(with a LOT of help from the Advertising Slogan Generator.)
Am I going to have to post this poem again?
I’m getting to this late, but that is clearly a banaballoonana, a very catchy name whose proper, rapid pronunciation would rapidly become a badge of honor among high altitude atmosphericists. Its operation requires an understanding of cosmic as well as botanic inflation.
Slogans are one thing. Poetry is quite another, and more serious matter (unless you’re Ogden Nash or Winnie-the-Pooh). My favorite poetry about poetry is this one.
Poetry
by Pablo Neruda
And it was at that age … Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don’t know how or when,
no they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.
I did no know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing.,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.
And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.
[…] (Click on the image to reach the parent website of this project to know more of the concept. Link via Cosmic Variance) […]
[…] (Click on the image to reach the parent website of this project to know more of the concept. Link via Cosmic Variance) […]