After school today, I met with Thomas Knemeyer who wanted to know all about my project. He said that he wanted to take it to the media, and I accepted graciously, as this is something that I had wanted to do, but had no idea of how to go about doing it. After a brief conversation and some fact checking, he said he will try and make it to my launch on Friday, and can potentially write up something for the papers. As he was leaving, he gave me a sizeable donation in American dollars, which took me by surprise. After many thanks we parted ways and I went to go and wait for Brandon, as we had organized to meet after my meeting with Thomas.
The meeting with Brandon went extremely well, and I was able to learn many things. Firstly, the 360° camera equipment he was offering to send up was ridiculously pricey and I told him it wasn’t worth the risk, as I didn’t exactly have R50k lying around if I lost/broke the camera. With that out of the way, we discussed how I could stabilize the GoPro footage as much as possible and extend its maximum of 75 minutes recording time. We came to the conclusion that a battery pack would be needed and I’d need to find a way to attach that to the GoPro. Also, if there was a heavy weight underneath the camera, it could potentially help with the stabilization and result in less movement. We then spoke about post production, and Brendon told me that he would be able to help out, and one of the guys at his office is apparently a wizard when it comes to 360° video. This was very nice, as I have no background in 360° video editing and some guidance would be very nice.
At the end of the meeting, Brendan made another offer, and that was to lend me not one, but multiple VR headsets for my display! This was really generous and outstanding, as I had been trying to organize just one for my stand, and then to be offered many was just too much. However, I accepted his offer with many thanks, and we agreed to meet again once I had completed the launch successfully.
When I got home, I found that Rob Wyly had sent an email to his friend Jason Smith, who would be able to help me with the GPS tracker. I gave him a call and he told me that the tracker uses cell networks to send the data, which is useful to have as a backup, if the radiosonde fails. When I asked him about price he told me that his friend has a unit out in Plattekloof that I can go and pick up, and I need not worry about cost, as he is happy to help out.
Later in the day, Timothy Hutchings got back to me about the Ripstop Nylon and said that he had plenty and I can come and pick it up at any time.
All in all, a highly successful day, and it looks like things took a fantastic turn for the better! Now to just keep my standards high and try and get ready for the launch on Friday.
