4 ms·

The tech behind Felix Baumgartner’s stratospheric skydive

72 points by mrsebastian 14y ago

protomyth 14y ago
This podcast has an interview that explains the camera tech used http://www.fxguide.com/therc/red_centre_073/ http://www.fxguide.com/therc/red_centre_073/
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
js2 14y ago
Non-swipe link: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/137521-the-tech-behind-felix-baumgartners-stratospheric-skydive?onswipe_redirect=never http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/137521-the-tech-behind-fe...
freeslave 14y ago
i wonder what the final price tag on this was? has anyone seen a number put on it?
- dkokelley 14y ago
  Whatever it is, I imagine it was well worth it for the primary sponsor, Red Bull. A lot of the tech was developed just for this jump, so it would be difficult to get a final price tag without including R&D costs (which are already tricky).
  - ashray 14y ago
    Yup, definitely worth it! Imagine almost 5 million people essentially watching an almost 3 hour long (very interesting and groundbreaking!) Red Bull commercial around the world. I think if we did the math at base advertising/marketing rates - this project would still work out quite cheap for that kind of exposure! Daring indeed!
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - kgermino 14y ago
      Well, looking at the math I see them getting about $6,615,000 worth of ad-time (not counting news or social media, just the video stream) The math: 7.35 average daytime CPM[1] * 5 Million (5,000 thousand) viewers, watching for an average of 90 minutes (* 180 30-second spots) each. That is: $7.35 * 5000 * 180 = $6,615,000 Of course if the news coverage mentioned "RED BULL SPONSORED DIVER..." then my number gets blown out of the water. [1] http://infoacrs.com/a/tvads.html http://infoacrs.com/a/tvads.html Daytime, spot TV, CPM average
- mkuhn 14y ago
  I have seen the number of around $50 million mentioned. But am not sure where anymore. Big expense but the exposure is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions if not billions.
storborg 14y ago
Here's a video overview of the (highly specialized) skydiving rig used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SErtpdKLsM4#t=5m20s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SErtpdKLsM4#t=5m20s
benologist 14y ago
I've been curious for a long time why Ziff Davis devotes so much attention to spamming HN. And then today it clicked after I saw this story at the top or /r/technology submitted a couple hours after it was popular on HN. HN provides a vector for popular spam submissions here to be legitimately submitted on Reddit, without all the hassle of spam detection and moderators getting in the way.

72 points by mrsebastian 14y ago

This podcast has an interview that explains the camera tech used http://www.fxguide.com/therc/red_centre_073/ http://www.fxguide.com/therc/red_centre_073/

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

js2 14y ago

Non-swipe link: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/137521-the-tech-behind-felix-baumgartners-stratospheric-skydive?onswipe_redirect=never http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/137521-the-tech-behind-fe...

freeslave 14y ago

i wonder what the final price tag on this was? has anyone seen a number put on it?

dkokelley 14y ago
Whatever it is, I imagine it was well worth it for the primary sponsor, Red Bull. A lot of the tech was developed just for this jump, so it would be difficult to get a final price tag without including R&D costs (which are already tricky).
- ashray 14y ago
  Yup, definitely worth it! Imagine almost 5 million people essentially watching an almost 3 hour long (very interesting and groundbreaking!) Red Bull commercial around the world. I think if we did the math at base advertising/marketing rates - this project would still work out quite cheap for that kind of exposure! Daring indeed!
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - kgermino 14y ago
    Well, looking at the math I see them getting about $6,615,000 worth of ad-time (not counting news or social media, just the video stream) The math: 7.35 average daytime CPM[1] * 5 Million (5,000 thousand) viewers, watching for an average of 90 minutes (* 180 30-second spots) each. That is: $7.35 * 5000 * 180 = $6,615,000 Of course if the news coverage mentioned "RED BULL SPONSORED DIVER..." then my number gets blown out of the water. [1] http://infoacrs.com/a/tvads.html http://infoacrs.com/a/tvads.html Daytime, spot TV, CPM average
mkuhn 14y ago
I have seen the number of around $50 million mentioned. But am not sure where anymore. Big expense but the exposure is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions if not billions.

storborg 14y ago

Here's a video overview of the (highly specialized) skydiving rig used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SErtpdKLsM4#t=5m20s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SErtpdKLsM4#t=5m20s

benologist 14y ago

I've been curious for a long time why Ziff Davis devotes so much attention to spamming HN. And then today it clicked after I saw this story at the top or /r/technology submitted a couple hours after it was popular on HN. HN provides a vector for popular spam submissions here to be legitimately submitted on Reddit, without all the hassle of spam detection and moderators getting in the way.