Geostationary banana blimp to hover over Texas?

We've always heard that everything's larger in Texas, and since it's home to one of the largest PC / accessory vendors on the planet, will soon have the world's largest domed stadium, and calls the "Godzillatron" its own, we're starting to believe it. Cesar Saez feels the larger than life love too, as the artist is crafting a "helium-inflated 300-meter banana" to hover above the Lonestar state for a month, and while we'd just love (ahem) for it to pack a bevy of voyeuristic camera gear, this fruit is strictly for gazing at. The Geostationary Banana Over Texas project seeks to lift the dirigible above Texas for no other reason than to express his apparent appreciation for the uniquities in life, as Mr. Saez himself simply stated that "Texas is as symbolic as the banana," leaving us all to wonder what exactly that means. Nevertheless, the project is slated to cost around $1 million when it's all said and done, and while we're not precisely sure when the giant yellow balloon will lift off, we doubt it'll be hard to miss.

[Via TechDigest]

[Rodney Sharples @ Feb 9th 2007 6:06AM]

what are uniquities?

[iptydafu @ Feb 9th 2007 6:10AM]

Lord, Christo just farted.

[Juaquin @ Feb 9th 2007 6:15AM]

$1 million?!?! Can't he just buy us all a Wii and call it a day? I'm happier with a Wii than staring at some yellow line in the sky.

[boxc @ Feb 9th 2007 7:19AM]

Fantastic.. i'll donate.

[Foof @ Feb 9th 2007 8:09AM]

"while we're not precisely sure when the giant yellow balloon will lift off, we doubt it'll be hard to miss."

Hmm, if it's so huge, why won't it be hard to miss?

[plchabot @ Feb 9th 2007 10:04AM]

Did you know that the Canadian gouvernment is financing this project? Well, it is...

[Sammy @ Feb 9th 2007 11:00AM]

Is that a banana in your Troposphere, or are you just happy to see me.

[srw @ Feb 9th 2007 11:04AM]

The Hindenburg at 245 meters was the largest aircraft ever built.. wonder if this thing qualifies as an "aircraft"?

[Shmoe @ Feb 9th 2007 11:50AM]

I'm from Texas, but I think this idea is a stupid waste of money and resources, especially helium. Amarillo has the nation's largest helium reserve and the noble gas is rapidly being depleted. This would be a huge waste of a natural resource for a stupid art project.

[number40one @ Feb 9th 2007 1:27PM]

If it were geostationary, it wouldn't hover over Texas. It would stay in one place while the globe rotated beneath it.

In order to perpetually stay over Texas, it would need to be geosynchronous

[Christopher @ Feb 9th 2007 2:52PM]

Number40one, you are actually wrong.

A geostationary orbit is a type of geosynchronous orbit. So it will stay above Texas and appear to not move to those on the ground.

[Fru @ Feb 17th 2007 2:06PM]

from wikipedia:

'...the Clarke Belt (the geostationary orbit) is the part of space approximately 35,786 km above mean sea level in the plane of the equator where near-geostationary orbits may be achieved.'

from geostationarybananaovertexas.com:
'...it will float between 30 and 50 km up in the sky..'

so it's not a geostationary orbit. no?

[Christopher @ Feb 18th 2007 2:43PM]

From http://celestrak.com/columns/v04n07/ [best short explanation i could find tonight]:

"For any orbit to be geostationary, it must first be geosynchronous. A geosynchronous orbit is any orbit which has a period equal to the earth's rotational period. As we shall soon see, this requirement is not sufficient to ensure a fixed position relative to the earth. While all geostationary orbits must be geosynchronous, not all geosynchronous orbits are geostationary. Unfortunately, these terms are often used interchangeably."

What I think we have here is an example of the terms being used interchangeably. The Website and Engadget claim Geostationary in this art project's name. I assumed that was what they meant, but you are correct in the discrepancy that you pointed out, Fru.

Number40one claimed that it would need to be geosynchronous, and I merely pointed out that, as a geostationary object, it would be geosynchronous by definition.

Now, however, I believe that the Banana Project's organizers are confused about the difference and really mean to say geosynchronous instead of geostationary.

Does that make sense?

[Fru @ Feb 17th 2007 2:32PM]

It's only a joke, and sounds good, but some might think it is really a geostationary orbit.