Lindsay Patterson

Imagine walking outside one clear, late summer day. You look up into the blue sky, admiring how the sunlight filters through the trees. A breeze flutters through the leaves. All is right with the world. But wait - what’s that, in the sky, just over the tops of the trees? It’s not a blimp, but you’re sure it’s floating. It’s almost like a crescent moon, but it appears to be much closer. You can see that it’s yellow, curving and cylindrical, shaped like - a banana. You quickly grab the nearest set of binoculars. Could it be? Yes, it is - but you can hardly believe your binoculars. It’s a giant banana, flying in the sky!

If the Geostationary Banana Over Texas project goes as planned, this will be the experience of thousands of skyward-gazing Texans next year.

Floating between the realms of large-scale instillation art and unlikely feats of engineering, the French-Canadian creators of the Geostationary Banana Over Texas intend to launch a 300 meter blimp-like banana made out of bamboo and synthetic paper 30 to 50 km into the sky, where it will use high wind power to traverse Texas in sweeping, circular patterns. The banana is expected to disintegrate a month later near Louisiana.

But why Texas? (Other than the fact that I like improbable flying objects and I live there.) The artists explain:

In the land of dreamers and the ones with faith.
A banana appearing in the Texas sky might seem like a ‘message’.

This is a daring action, defiant like a cowboy act.
And the banana is macho and phallic, they say.

It is in Texas because it has oil,
and a lot of Walmarts, Exxons and Halliburtons. (and The Ranch)

Well, alright. The project has created a buzz in the blogosphere (thanks to BoingBoing) far before it has a chance of reaching the atmosphere. It needs about half a million dollars to be completed, and despite flashy explanations of the proposed technology, they’re still calling for a team that can get a banana off the ground. And technical questions remain, such as: Is a banana that follows high wind truly geostationary? And, is it legal to put fruit in airspace? This blog says, “The airspace over any state is carefully regulated by federal authorities, and even the most whimsical aircraft must operate in compliance with its regulations.” But the banana camp states that there are definitely no rules or regulations governing the sky above 25 km.

Nevertheless, if this happens, I want to be at the launch next August in Baja, Mexico. So I emailed the project.

Hello,

I recently found the website for the Geostationary Banana Over Texas. I love the idea and I live in Texas. What do I have to do to make sure that I’m at the launch next summer? Any information would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Lindsay

They responded:

Dear Lindsay,

We will make sure you don’t miss the launch next summer, don’t worry!
We will gladly keep you informed on the developments of the project, and send you the info when the details concerning the launch in Mexico are available.
Let us know how we can listen to Earth & Sky Radio via the internet, if you do a story on the Banana on your show!
Thanks for your kind comments and interest in the project,

Samantha Wong
Geostationary Banana Over Texas

I’ll be praying for banana take-off. If you would like to join the banana launch posse or think you can contribute to the project, email info@geostationarybananaovertexas.com. Or tell me what type of fruit you’d like to see over your state, and maybe we can get something together.