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Taking Linux to New Heights
JimDog writes "Literally. I've created a web site documenting the
construction and launch of a high altitude 'weather' balloon, with a payload that runs Linux. The project was a great success, reached an altitude of 80,000 feet, and took some really amazing aerial photos."
Sorry, but you've been beaten by a few years and several hundred miles. Linux has already been in orbit aboard the space shuttle several times.
The PIII-450 is actually handling the load quite well now. I disabled the photo gallery and pointed the photo links directly to the static content.
Load average is less than 1 now.
I don't know what the hit rate and bandwidth utilization is like, but I'll do some Apache log analysis later and find out.
HABET (High Altitude Balloon Experiments in Technology) is one organization that has been doing this for years (I believe there are many). About 4 years ago I helped on a project that used two cameras, one with color film and one infrared. The cameras were triggered based on GPS altitude data so we examine the resulting photos and determine the difference in atmospheric interference (the clouds and graininess you see in his pics) and potentially combine the data from the color and infrared film to eliminate the interference.
I don't know where the interference-correction went since I graduated and fled the state, but I do know that triggering the cameras based on GPS altitude worked because I wrote that portion of the PIC code. There's something very satisfying about lifting a payload a few feet into the air and hearing the cameras go *click* when you reach an altitude threshold. Kudos to this guy for making so many pieces come together.
-FF
SQUEAK, the Death of Rats explained.
I believe that most airliners fly much lower than 80,000 feet. It looks like the airport's airspace is Class B which only goes to 10,000 feet. Airspace over 60,000 feet is Class G uncontrolled. I wonder if he could have tracked his balloon using the spiffy java San Jose Airport Monitor? ;)
Didja read the article?
He said that he waded through the FAA phone system, talked to a lot of clueless people and eventually planned to put out a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) about the ballon in the area. He also specifically put a radar reflector on the balloon , and complied with the various FAA requirements on weather balloons.
Air traffic control (if any) would have spotted the radar reflector on it and manouevered traffic around it if necessary.
And the odds of one cubic meter object (balloon) intersecting with another cubic meter object (engine intake) are pretty low, considering the large volume of airspace - a 1x1x1km cube is a thousand million cubic meters, and he was pushing upwards of 20km high.
Seems like he did enough to me.
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.