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11-Pound Model Plane Vs. The Atlantic, Again
Luap Nanreffeh writes "Last year, (/. Story 1, /. story 2) Maynard Hill and some retired NASA buddies tried to set a record for flying a model aeroplane across the atlantic ocean (from Newfoundland to Ireland). Their plan, using GPS, onboard controllers, and a gallon of gas, would have been the first to cross the Atlantic under FAI rules. They didn't have much luck last year, but now they're at it again. The first launch should be tonight."
The Japanese did try something similar in World War II. They tried using paper balloons to carry incendiary bombs across the Pacific using the jet stream. Crazy idea, but a few bombs did get through.
They launched 3 last year, and are launching 4 this year. It would be really stupid to launch them an hour apart -- oops, one storm just took out all of your planes at once.
Bitchslapped. Neat.
If they had even the slightest flair for the dramatic they would set up a page which tracks the plane's progress in real-time on a map from their satellite telementary system.
If you were around last year, you would know that they do. It's just not up yet, because the plane isn't "up" yet either.
Bitchslapped. Neat.
Based on the first two responses to this post, you'd think people had never heard of inertial navigation. With MEMS accelerometers it ought to be pretty light, too.
From the site I learned that before the flight waypoints are uploaded to the GPS guidance system, and there is telemetry send while it is flying, but they basically said it will fly itself once in the air.