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Space On a Shoestring
An anonymous reader writes, "Three engineering students from Cambridge University plan to send an unmanned craft into space for £1,000 ($1,880) and have just sent a test mission up 32 km for a lot less. Their snaps from the upper atmosphere are impressive, and were taken by a balloon equipped with off-the-shelf technology including GSM text messaging, radio communications, and an ordinary 5-megapixel camera. They now plan to use a similar craft as a launching stage to get a cheap rocket into space." There's also a video of the balloon launch.
How much does it cost to put a rocket into space? Three engineering students at Cambridge University in the UK reckon they'll be able to do it for just £1000 ($1879). And they've just sent a lunchbox-sized aircraft, called Nova 1, into the stratosphere where it captured some very nice pictures of the Earth and the upper atmosphere.
Nova 1 was carried to an altitude of 32 km beneath a high-altitude helium balloon and snapped more than 800 images, many like the one above.
The students involved, Carl Morland, Henry Hallam and Robert Fryers, have also released a short video showing the launch in Cambridge. When the balloon carrying the Nova 1 finally burst due to expansion, a parachute deployed to carry it safely back to Earth.
Nova 1 featured some simple, off-the-shelf technology. This included GSM text messaging as well as radio for communications and an ordinary 5 megapixel camera. The students tracked their payload's descent using telemetry and by simply following it in a car.
Eventually they hope to fit a rocket beneath a balloon and use this to carry their craft to 100 km - the edge of space - all for just £1000. It would be no mean feat. Especially when you consider £1000 is about price of one door handle on the space shuttle. And that Anousheh Ansari just paid 13,245 times that for a tourist trip to the International Space Station. Good luck guys.
Rocky raccoon checked into his room
Only to find Gideon's bible
I always thought that story was an urband legend intentionally created for the purpose of underscoring just how easy it would be for a malicious person to do some real damage. Now it turns out that it was real.....scary.
This happened years before 9/11 awakened the west (or at least intellectually honest westerners) to the threat posed by islamofascism.
Imagine how much damage a group of jihadis could do with a few thousand smoke detectors, some tungsten carbide, and an engine block.
Can you say "Dirty Bomb?"
Lee
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
Space on a shoestring could be fun, especially with that five megapixel digital camera. How about something else on a shoestring? Taglit-birthright israel with Sachlav Educational Experience. This is a free trip to Israel. This is not a trick to make you buy something. This is not a contest you have to win. And there's no essay to write. It is a free trip to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26. If you're eligible, you could be there this winter, connect with Israelis your age who will join your group, hike Masada, take an unsinkable swim at the Dead Sea, see the holy sites, and a whole lot more. Bring that five megapixel camera to take pictures of your new friends from the United States and Israel. This trip is an action-packed 10 days, and the entire experience is amazing and uplifting. Trips take place around late December through early January. Travel on Taglit-birthright israel. EXPERIENCE Israel FREE with Sachlav. Sure beats taking a ride to space and experiencing the side effects of zero-G.
I've been going crazy all day watching the sales of TMX Elmo's on Ebay.com reaching the $200-350 range...and not hearing a peep from any news agencies. I know, today is the release date, but what the heck is going on?? There not running out of them at any of the local retailers...seriously though, it's been going on all day, hundreds of TMX elmo's have sold for %400+ there retail value....
I've been an ebayer for about 6 years, having sold and bought many times, and never have I seen something like this...utterly insane..
Not sure what you gues can do with this, but it is news...
Because Cambridge University and the entire AC backbone of the UK cannot handle a few Terabytes of bandwidth?