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Low Budget Air Space Photography
An anonymous reader writes "With a budget of just 350 pounds, two British PhDs in engineering sent a balloon with cameras attached to a height of over 30 km." The photos and video are pretty amazing. Especially the very hi-tech styrofoam box.
With a budget of just 350 pounds...
That's some heavy styrofoam!
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
oh and by the way... Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny? NOT REAL!
Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
Neat video. Of course, amateur groups have been doing this for decades, so it's not really news:
http://www.eoss.org/
the http://www.astdroid.com/ project :D
Are people supposed to get air clearance before launching a balloon that passes through altitudes used by commercial aircraft. Just curious.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
because random 2 guys with 350 pound budget did it.
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Actually, it's space. It's just not outer space. But the news never claimed that they reached outer space.
Not only that - what is suddenly the point of having the same exact news (just with different people...) again and again, every month or two? Especially if it's something done for many years...
One that hath name thou can not otter
Is there anything they've improved upon versus the other dozens that have been done? I'm too lazy to RTFA after the nth one of these stories.
If you watch the video carefully, you will see they invented time travel as well!
Because as you see from the start of the video - it's from December 2011!
Not only did they send this into space, but they sent it back in time!
And at least three Slashdot stories in the past couple years. Its a pretty common science fair project now.
The "swiss-army-knife" smart phone is the device that makes this possible. It does almost everything you need for a couple hundred bucks..
Wait a second... what year is it where you're from?
Random two engineering PhDs?... A lot less qualified folks are launching such balloons for many years. Also, 350 pounds is strangely expensive.
Just call it what it is (constant reporting of it, not the fun activity itself!) - some temporary media fad / phenomena.
One that hath name thou can not otter
Can't view the video in Germany, it says "This video contains content from UMG. It is not available in your country."
then they are of the first ones that were able to make into mainstream media. then THAT is the news.
Read radical news here
"This video contains content from UMG. It is not available in your country."
It's not "space" by the common understanding of the term. If, by "space," you mean simply existing in space-time, so the atmosphere doesn't matter, then nothing can be sent into space, since it was always present in space.
OTOH, the OP was incorrect in implying an error. The article only claims "edge of space," which seems accurate enough to describe a height where the contrast between the earth's atmosphere and space can be clearly seen.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Not to mention this has been done, like, 93 times in just the past couple years. It's like a new hobby sweeping the land.
This video contains content from UMG. It is not available in your country.
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
They could run it off a MacBook Air...
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What's with TFS image depicting planets, and linking to "space" filter?
One that hath name thou can not otter
It could have been way cooler if they used multiple cameras, or at least one more pointing down toward Earth. And how feasible would it have been to add some sort of shared storage device so they wouldn't run out of space and could record the entire flight?
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2011 here, but it sure as hell isn't December yet.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
Actually, it's space.
It's just not outer space. But the news never claimed that they reached outer space.
I just reached space bar six times.
Or is it that my computer's clock is really off? Because it was done in December of 2011 according to the video in the article. Anyway this hardly is something new since there was this £500 launch this summer in fancy orange styrofoam http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1288688/The-incredible-pictures-edge-space--taken-30-digital-camera-attached-balloon.html and even this 150$ launch from September 2009 and subsequent Project Icarus http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/the-150-space-camera-mit-students-beat-nasa-on-beer-money-budget/
Yeah, because the video in the story wasn't cool at all because it only went up 30km and not 100km. Riiiiiight.
Wow, finally I can put all that 'egg drop' expertise from childhood to good use.
Some days I feel like Schrodinger's cat.
I expected there to be less swinging and swaying well above the clouds. Commercial jets, at a mere 10 km high (very roughly) are able to often find very still air. Three times higher isn't very very very still? Do we have any experts here?
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
The best part about this story is it took two PhDs in engineering to do what high school kids have been doing for many years ;)
Next story: four PhDs in engineering build pinewood derby car, lose to boy scouts
Think they should mail their diplomas back to whatever website they ordered them from
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Are you making an uptime joke?
Not even that, I'm pretty sure there were some media reports at least over half a decade ago. They're just ... two engineering PhDs who jumped on recent media bandwagon about one type of small fun projects done by middle-schoolers (for many years)
One that hath name thou can not otter
Actually, it is cub scouts that do pinewood derby. There is a difference between them, but not a big one (mainly age)
The world is how you make it
The point is to advertise YouTube, and therefore Adobe. HTML5 my ass. Wouldn't it be cool if someone actually started a torrent with a Theora or WebM space video with sub-half-inch pixels? I couldn't even finish watching this one, it's a mess. You would think that a university could afford 20 kbps uplink for a month, and PhDs in engineering could figure out how to seed a torrent, but no. It has to be the shittiest quality imaginable, piped through Flash.
well, i didnt see any media reports at least half a decade ago, or longer. for me, its news. simply, probably for a lot of other people, its same too. so, it IS news.
Read radical news here
Good example of "duct tape engineering". After all, it is not recommended to use duct tape on ducts.
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
Hey!
You're that guy I'm always 'lucky' enough to bump into at parties.
I remember you saying you were part of some club, was it the TIA (Totally Irrelevant Anecdotes) or CBHFO (Can't be happy for others) ?
Please don't let me know, thanks.
So the music is illegal, the cell phone is illegal, the lack of flight plan is illegal. Good thing this was done somewhere outside the good ole USA. I feel safer knowing this thing couldn't land on my grandchildren (not really).
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
Probably will not happen for liability/littering reasons
Even about balloon-lifted stratospheric UAV... (after most straightforward attempt at news search; I think I've seen more than one "just a balloon" in UK mainstream media few years ago)
Which in itself wasn't unheard of since a few years even in 2005... (BTW, except for "just a balloon" media fad resurfacing in a few years and people forgetting this round, I fully except "OMG it's a spaceplane!" fad relatively soon)
One that hath name thou can not otter
It was news the first time someone did it, but not the 100th or whatever we're up to now. I've lost count of how many times slashdot has run "balloon takes camera to edge of space for $x" stories.
What is sad is that a real story about a vehicle going to this altitude, but with technology that clearly can go much further, was simply ignored and forgotten. The difference? Pretty pictures.
Personally, I think the idea that a rocket that may go to the Moon eventually is something worth "news for nerds". Yet another "high altitude" balloon launch? Not really.
I thought the same thing.... More high altitude balloon pictures? I'll wait for the tourists who go up on the VSS Enterprise to bring back their snapshots on their cameras. Those will likely be higher quality even if it is a relatively cheap camera bought at Wal-Mart on the night before their launch, and from a little more than double the altitude.
I think I've seen more than one "just a balloon" in UK mainstream media few years ago)
realize that 'uk' is not 'world.
most of us havent seen it. it didnt exist for us.
Read radical news here
It is mostly the dads of the Cub Scouts who make the pinewood derby cars, so I would argue that losing to a bunch of Boy Scouts is more likely something made by the actual kids.
Pinewood Derby competitions turn into flat out Pinewood Derby Engineering complete with wind tunnels to reduce drag from air turbulence, grinding axles with a lathe, and studies of various lubricants to beat out the competition. One interesting book I just read even went into the moment of inertia for the car to maximize the amount of energy obtained from the car dropping down the track (hint: put most of the weight of the car in the back to eek out a few extra joules of energy). Reducing the coefficient of friction on the wheels is the best way to win, however.
It is serious business, and real engineering does go into those cars.
I just reached space bar six times.
I'll have a pan-galactic gargle blaster.
Many have pointed out that the idea is not new and they are right. Although, IMHO, it is still cool to see stories about near space activities by amateurs.
Here are some resources to explore:
* Nuts and Volts magazine has run an excellent series of articles on constructing all sort of instruments and flight gear for near space projects. Including the basics of regulations, etc. (US centric). They still run the odd piece now and then on updated and additional tech solutions from readers.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20356815/NearSpace-Balloon-Launch is a good read on the hobby.
http://www.hobbyspace.com/NearSpace/index.html has a one page summary of the hobby.
From there Google is your friend. There are plenty of school and private groups/clubs that work on near space projects and launches. I've seen a few science fair projects on the subject also.
Wake me when a group of amateurs puts a rocket into orbit, or, better yet, when a group of amateurs demonstrates some kind of new technology on a piggyback payload in space. I like the DIY scene. I like the Space industry. Hell, I'm a member of both. But until the DIYer's start putting hardware on orbit, then the only thing they will be contributing towards the actual space industry is weather balloon data for a particular date (a compendium of which, for numerous dates, is actually useful in the launch industry).
In other words, I love the zeal folks are starting to develop for cheapening access to space, but there is still a huge gap between the duct tape engineers and the engineering companies that pay good salaries for professional level work. It will be news when that gap decreases down to a blurry line.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
So you didn't even bother to check the link, got it... (hint: US newspapers) UK urls was just where I have seen similar news (funnily enough, regarding TFA url...)
And considering relative audiences - yeah, UK mass media is pretty much the world when compared to US ones / you're doing it wrong (it's usually the other way around)
One that hath name thou can not otter
Considering how often my cell phone has been "accidentally" left on in my baggage while I've taken a trip on an airplane, I hardly think that it really causes too many problems. I really don't think my experience is that unusual as I've read the same thing from other people, and it was cell phones on Flight 93 that alerted some of the passengers on that flight that there might have been a bit of a problem with terrorists on 9/11.
Yes, I can understand why the FCC wants to discourage the practice, but I'm sure it happens far more often than most would admit.
that's one vague boundary, could make arguments for something more than half that distance. anyway, the record for a balloon is 52km, by the Winzen Research Balloon.
let me expand your horizon : us-uk is not the 'world'.
any clearer ?
Read radical news here
Ah, so you've never heard the Commonwealth... (and how popular in any random place at least BBC generally tends to be)
One that hath name thou can not otter
but that video almost made me cry. It's just... Ah, forget it.
weinersmith
350 lb. payload? *giggles* You realize they meant 350 English pounds, as in the cost of the project, not the weight of it?
Why didn't the GPS work until it landed? Also, when I enter precise coordinates into Google Maps it gives precise location, not just the nearest road. What happened there?
The Admin and the Engineer
FTA:
"If properly described, these images are not low-cost competitors to NASA spacecraft (as some media reports try to claim) but instead appetizers for the “real thing”: actual flights into space, suborbitally or orbitally"
WOOSH! Over your head there guy:
Difference between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts
The people who actually do Pinewood Derby: Linky Link
While the Cub Scouts are part of the BSA, it is not the Boy Scouts that do Pinewood Derby races, it is the Cub Scouts. There is a pretty big difference between making it through Weblos and making it to Eagle (trust me, I have done both).
Please do not confuse the two.
The world is how you make it
I guess they solved the time travel problem.
That sucking sound you hear is my bandwidth.
Love the music as well!
Mod me down, I shall become more off-topic than you could possibly imagine.
I think the real story is the music:
Hot Butter - Popcorn
Ludovico Einaudi - Divenire
Bedouin Soundclash - When the Night Feels My Song
oh and by the way... Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny? NOT REAL!
If we are going to be scientific about it, then prove to me they don't exist ;)
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
The title says "air space". A bit weird, but basically accurate.
I'm not as ignorant as you would think, nor am I confusing the two. If a Boy Scout is racing a Pinewood Derby car, it would be as a hobby and not as a "serious" competition.
Yes, there is a difference after a fashion between the two programs, especially as adults are much more involved in Cub Scouting... which is also why I was saying that it is more the dads that make the cars rather than the boys. Perhaps a Webelos (not Weblos, since you are being inane here) Scout might do quite a bit of it on their own, I am arguing that it would be a Boy Scout who would be most likely to make their own car. Supposedly it is a "joint" project between a father and his kid, but let's be serious here about who does most of the work. The Boy Scout in this case would be more than likely an older brother to a Cub or perhaps a Den Chief (an older scout assigned as a youth "helper" for youger scouts) joining in the race for fun. Sometimes there is a "family" competition for sisters and others in the family of the Cub to provide some extra excitement for those at a Pack Meeting.
While the original grandparent post may have sort of missed the mark, I sure didn't. My point was that by missing the mark and comparing the PhD students to Boy Scouts, that it was making the comparison to more proper amateurs rather than the more "professional" cars that sometimes show up as having been made by a Cub Scout.
While not encouraged by the BSA, such a race typically does become a chest thumping of adults more than casual play between kids.
Those are called Barrage Balloons, pre WWII technology.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
Last year a bunch of school kids did this same thing I think. I told my nephew about it so his class could try the same thing. I have read multiple stories about this process so it isn't really new. Have your kids school organize a bake sale or something to raise money. Purchase the stuff. DIY
Actually, a proof against Santa Claus does exist. Just Google for "proof Santa Claus does not exist". Something to do with the required speed to visit all the houses in one night, and air friction at that speed vaporizing the entire reindeer team. All calculated with exquisite precision, obviously.
An idle cell phone causes far less interference to the towers than one in the middle of a call.
Also the baggage section of an aircraft is significantly better shielded (no windows for signals to leak out of) than the passenger section. Your phone probably just went into "no signal" and ate your battery.
The problem is that the capacity of the terrestrial cellular network is dependent on the ability to divide the network into small range-based cells - the assumption is that a handset talking to one cell will be far enough away from the next closest cell that uses the same frequencies/channels.
An airborne handset nullifies this basic assumption, it is seen by a large number of cells on the same frequency. There was supposedly a point where it would actually communicate with all the cells and if you made a call you'd be billed for the call once for every tower in range (If this were actually the case, I wish they hadn't fixed it, it would be a good deterrent from using cell phones while airborne except in the most dire of emergencies), now you communicate with one and interfere with many others, degrading their performance. Again - probably something OK in the most dire of emergencies, but most of the time, if you use a cell phone while airborne (exception: aircraft with microcells that cause phones to drop their transmit power) you're just being a douchebag and interfering with numerous cell sites on the ground.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Actually, a proof against Santa Claus does exist. Just Google for "proof Santa Claus does not exist". Something to do with the required speed to visit all the houses in one night, and air friction at that speed vaporizing the entire reindeer team. All calculated with exquisite precision, obviously.
This is of course is assuming he doesn't use black hole powered reindeer. I like to use a magic eight ball for my precise calculations - it seems to work for weather forecasting just fine.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
I think the next step would be to separate the balloon part from the camera part a bit better, and cushion some of that bouncing/rotating. The videos are still awesome, but it'd be even better if they were a bit smoother (IMHO).
I came across them few times already... on one hand - commendable effort (even if some early plans raised an eyebrow, like appearing to dismiss gravity turn / dynamics of stability). But on the other - they seem to be aiming for a mostly solved problem.
Yes, small (no way around it, not with practical balloons) indigenous launcher could be nice... they might even manage to end up with something pretty inexpensive. Probably still not far from few available inexpensive launchers.
And with an awfully low mass budget to LEO, especially as far as requirements for trans lunar injection and landing there are concerned. And... apparently not working on the lander.
One that hath name thou can not otter