Protecting Your Tablet From a Fall From Space

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Protecting Your Tablet From a Fall From Space

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday January 10, 2012 @06:22AM from the nobody-can-hear-your-ipad-fall dept.

First time accepted submitter xwwt writes "G-Form has a nice video of an iPad launched into the stratosphere via weather balloon and protected using its new protective gear 'Extreme Edge' to see how well the gear worked in the iPad free fall to Earth. The gear is being introduced at this year's CES where our own timothy will be attending and reviewing new products. The cool part of this whole video is really that the iPad survives the free fall from space, remaining fully functional."

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Could've been awesome. by nman64 · 2012-01-10 06:22 · Score: 5, Funny

...the iPad survives the free fall from space...
Aw, shucks! I would've preferred video of a different outcome.
Also, we've had better slashvertisements.
and the camera they took it with? by BabaChazz · 2012-01-10 06:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

Appeared on Fark a couple days ago, with the comment that the (unprotected) camera they used to document the flight and fall also survived. So...
1. Re:and the camera they took it with? by countertrolling · 2012-01-10 06:45 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  So did the unprotected metal rod.
  Did it win an 'Employee of the Month' award and get a parade?
  
  --
  For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
2. Re:and the camera they took it with? by doramjan · 2012-01-10 06:53 · Score: 2
  
  Wow! Did you actually get to *see* the rod?
3. Re:and the camera they took it with? by The+Great+Pretender · 2012-01-10 07:57 · Score: 2
  
  Apparently it was also weighted so it wouldn't land screen down.
  
  --
  A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
4. Re:and the camera they took it with? by Lumpy · 2012-01-10 08:02 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Honestly, the way it was falling tells me it was weighted to fall with the face pointing up. Plus it lands face up, let's try that again making sure it lands face down without an arm making sure it does not land on the glass front.
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
5. Re:and the camera they took it with? by Jjeff1 · 2012-01-10 08:23 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  The camera isn't exactly unprotected. It's a GoPro Hero, which comes with a fairly thick acrylic case. They're designed to be attached to all sorts of stuff for extreme sports. Among other things, they're water proof to 180 feet.
Misleading title by Hentes · 2012-01-10 06:27 · Score: 5, Funny

Contrary to popular belief, balloons still can't fly in space.
1. Re:Misleading title by tripleevenfall · 2012-01-10 06:35 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  They don't really fly in the atmosphere, either.
2. Re:Misleading title by JabberWokky · 2012-01-10 08:36 · Score: 2
  
  Better let NASA know that they haven't sent up balloons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_satellite
  For balloons ascending to space *as* balloons, you don't need orbital velocity, just get high enough. None have broken 53km. Since the height varies between agencies (usually 100km, with some using 50 miles, which is about 80km), different people have been recognized as astronauts (USAF vs. NASA). Repeat in different countries. Looking up this balloon, it got to 30km, which is well below either definition.
  So, yes... balloons have been sent to space (with other means of propulsion). No, this one did not. It failed to get halfway to the most generous limit, and less than a third of the most commonly accepted threshold.
  
  --
  "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
Why so high? by rHBa · 2012-01-10 06:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

Wouldn't it reach terminal velocity from a few hundred meters?
1. Re:Why so high? by MetalliQaZ · 2012-01-10 06:28 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Publicity.
  
  --
  "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
2. Re:Why so high? by Whiternoise · 2012-01-10 06:31 · Score: 2
  
  The amusing part is that it would actually reach a slower terminal velocity as the atmospheric density increases.
3. Re:Why so high? by ricky-road-flats · 2012-01-10 06:38 · Score: 2
  
  Maybe to get that beautiful video of the awesome view of the Earth from so high it was curved? And the cool way the balloon got so big it almost looked like a straight line on the video and then popped - also cool. Or to put it another way, why the fuck not?
4. Re:Why so high? by jd · 2012-01-10 06:42 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  If it was running telnet, then all velocities would be terminal.
  
  --
  It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
5. Re:Why so high? by FunkyELF · 2012-01-10 08:04 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It was curved because of a wide angle lens.
  With that lens you can see a curved earth from sea level if the center is above the horizon.
  When the center is below the horizon you get a concave looking earth.
  Didn't you notice how the earth appeared concave up there too?
6. Re:Why so high? by gurps_npc · 2012-01-10 08:25 · Score: 2
  
  Yes. Anything over 1000 meters is overkill if you care about impact.
  But if you also want to demonstrate the ability to continue to work when exposed to excess radiation/sunlight and lower air pressure, then the "edge of space" drop makes more sense.
  
  --
  excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
7. Re:Why so high? by JTsyo · 2012-01-10 09:40 · Score: 2
  
  yea but impact velocity is the same and that's what counts.
8. Re:Why so high? by JTsyo · 2012-01-10 09:41 · Score: 2
  
  don't forget low temperatures. I doubt the cover does much for those conditions though.
9. Re:Why so high? by HTH+NE1 · 2012-01-11 03:35 · Score: 2
  
  Well, if you presume a perfectly spherical iPad....
  
  --
  Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
"Space", my ass by fnj · 2012-01-10 06:28 · Score: 2

30,500 meters is NOT space, and falling from stationary at 30,500 meters is nothing at all like re-entering from REAL space at full orbital velocity.
1. Re:"Space", my ass by fnj · 2012-01-10 07:35 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The article says "The high-definition video shows the iPad falling from a height of 100,000 feet (30,480 meters)".
No reentry by bflong · 2012-01-10 06:28 · Score: 2

No reentry. It wasn't falling from space. Put it in orbit next time and see what happens.

--
Why is it so hot? Where am I going? What am I doing in this handbasket?
1. Re:No reentry by jd · 2012-01-10 06:44 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  If it's designed to make sure an exec dropping an iPad out the window of a Virgin Galactic can retrieve it later, there's no point in reaching orbit.
  
  --
  It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Re:Eh... by d4fseeker · 2012-01-10 06:36 · Score: 2

Who said irrelevant? Marketing is NEVER irrelevant
Especially not if you can show that you $EXPENSIVECOVER can fall a few km while the $LESSEXPENSIVE cover from the next boot was only thrown down of a bridge...
Re:Irrelevant stunt by Splab · 2012-01-10 06:37 · Score: 2

Dropped my iPad from a table unto concrete; corner took the impact (it's dented now), but tablet worked just fine afterwards.
As long as you aren't hitting the screen they can take quite a lot of abuse.
Also, I call BS on the "freefall", that thing was extremely stable during the decent - most likely they fitted some form of guiding parachute to make sure the back of the casing took the impact - gotta wonder how it would have survived hitting on a corner (screen on rocks would obviously have killed the ipad).
Rules? by hawguy · 2012-01-10 06:39 · Score: 4, Interesting

What are the laws for sending something high up in the atmosphere and dropping it to the earth at high speed like a poor-man's ballistic missile? Is there a law that keeps people from doing this over an inhabited area? What counts as an "inhabited area"? The last thing I'm thinking of when hiking in an uninhabited wilderness is that someone's iPad might land on my head.
It seems that these amateur baloon experiments are becoming more common (or maybe Youtube just makes them better publicized), but in any case, I'm wondering what the rules are for dropping random things from the sky.
1. Re:Rules? by rHBa · 2012-01-10 06:47 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  The only thing I'm legally allowed to drop from my paraglider is water, that's over inhabited or uninhabited space
2. Re:Rules? by PPH · 2012-01-10 06:54 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Coke bottles, OK. At least they are worth a few cents for returns.
  iPads, no. Not unless they've been rooted and we can load something useful.
  
  --
  Have gnu, will travel.
3. Re:Rules? by vlm · 2012-01-10 06:56 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  in any case, I'm wondering what the rules are for dropping random things from the sky.
  This is a secondary source, but pretty good
  http://www.eoss.org/pubs/far_annotated.htm
  If you mean legal civil liability its not a whole heck of a lot different than dropping things from a bridge, or tossing something off the top of a building.
  
  --
  "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
4. Re:Rules? by OzPeter · 2012-01-10 07:07 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  The only thing I'm legally allowed to drop from my paraglider is water, that's over inhabited or uninhabited space
  Is that before or after you have drunk it?
  
  --
  I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
5. Re:Rules? by clyde_cadiddlehopper · 2012-01-10 07:11 · Score: 2
  
  (provided they can find out whose random thing from the sky it is).
  That's easy: Their video is on YouTube.
  
  --
  Obi-Wan: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were sudden
Fall? Hell, What About The Cold? by cmholm · 2012-01-10 06:49 · Score: 3, Insightful

Per the Apple iPad 2 spec: Nonoperating temperature: -4 to 113 F (-20 to 45 C)
We didn't get a *real* good look at the display post-flight, but it seems the system was still usable after a cold soak down around at -23 F. Ok, so it wasn't that far out of spec, the system probably enjoy some solar heating, and it was a *dry* cold.

--
Luke, help me take this mask off ... Just for once, let me butterfly kiss you with my own eyes.
Sadly too late by nescientist · 2012-01-10 06:54 · Score: 2

Would tiling the bottom of the shuttle with iPads have been less expensive? Perhaps this technology would have kept those beautiful birds in service.
now make it Child Proof by na1led · 2012-01-10 06:57 · Score: 2

Hand the iPad to a bunch of 3 year olds and see how long it lasts then!

--
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
Stabilizes screen up in a spin = comfy landing by ehud42 · 2012-01-10 07:06 · Score: 2

In the clip I just saw, the whole assembly tumbles for a while, but as the atmosphere thickens, it stabilizes into a flat spin with screen facing up. The spin I'm sure generates some lift, which along with the large surface area results in minimum terminal velocity. Combine that with it landing nearly flat on its back - against the protective cover - results in maximum protection.
Curious how it would survive being dropped from a second story balcony onto pavement, oriented so that it lands on a corner - or even face down. Bet the screen is destroyed, and its brains scrambled.

--
I'm in my right mind and I have the answer to everything!
Re:Irrelevant stunt by GameboyRMH · 2012-01-10 07:12 · Score: 4, Insightful

The remains of the balloon are enough of a parachute, and the placement of the camera and mount can help it fall level as well.

--
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Can't read the article on an ipad. :( by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-10 07:15 · Score: 5, Funny

Ironically, TFA wont load properly on an ipad.
Re:Why is everyone here so underwhelmed? by na1led · 2012-01-10 07:19 · Score: 2

It's a pointless stunt. There is no difference in dropping it from 100,000 feet or 5 feet, the impact would be the same. Everyone knows this gimmick is not going to protect your iPad from a serious fall, because it all depends on where and how it lands.

--
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
Cosmic irony by clyde_cadiddlehopper · 2012-01-10 08:17 · Score: 4, Funny

The video cannot be viewed on the iPad it features.

--
Obi-Wan: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were sudden