Pic from space for $150

[02TahoeMD]

Some really, really cool creativity from some guys at MIT.

Read the article at Wired (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/the-150-space-camera-mit-students-beat-nasa-on-beer-money-budget)


http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2009/09/thumb-660x495.jpg

[Jonathan Hanson]

That was the coolest thing I've read in a long time.

[James86004]

That is cool!

Technology has come a long way. In the book Secret Empire (http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Empire-Eisenhower-Americas-Espionage/dp/0684857006/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253066784&sr=8-1), Philip Taubman writes about an earlier generation of MIT grads who came up with a way to get high quality camera images from space. A machine on the satellite would unload the exposed film, develop it, and then a TV camera would scan each negative and broadcast the image back to earth. I can't remember if that innovation was before or after they figured out how to drop the film canisters back to earth, with an airplane plucking the parachute out of the sky, but either way is a lot more expensive that $150.

[adventureduo]

Awesome! I wonder if they talked to the FAA first? Im surprised it didn't get shot down out of the sky LOL Shoot, even when i was big into Rocketry we had "time windows" What if the cooler crossed in front of a aircraft on the way up?

[IntrepidXJ]

Awesome! I wonder if they talked to the FAA first?

Total weight was 800g (about 28 ounces). FAA regulations only apply to balloons with payloads over four pounds.

[R_Lefebvre]

Total weight was 800g (about 28 ounces). FAA regulations only apply to balloons with payloads over four pounds.

Damn, sometimes I think you could ask ANYTHING here, and SOMEBODY will have the correct answer. :D

There are other guys going to altitude records with radio control electric aircraft. I think I heard about 22,000 feet or something. They are definitely in a very grey area I think. The craft are really UAV's, not classic R/C.