

MIT Students Take Pictures from 93,000 ft on $150 Budget. - edw519
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-328198

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johnnybgoode
Over at Slashdot, there are some interesting comments pointing out that this
has been done for over 30 years.

[http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1367009&cid=...](http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1367009&cid=29406493)

[http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1367009&cid...](http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1367009&cid=29407491)

One amusing quote, whether you agree or disagree:

 _The reason why no one has heard of this before is because no one thinks it's
interesting enough to tell the press about; except MIT students, who
apparently think that everything they do is hot shit._

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djm
This is pretty cool. Something similar was done about a year or so ago by some
secondary school students in Spain.

Also, there is a cool video floating around somewhere (can't find the link
right now) of how to build your own balloon based satellite that incorporates
off the shelf cameras and a computer. I think it was a make magazine project.

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anigbrowl
Last spring:
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5005...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5005022/Teens-
capture-images-of-space-with-56-camera-and-balloon.html) ...which made news at
the time because of the extreme low cost, off-the-shelf hardware and so on.

 _Yeh stressed the groundbreaking nature of their work. “The fact that we were
able to accomplish space photography on such a low budget and with minimal
electronic modifications proves that it’s really possible for anyone—anyone at
all—to do. Imagine how many students might be inspired if their high school
science teacher took the time to give his students an out-of-this-world
experience.”_

...or indeed, vice versa. I can't help noticing that the reports of European
high schoolers correlate strongly with the time that Mr Lee stopped posting on
his short-lived cancer-reporting blog, correlatingcancer.com, which is the
host for 1337arts.com.

Well, at least Mssrs Lee & Yeh have a superior understanding of marketing and
self-promotion.

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heyitsnick
Direct link to the pictures:

<http://space.1337arts.com/flight>

~~~
jmtame
direct link to the ingredients:

<http://space.1337arts.com/hardware>

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dlsspy
$148 is not bad at all. I could rotate some of those pictures for them for the
other $2.

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cesare
They aren't the first to do something like this.

Here's a very similar project made in 2007:

<http://www.natrium42.com/halo/flight2/>

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jmtame
i think the cost is the surprising factor about this story. taken from the
site you posted:

Q:How much did it cost? A:The system that is presented is a little over-
engineered for historical reasons as well as for future expansion and test
purposes. It's possible to build a system for $500 with just a cellphone link
and a microcontroller, but make sure that coverage is good where you intend to
launch and use a good cellphone antenna.

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cesare
True. But consider also that this has been made two years ago, with 2007
technology.

Edit: Take the camera for instance. The MIT students used a Canon PowerShot
A470 (they bought it used from ebay) which costs $120 new and is 7 mega
pixels. This guy used a similar camera (Canon PowerShot A70) which was only
3.1 mega pixels and costed $350 when it came out.

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kreneskyp
Oregon State University launched a balloon to commemorate 100 million
downloads of Firefox. They used a disposable camera with a simple timer wired
to it. They didn't include a GPS unit though because it was "too expensive",
the camera has yet to be found. The cannon would take better pictures, just
pointing out that its not the cheapest route.

<http://lug.oregonstate.edu/events/firefox/sky>

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gjm11
It's a bit of a stretch to call 20 miles up "space".

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andreyf
Yes: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_space#Boundary>

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rbanffy
Come on. The sky is black, the ground is blue...

And its farther from the ground than I ever was.

Let them brag. If more people build simple affordable stuff that go higher
than common aircraft and give them a taste of what space is, I am fine with
it. It's a step in the right direction.

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yu
With no formal training, Ron Meadows, a pool service guy from San Jose, built
a stratospheric balloon package and took photos at 100,000 feet.
[http://cbs5.com/watercooler/stratosphere.balloon.launch.2.11...](http://cbs5.com/watercooler/stratosphere.balloon.launch.2.1191754.html)

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frig
Does anyone know how hard it'd be to send up a proper digital SLR and/or a
proper digital hd camcorder on a similar contraption?

Assume you already have the fancy camera or camcorder.

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tricky
I can't find information about the balloon. What kind of balloon did they use
and where can I buy one?

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rdj
<http://www.kaymont.com/pages/sounding-balloons.cfm>

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PStamatiou
Congrats Justin Lee! I was in your CS class senior year of Bellaire. ;-)

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caa09hh
These are the kinds of things that make me want to attend MIT. You can easily
market these things if you made them user-friendly. Maybe even put a steering
mechanism on them?

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gcheong
Why do you think these things are peculiar to MIT?

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joshhart
Because of this: "Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh". At a state school, it can be
quite difficult to find another person willing to help you build your dreams.

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eob
As someone who went to a state school for undergrad, worked for a few years,
and is currently at MIT for a PhD: Yes. MIT is a magical place like none
other.

It's hard to put it more concisely.. The whole school just has an aura of
"what the hell, let's try it" and a the professors and financial backing to
make it happen.

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cesare
It seem that financial backing wasn't needed for this project. Isn't the cheap
cost the surprising factor here?

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eob
Sure. I was making a statement about MIT, not this project.

