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"At over 100,000ft the balloon lost its inflation and the equipment was returned to the earth."We travelled 10km to find the sensors and photographic card, which was still emitting its signal, even though it had been exposed to the most extreme conditions."
Their project kind of worries me, the GPS stopped working at 2500 feet so for the vast majority of the journey they did not know where it was.
I was particularly interested in recovery. Which GPS-enabled phone did you use, where did it land, and how was it physically recovered?Also, are there any resources you can link me to about space-proofing electronics enclosures?
Sorry for the slow reply time. We have been swamped with emails and classes just kicked off, so we have only just gotten a chance to reply. The specifications for the phone are on the website: http://space.1337arts.com in the table. We used a Motorola i290 ("Boost Mobile") with accutracking. The camera was physically recovered by driving the site where it landed (it reports it GPS location by text message ever so often).As many of the readers of our site have aptly pointed out (and as the subtitle "pictures from Near-space" on our website implies), we didn't go into "space". So to "high-altitude proof" (the upper stratosphere is basically the limit of how high the balloon will go) your balloon, you need to keep your electronics warm (meteors and EM radiation don't become a real problem until the Mesosphere, which anyone reproducing our experiment will most likely never get to.) We used Coleman Handwarmers pressed up close against our electronics. I'm sure there are many other ways to do this, but that's jut the way that we thought of.Hope this helps,
I read the comment aout the loop hole in the system which lets them launch a helium powered vehical under 4 pouns without FAA approval and i couldn't believe it.
They previously had stated that FAA rules did not apply to balloons under 4 pounds.
One of my comments was that there is an FAA rule about prohibiting balloons that present a hazard to persons or property. Now their website states contact the FAA even if the balloon is under 4 pounds.
kd4ttc-http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-328198QuoteThey previously had stated that FAA rules did not apply to balloons under 4 pounds.then i read on furth down the page and found this from the same personQuoteOne of my comments was that there is an FAA rule about prohibiting balloons that present a hazard to persons or property. Now their website states contact the FAA even if the balloon is under 4 pounds.
hey i just wanted to chime in this, $8000 personal satellitehttp://interorbital.com/TubeSat_1.htm
Quote from: frank26080115 on September 28, 2009, 11:36:04 PMhey i just wanted to chime in this, $8000 personal satellitehttp://interorbital.com/TubeSat_1.htmwait, so your project would get burned up after a few months?
yesbut say your university had a club that have some money to send up a camera or something, this is a great opportunity
or, another option, carve some random "alien" symbols onto tungsten and cause some panic when it lands somewhere and some idiot discovers it
Quote from: frank26080115 on October 10, 2009, 05:36:27 PMyesbut say your university had a club that have some money to send up a camera or something, this is a great opportunityYes, but for most hobbyists who are poor probably would want to spend 8k plus the price of their project which they sunk hours into just to see it burn up after a few months... i wish the projects could survive