Students snap images of Earth from space for $150
Earlier this year, a team of Spanish students launched a balloon into space for €1000. Now a team from MIT has accomplished a similar feat for $150
On 2 September, MIT students Oliver Yeh, Justin Lee, and Eric Newton launched a 350-gram (0.8-pound), helium-filled weather balloon from a field in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The balloon carried a used 7.1-megapixel camera – purchased on Amazon.com – that was programmed to take pictures every 5 seconds. (Image: 1337arts.com/Oliver Yeh/Justin Lee)
To protect the electronics from cold temperatures, the team packed their payload in a Styrofoam cooler. A $50 GPS-equipped, prepaid cell phone was used to transmit the balloon's location via text messages. (Image: 1337arts.com/Oliver Yeh/Justin Lee)
The balloon took this image about 5 minutes after launch, as it was flying some 500 metres above the ground. (Image: 1337arts.com/Oliver Yeh/Justin Lee)
After four hours, the balloon reached its peak altitude, an estimated 28,350 metres above the Earth's surface. At this height, the curvature of the Earth was just visible.
Earlier in 2009, a team of Spanish students launched a €1000 balloon-borne probe that made it to 30,480 metres using a bigger balloon. Larger balloons have more room to expand before breaking as the pressure of the atmosphere decreases with altitude. (Image: 1337arts.com/Oliver Yeh/Justin Lee)
This picture was taken just after the weather balloon popped at an altitude of roughly 28,350 metres, producing a shower of rubber shrapnel.
Bigger balloons can reach altitudes as high as 40 kilometres, but rockets must be used to go any higher. Eventually, the team hopes to see how high they can loft a payload on the cheap, using a balloon to carry a rocket to launch altitude. (Image: 1337arts.com/Oliver Yeh/Justin Lee)
This image shows the remains of the balloon as the probe descended back to Earth by parachute. The return trip took 40 minutes. (Image: 1337arts.com/Oliver Yeh/Justin Lee)
Although the vehicle's cell phone lost reception soon after launch, the phone regained reception and managed to text its location before landing. That was lucky, as the phone's external antenna got stuck in the ground when it touched down and could not be used. The team found their payload in one piece in undeveloped land 32 kilometres from their launch site. (Image: 1337arts.com/Oliver Yeh/Justin Lee)