MIT students launch $150 camera

[Star Voyager]

Two MIT students launched a camera on a weather balloon to 93,000 ft. Here is the article:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009...beat-nasa-on-beer-money-budget?npu=1&mbid=yhp

 

[RisingFury]

Kudos!

 

[willy88]

28.3 km isn't "space".

But still pretty awesome nonetheless. Maybe I could get my crappy high school to do something like this...

 

[tblaxland]

28.3 km isn't "space".

That is just bad reporting, nothing new there. The students do not claim that they went to space, just near-space. Kudos to them.

 

[cjp]

Made me wonder whether I can do the same...

...I think most problems are not technological, but legal. Model rockets and airplanes are limited to a certain weight and maximum altitude, to make sure they don't interfere with airline traffic or cause damage when they fall on someones head.

I live in a densely populated part of the country, close to approach routes of both Rotterdam and Amsterdam airport(*). In other areas, a lot of airspace is reserved for the military; who knows maybe they are generous enough to allow for hobby experiments (**).

My dream, probably a lot more than $150, is to have a sea-worthy ship as a launch platform, and to do launches from the north sea.

(*) luckily not close enough to be irritated by aircraft noise.

(**) maybe in exchange for some technology transfer; Werner von Braun had a lot of success in working together with the military...

 

[SiberianTiger]

How did they purchase a weather balloon? Are them freely sold items?

 

[RisingFury]

It's not like it's difficult to build a platform like this...

 

[agentgonzo]

How did they purchase a weather balloon? Are them freely sold items?

The article that I read said that they got it for about $30 mail order. Whilst this is cool, there's nothing particularly new and unusual about it. Some spanish students did it about 6-12 months ago for under $100.

 

[Biscuit]

Reaching the altitude is impressive ... but I'm more impressed that they actually managed to find/recover the rig after it came back down.

It hasn't been updated in a loooong time, but the pages are still out there (and it's something I'd love to be able to do) ... high-altitude (balloon-dropped) robot glider .

 

[Brad]

This is awesome stuff... sounds like an interesting scout project for me and my boy along with his troop. Wonder how many merit badges we would kill with something like this?

 

[John_L]

Made me wonder whether I can do the same...

That's half the point of the article... that it can be done so cheaply, virtually anyone can do it. They plan to release step by step plans, if you want to do it, I'd watch for them, and go for it.

 

[Brad]

Seems simple enough, buy a cheap cooler, stuff it with paper for padding, put your itmes in it, and the let it go. Of course a good weather balloon is going to cost you about $60. Then there is the camera, etc... probably looking at around $300 or so for materials.

 

[C3PO]

I wish I could afford a 150$ camera when I was a student! :lol:

Very cool project!

 

[cjp]

I wish I could afford a 150$ camera when I was a student! :lol:

You should have rented a cheaper room. At least here in the Netherlands, typical student rooms can be around €350/month(*), but with a lot of variation around it. With a $50/month cheaper room, it takes only three months, and you have the money. When treated well, such a camera can work for years, so I think it is affordable.

(*)source: http://www.kamertje.nl

 

[Ghostrider]

I wish I could afford a 150$ camera when I was a student! :lol:

Well, who said you had to buy it... :hotcool:

 

[Artlav]

Makes me wonder, what is the absolutely cheapest possible rocket capable of sending a camera sat into LEO looks like?
Will it be a $1500 college project in the next few years?

 

[Ghostrider]

Makes me wonder, what is the absolutely cheapest possible rocket capable of sending a camera sat into LEO looks like?
Will it be a $1500 college project in the next few years?

Unfortunately no, because sending something into LEO takes a lot of energy - which means fuel, which means tanks, which means mass, which means more fuel. And you've got guidance systems, firecontrol systems, security equipment, telemetry and so on. Then you have to control the bird in orbit which has to have an onboard computer, stabilizing gear and cooling equipment.

But a suborbital shot could be done on a budget, with solid rockets...

 

[C3PO]

You should have rented a cheaper room. At least here in the Netherlands, typical student rooms can be around €350/month(*), but with a lot of variation around it. With a $50/month cheaper room, it takes only three months, and you have the money. When treated well, such a camera can work for years, so I think it is affordable.

(*)source: http://www.kamertje.nl

How far back in time does that source go?

 

[cjp]

How far back in time does that source go?

None.
After some 'googling', this was the first site to give me some prices. It seems to list some rooms that are currently available.
Ten years ago, €250/month was considered expensive.

Of course inflation has changed room prices and student income over time. Camera prices may be influenced by inflation as well, but I can imagine that due to technological progress, cameras are now relatively cheap, compared to some decades ago.

Besides, wasn't $150 the budget for the entire thing?