A group of MIT students spent $150 to send a digital camera into the stratosphere to take photographs of the earth from near space. While the idea is not new, the MIT students claim that their launch and successful photography endeavor is the cheapest launch to date. The group built the craft with a weather balloon, helium, a Canon A470 digital camera, an ice chest, and a Motorola i290 prepaid cell phone that served as the GPS tracking device. Their balloon flew 17.5 miles up and returned five hours later.

To see their data and get more information, as well as to see a time lapse YouTube video of the photography, visit their website at http://space.1337arts.com/

Posted at 01:50PM Sep 18, 2009 by John Virata in Astound  |  Comments[0]