I've had this idea in the back of my head for awhile.
Wouldn't it be cool to put something in space? We've all probably wanted to be an astronaut when we were kids. The technology has gotten cheaper and simpler such that youtube is chock full of DIY space-shots via balloons.
I would propose a challenge, goal or quest to see how cheaply one can build a craft, get it up there, take a few shots, and post them onto this forum, preferably from the craft while it is still aloft.
Science people like [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION] can probably point out what is/is not considered space, but I think us layman can settle for "shoot a picture where the sky is black because that's space"
It sounds like we'd need:
one of them weather balloon things
a cheap smartphone with camera that we can write code for
some kind of small heater (like a chemical hand warmer)
I think the basic concept is to write an app for the smartphone to:
With that in place, the smartphone gets rigged to the balloon and heater to keep the battery from freezing (seems a common practice/problem). At launch time, the phone is told to start the program, so it will conserve power until it needs it. You don't want the phone to drain the battery while it "roams" out of reach of the cell towers.
Once the math is done to predict the times for ascent, descent, etc, one could fine tune just when to wake up the cellular services for communication. If the trip is short enough, the camera might be kept running the entire time, to provide a time lapsed perspective. It's all about maximizing battery life for a one-shot trip to space.
Anyway, that's my idea. Sound fun? What details are needed?
Wouldn't it be cool to put something in space? We've all probably wanted to be an astronaut when we were kids. The technology has gotten cheaper and simpler such that youtube is chock full of DIY space-shots via balloons.
I would propose a challenge, goal or quest to see how cheaply one can build a craft, get it up there, take a few shots, and post them onto this forum, preferably from the craft while it is still aloft.
Science people like [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION] can probably point out what is/is not considered space, but I think us layman can settle for "shoot a picture where the sky is black because that's space"
It sounds like we'd need:
one of them weather balloon things
a cheap smartphone with camera that we can write code for
some kind of small heater (like a chemical hand warmer)
I think the basic concept is to write an app for the smartphone to:
- detect when it is launched
- disable it's power consuming functions for a calculated duration for ascent
- re-awaken and start shooting pictures every 30 seconds or so for a calculated duration
- re-sleep for awhile during descent
- re-awaken when it is closer to cell towers
- send out the pictures over the internet to EN World
- broadcast its location for recovery
With that in place, the smartphone gets rigged to the balloon and heater to keep the battery from freezing (seems a common practice/problem). At launch time, the phone is told to start the program, so it will conserve power until it needs it. You don't want the phone to drain the battery while it "roams" out of reach of the cell towers.
Once the math is done to predict the times for ascent, descent, etc, one could fine tune just when to wake up the cellular services for communication. If the trip is short enough, the camera might be kept running the entire time, to provide a time lapsed perspective. It's all about maximizing battery life for a one-shot trip to space.
Anyway, that's my idea. Sound fun? What details are needed?
