The bbc have also done this on the cheap!

A few young kids from a spanish High School make it firsth
http://www.teslabs.com/meteotek08/fitxers/premsa/nota_de_prensa_ESP.pdf

Take a look here….
http://www.robertharrison.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=78
A good friend of mine has been doing this for the last couple of years.. he has some fantastic pictures and videos of his flights..
http://www.robertharrison.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=78

@GengisCan: According to FAR Part 101 regulations, not if it weighs less than 4lbs.

Why doesn’t the google maps or google earth team get pictures like this?

Yeah, this has been around for many years, but I agree that it’s good people are talking about it with renewed interested. The equipment has come a long way in getting cheap – Check out http://www.arhab.org/ if you’re really interested.

>I’m sure sending stuff up 33,000 feet makes the FAA happy

These things and the frontal area of aircraft are pretty small compared to the cubic miles airspace they fly in.

According to an MIT study, the risk of a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle such as this being hit by a jetliner is on the order of 1 in 1 billion per UAV flight hour. See

http://members.shaw.ca/sonde/risks.htm

and

http://icat-server.mit.edu/Library/Download/205_Weibel%20R%20-%20Safety%20Considera.pdf

Add to that the fact that Pilots are trained to look out for them.

Good job guys. Now, for other resources and information on balloons being launched by amateurs and being tracked, or other payload options, check out amateur radio balloon launches. For “cheap” tracking, APRS has been used quite successfully. Also consider looking up model rocketry and amateur radio, or even amateur radio satellites. You can find information on all three subjects at http://www.arrl.org or at http://www.amsat.org

it looks like ANDREW WIENS recently launched and just 1 upp’d these folks to the nth power

http://www.adwiens.com/projects/ensure/2/index.html

Capa: Icarus… who is the fifth crew member?
Icarus: Unknown.
Capa: Where is the fifth crew member?
Icarus: In the observation room.

The thing i most love about this is that the payload is just free to fall back to earth making a nice dent in something/one!

absolutely no details on the actual construction of it.

so long as it weighs less than a goose, the FAA don’t care. they test engines and windows with geese, and are responsible for the safety of manned flight. ground safety is only a tangential job only if the damage arose from manned flight.

This has been done so many times. Always fun. The ballon and positioning method is typically the most expensive elements ($50-$100 total for both), most other parts can be found lying around. Components typically: Weather Ballon, sun/cold shielded box, string/wire, a micro controller or timer and sensor circuit, 9 v battery, simple control circuit, cheap disposable camera, or digital camera for better picture quality, parachute, gps/triangulation positioning (probably most difficult part if any). Always call FAA just incase, don’t want to be the one to blame for an aircraft falling out of the sky. (;

@grovenstien It was on a parachute. If you view the GPS track of it on Google Earth you can see just how long it took to reach the ground and the distances it floated when it started hitting wind.

Just about as cool as every kid who buys an SLR and takes ~10000 pictures of the moon with it the first full moon. The SAME pictures 1000000 ppl have taken before. :P

jussi-
you’re being kinda harsh, aren’t you? what was the last thing you built and when?

“New” huh? This has been done for decades already by amateur radio guys. I used to go chase them back in the early 90′s. :-)

Jaded;

Well, keep dreaming then.

I learned a lot by actually doing it (not just thinking about doing it) and that made it more than worthwhile.

Hello!

please look:

http://www.copernicus-project.org

this is my stratosferic capsule

@ David:

Thanks for bringing up SpaceGrant. Was scouring the comments looking for a mention.

@ Trolls:

Yes, this has been done a LOT before. HOWEVER. It’s projects like this that give students a chance to learn by doing.
Secondarily, with regard to SpaceGrant specifically, its projects like this that get people employed once they graduate. Or, in the case of a friend and fellow classmate, an internship with NASA that has now turned into a full time position.

Knock projects like this all you want; the results for students are far too beneficial to be reduced in importance by your cries of “unoriginal” and “Arduino”…

where do these baloons come from ? is there a web site that sells them or do they make them ?