there are incredible hacks and then there are projects so unreal that the term hack just doesn’t seem appropriate.

this one fits squarely into the latter category and i’m posting it anyway.

art vanden berg details 4 years of designing a balloon launched glider that flies itself to a safe landing point using custom software running on a pc104 setup with a gps receiver, quickcam, 35mm camera, and packet radio. mission control is equally impressive with more custom software that tracks telemetry data, downloads real-time quickcam stills, and provides manual override of normal flight operation if necessary.

Continue reading “Homebrew, Autonomous, High Altitude Glider” →