Students photograph Earth from space on the cheap

Students photograph Earth from space on the cheap: "

Three MIT students grabbed pics from space using basic off-the-shelf parts and minimal hacking -

On Sept. 2, 2009, we launched a digital camera into near-space to take photographs of the earth from high up above. (see 'Flight')


Several groups have accomplished similar feats (see 'Other Launches'), but as far we know, we are the first group ever to:



(1) Complete such a launch on a budget of $150 total. All of our supplies (including camera, GPS tracking, weather balloon, and helium) were purchased for less than a grand total of $150.



(2) Create a launch vehicle without the use of any electronic hacking. We used off-the-shelf items exclusively (i.e., no electronic chips or soldering) to create our launch vehicle

They used a cooler + chemical hand-warming packets to keep the electronics operating at low temperatures. Head over to 1337arts for the flight pics & details. [via Slashdot]