Welcome to space.1337arts.com — Project Icarus, home of the original $150 near-space launch!
UPDATE: 8/7/10 We have created a forum. If you have questions, comments, or just want to show your near-space launch, post HERE!
UPDATE: 5/12/10 Check out grassrootsmapping.org! We’re helping citizens to use balloons, kites, and other simple and inexpensive tools to produce their own aerial imagery of the spill… documentation that will be essential for environmental and legal use in coming years.
UPDATE: 10/30/09: Want to do it yourself? Visit GUIDE, a compilation of detailed information regarding what we did for our launch.
Click Here for archive of updates
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***CAUTION/DISCLAIMER: Launching things into the stratosphere can be DANGEROUS! Please contact the FAA before trying any launches (even if they are under 4 lbs.) to make sure your vehicle won’t be entering restricted airspace and PLEASE check the University of Wyoming’sBalloon Trajectory Predictor(or a similar website) to make sure you balloon won’t be landing in the city/a populated area where it might cause significant damage. Also, be sure to test your balloon’s terminal velocity for descent before launching. We tested our parachute by putting eggs inside of our styrofoam box and tossing the box off of a 5 story building. We were not satisfied with the landing speed of our box until the eggs did not break upon the box’s impact.
About Project Icarus
We are a group of MIT students seeking to share the artistic aspects of science with others. 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.
The results were fantastic. Our ultra low-budget balloon went 17.5 miles high into the uppermost parts of the stratosphere and returned 5 hours later. We tracked the device with GPS and found it some 20 miles away from the launch site.
Check us out on CNN, FOX, ABC! Click here to watch the Fox video, Click here to watch the CNN video. Click here to watch the ABC video
Project Icarus Details:
| Who | Oliver Yeh , Justin Lee, Eric Newton |
| Launch Date/Time | September 2nd, 2009, 11:45 EST |
| Launch Location | Sturbridge, MA - 42.12074, -72.06233 |
| Impact Location | Worcester, MA - 42.25504, -71.71943 |
| Distance Traveled | ~20 miles |
| Altitude Achieved | 98,000 feet, 17.5 miles |
| Helium Used | ~65 cubic feet |
| Weight | ~800g, 28oz |
| Camera | Canon A470 /w chdk open source firmware |
| Batteries | 4 Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA Batteries |
| GPS Reciever | Motorola i290 Prepaid Cellphone (“Boost Mobile”) |
| Tracking Software | Accutracking, Instamapper |
| Flight path | Google Earth kml |
| FAA regulation | Legal as long as payload is under 4 pounds |
**Below is a video for people who cannot access Youtube (e.g., people in China)
so cool~
Great and cool. I like this kinds of things. Greetings from Groningen, The Netherlands
Great Idea Guys and great Shots!
太帅了，有机会我也要去尝试下.
well done
I am completely amazed at what you have accomplished here!! Not only were you successful in your project, you also succeeded in inspiring all of us who have dreams and ideas that others tell us are too grand or unrealistic.
On a shoestring budget you have accomplished what many can not accomplish with millions of dollars at their disposal. You have shown us that science does not have to cost millions. The greatest discoveries of our time did not cost much either but they changed the lives of the entire planet.I believe you have done the same thing with your project. You have inspired us to pursue those goals that were are told is beyond our reach. I am truly impressed, and inspired!!
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!
Sincere congratulations ! May your teamspirit and reliance on simplicity take you very far. The world needs examples like yours to reconfirm that the future belongs to those who hold on to their dreams… with tenacity !
Looking forward to hear from you guys again with your next gig.
Cordially,
Jean-Francois
Milan (Italy)
Oh~ lt’s wonderful
I read about this and some of my classmates and I are interested in trying this for ourselves. We got the guide and are working on this. I can’t wait to get my own taste of the thrill you guys must have had. We will be sure to post how it went! Keep up the work! It is certainly paying off!
My son and I were trying to figure out how to launch a camera and take time lapse pictures. Our concern was the recovery of the camera and possible landing damage to the camera as well. Cool how you made this all happen.
Great work!!
Cy
Hi:
Regarding the history of kite and balloon photography, it has been around for more than 100 years. An inventor and photographer, George Lawrence, did some amazing work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_R._Lawrence
Cheers,
Ted
you deserve it ! ^^
completely amazed!
you deserve it!
Would it be possible to break earth orbit with an idea like this? Say do the same thing but instead of a box with a camera have a mini home made rocket attached….then once a certain altitude is reached launch the rocket outward toward space? Possibly to go take some high def moon shots!? Next project!
Way to go, Oliver! Your work is currently an inspiration to my AP Physics B students as we cover the Fluids unit!
Your proud former teacher,
Wendell Brown
great respect! i read this in a sience magazine. i will try this too.
greetings from Frankfurt Germany!!!
Hi. My names Eric and I live i England. My science teacher showed me your video and because I have an obssesion with space travel, I instantly wanted to do this myself. However I so not have the expertise to do it. Could you please send me the designs and the drawings for the circuit board. Thank you very much.
how cool
wa ..so cool.i will try too,haha…
I saw the introduction of this project in a magazine. It’s really cooool…
BTW, neither video is available.I’m a guy in China.
This sounds like a great science experiment kit! You should make one and sell it online.