Project Icarus had its humble beginnings with a dream to see what the world looked like from the sky. At first, images were captured using a balloon tethered to the ground with fishing line, but then we dreamed bigger. After some research into high-altitude balloon flights, we were ready to start planning.
A major limitation to our work was the fact that we, being poor college students, had a very limited budget to spend on the electronics. The radio equipment necessary for tracking and retrieval of the balloon/camera was simply too expensive. Fortunately, we discovered that gps-enabled cell phones (and several models of these phones well within our budget-range) can be turned into trackers that would lead us to the balloon.
The next problem we faced was geographical in nature: we live on the coast, and if we launched the balloon from Boston, the prevailing West -> East jetstream would push the balloon into the Atlantic ocean. From previous low-altitude launches, we estimated that the balloon could drift as far as 200 to 300 miles during the course of its flight.
Knowing this flight risk, we planned to launch the balloon somewhere in the vicinity of Albany, NY. We planned to drive half of the distance the night before and finish the rest of the 250 miles on the day of the launch. We camped out in a Target parking lot because we could not afford to spend any money on hotel.
Sleeping in the parking lot
Preparation
Fortunately for us, the wind conditions during launch day were minimal. The University of Wyoming hosts a balloon trajectory website, and we checked it to determine probable landing locations of our balloon. Since it seemed that the balloon would not be going far on that windy way, we decided that Sturbridge, MA would be far west enough to compensate for our balloon’s drift.
That’s Univ. of Wyoming, but the link on your other page. Great work, very inspiring to think that it’s possible to reach the edge of space with such simple tools. What would it take to go higher?
a rocket.
Money.
More money.
stop it
no
Yes.
[...] mission was launched from the car park of a branch of US electrical retailer Target. No fact about this story is less [...]
[...] mission was launched from the car park of a branch of US electrical retailer Target. No fact about this story is less [...]
[...] and Yeh documented their endeavor, titled Project Icarus, from start to finish on their website 1337arts. Their dream was “to see what the world looked like from the sky.” And as evidenced by [...]
[...] and Yeh documented their endeavor, titled Project Icarus, from start to finish on their website 1337arts. Their dream was “to see what the world looked like from the sky.” And as evidenced by [...]
[...] and Yeh documented their endeavor, titled Project Icarus, from start to finish on their website 1337arts. Their dream was “to see what the world looked like from the sky.” And as evidenced by [...]
[...] and Yeh documented their endeavor, titled Project Icarus, from start to finish on their website 1337arts. Their dream was “to see what the world looked like from the sky.” And as evidenced by [...]
[...] and Yeh documented their endeavor, titled Project Icarus, from start to finish on their website 1337arts. Their dream was “to see what the world looked like from the sky.” And as evidenced by [...]
[...] and Yeh documented their endeavor, titled Project Icarus, from start to finish on their website 1337arts. Their dream was “to see what the world looked like from the sky.” And as evidenced by [...]
[...] Lee and Yeh documented their endeavor, titled Project Icarus, from start to finish on their website 1337arts. Their dream was “to see what the world looked like from the sky.” And as evidenced by [...]
[...] and Yeh documented their endeavor, titled Project Icarus, from start to finish on their website 1337arts. Their dream was “to see what the world looked like from the sky.” And as evidenced by [...]
[...] Lee y Yeh documentaron su esfuerzo, titulado Proyecto Ícaro, de principio a fin en su página web1337arts. Su sueño era “ver como el mundo se veia desde el cielo.” Y como lo demuestran las [...]
[...] and Yeh documented their endeavor, titled Project Icarus, from start to finish on their website 1337arts. Their dream was “to see what the world looked like from the sky.” And as evidenced by [...]
That looks dangerous sleeping in the parking lot like that. The grass would be more comfortable and safer.
Kudos folks!!!
“What would it take to go higher?”
Slowly letting the helium out of the balloon as it ascended. The minimal atmospheric pressure is at least partially what makes it pop. But don’t let it all out: you want it to pop at some point, or else it’ll take too long to get it back.
Cool project!
Wow, you guys must have been exhausted when the project was complete. Maybe someone in the Albany area could let you guys crash at their place if you do it again.
next time, try to use a Nokia cell phone with the built in camera!
a larger balloon of course, then launch a rocket once the balloon is high up to avoid wasting fuel with so much drag low in the atmosphere.
You could probably sell the camera, and equipment, on eBay as collectibles, to fund your next ‘trip’!