DISQUS

AMERICAblog: MIT kids do the darndest things - like sending cameras 100,000 feet into space with $150 worth of material

  • kujhawker · 3 months ago
    Of Course if NASA tried to do the same thing it would be 150 Million and take several years.
  • Theo · 3 months ago
    Cost no, time maybe to build more sophisticated sensing gear. A friend of mine worked in NASA's Sounding Rockets Division about 30 years ago and, even back then, they were no longer using rockets, but high-altitude balloons to "launch" their experiments.
  • mooresart · 3 months ago
    Thanks for posting this, John. Stuff like this gives me hope in this cynical world. Thanks for posting one of your photos each day, too. They're a wonderful antidote. Where there is art there is hope!
  • John Aravosis · 3 months ago
    The photos load a new one each type you refresh the page :-)
  • Butch1 · 3 months ago
    I would think something like this would make those persons who designed the $800.00 toilet seat embarrassed.
  • vkobaya · 3 months ago
    Real scientists would never do that. It has no snob appeal and is something that even college kids can achieve on a shoestring budget. Ignore these smartass kids. They just want to show up their elders, NASA, the American military and undermined the CIA, FBI, NSA and make our wonderful American system of government look foolish. Probably high while doing all this on illegal, criminal evil drugs like opium, heroin and Ecstasy. Probably got the money from addicting younger children near MIT on those illegal drugs or beat up and stole the equipment for the neighborhood kids. Probably had names like Mohammed abu Mata, Maliki Bin Osama. Cover up for the next weather balloon which will be carrying a dirty bomb.
  • carolt · 3 months ago
    Very cool story for the space geek in me :) Nice to see that thanks!
  • politigal · 3 months ago
    Love this story. Thanks so much for posting.
  • dkarma · 3 months ago
    why is this news now?
    this was done twice already as early as summer of last year.
  • JustAGuy · 3 months ago
    The interesting part of the story was how little it cost and how little new engineering they had to do. They literally stuck a bunch of existing gear together flew it aloft.

    -S
  • rayso · 3 months ago
    Now if they had forgotten to take the lens cap off, that would have been a real story.
  • vkobaya · 3 months ago
    You mean like NASA did with the Hubble Telescope?
  • rayso · 3 months ago
    Yeah! Seriously though, have you seen some of the pictures we've takenfrom Hubble? I was blown away by this picture of galaxies taken after recent repairs.


    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/hubbl...
  • SCLiberal · 3 months ago
    I'm so happy to see that American kids can still think outside the box.
  • dances_with_beagles · 3 months ago
    At my college, we just inhaled the helium to get high.
  • serns · 3 months ago
    They faked it.
  • serns · 3 months ago
    And before the kids accuse me of libel or something, yes, I was joking.
  • Lender · 3 months ago
    What would have cost NASA aorund the million dollar mark to do, has been does by these brilliant kids at less than a fraction of the cost! I am so in awe of these kids, who come up with such great ideas.
  • JustAGuy · 3 months ago
    I've been waiting for the day when I can buy a time-traveling, fusion-powered flying DeLorean. We're coming up on year 2015... I think those MIT kids have their work cut out for them.

    -S
  • randysmith · 3 months ago
    Give them time. They've seen Star Trek reruns ["Beam me up, Scotty!"] and probably done the "Back to the Future" ride.
    Consider the guys at Motorola who built the "flip phone" -- "Gee! That looks cool. We should build one!"