Hello Bitcoin Community!
This summer as a personal project, I launched a payload consisting of a tracker, radio and cameras into the stratosphere, it reached 31km and measured up to -37ºC.
This type of artifacts is what is called HAB, or High Altitude Ballooning, a hobby extended mostly in the UK.
The Idea is simple, a big balloon filled with helium tied to a payload with a parachute, once the balloon burst the payload descends safely. Inside payload a tracker and radio module send position data as well as temperature or what ever you tell them to do so (Open source, you can add what ever sensors you want if you know how) Cameras take photographs/video of all the journey.
Here is what I did:
The electronics:
Cameras:
Balloon
Images the ballon took:
Note that the balloon was launched in Spain, the blue mass is the Mediterranean. "Costa del Sol" with Gibraltar and even Africa.
I am making this post to introduce you to this hobby and to see if there is enough interest in order to set up a "Shop" to sell all the required components for doing this, like a basic Kit as some of them are tricky to found. (Only one person I know mades this custom trackers at affordable price). Everything costs about 1000€, but on each launch you only have to buy the Helium and Balloon (If you don't loose your payload)
EDIT: As OgNasty suggested, it could be a community project to do.