Project Icarus was a project at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT) in 2009.

Project

Project Icarus was an

experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

in 2009 to launch a

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

into the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is composed of stratified temperature zones, with the warmer layers of air located higher ...

undertaken by MIT students, Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh.The $150 Space Camera: MIT Students Beat NASA On Beer-Money Budget
Wired, September 15, 2009 The launch vehicle consisted of a

weather balloon A weather balloon, also known as a sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments to the stratosphere to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind spe ...

filled with

helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

and a

styrofoam Styrofoam is a brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), manufactured to provide continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and as a water barrier. This material is light blue in ...

beer cooler that hung underneath the balloon. Inside the cooler was a

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

A470 compact camera, hacked using the Canon Hacker's Development Kit open-source firmware to shoot pictures in five-second intervals. To keep the temperature of the batteries high enough for the camera to work it was heated by instant hand warmers. In order to keep track of the vehicle's location a prepaid

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

-equipped

cellphone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radio ...

was included. The launch occurred in

Sturbridge, Massachusetts Sturbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is home to Old Sturbridge Village living museum, living history museum and other sites of historical interest such as Tantiusques. The pop ...

at 11:45 am on September 2, 2009. The device traveled to around before

free fall In classical mechanics, free fall is any motion of a physical object, body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. A freely falling object may not necessarily be falling down in the vertical direction. If the common definition of the word ...

ing back to Earth. It was eventually recovered in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

. The mission was a success, and the pictures were retrieved. The project cost only $148. "We looked at these photographs and thought wow, these are beautiful—this is artwork," said Lee. "This inspired us to sit down and really think deep about the relationships between science and art."MIT Students Take Space Photos on $150 Budget
- iReport.com According to the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

, the launch was legal because the payload was under . However, they advised anyone interested in a future launch to contact the federal agency beforehand.Bellevue grad, MIT student uses helium balloon to capture near-space photos
Seattle Times The MIT students were not the first to take pictures of the Earth using helium balloons, but this experiment is noteworthy because it used inexpensive consumer products and did not require specialized hardware.

References

External links

Project Icarus
*{{YouTube, MCBBRRp9DOQ, 1337arts Icarus Project TimeLapse Video (Max Altitude: 93,000 ft) Spaceflight 2009 in science 2009 in the United States 2009 in Massachusetts History of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sturbridge, Massachusetts History of Worcester, Massachusetts

Project

See also

References

External links