You Don't Need A Rocket...

... to take photos from space (more accurately the stratosphere).



















Guess how they did it?



I think this is a superb idea for a student project.

It's not very expensive and is a lot of fun, especially if we can have live telemetry and low-res video transmission in addition to the fixed camera.

Moreover, if the weather is clear, 30 km is almost high enough to capture a photo of the entire Singapore using a 28mm wide-angle lens, so it is possible to take a "satellite" photo without actually using satellites.

Though I think the biggest challenge with such a project is getting the clearance to avoid commercial flights.

Wonder if I should pitch this idea to the Science Centre people?


Would you like to know more?

About this project:
- View of Earth from the OZONE layer in the Stratosphere (Project Pegasus)

About an earlier successful attempt in Spain:
- Teens capture images of space with £56 camera and balloon (Telegraph)
- Scenes from 30,000 meters above (Boston.com)