My name is Thomas Sturm and I'm a programmer, photographer and writer.
Now go outside and look at the sky.
Now go outside and look at the sky.
Balloon v1.0
Sat, 13 Sep 2003 09:01:45
in Modern Life
James Meehan built himself a high-altitude weather balloon with a computer running Linux attached to it.
His homebuilt balloon flew to more than 79.000 feet while the onboard Linux system took pictures, recorded GPS data and broadcast its location via packet radio.
From 79.000 feet the payload descended with a parachute and landed safely, to be retrieved by James and his friends.
It's simply amazing what a dedicated hobbyist can achieve nowadays with off-the-shelf technology and some cool programming.