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Move over NASA (11 photos)

February 4, 2011 | In: Auto, Design, Mind Blowing, Tech

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These guys built a model airplane that can fly into space and took photos to prove it.

lauren

that is awesome
Royce

Epic win gentlemen. I applaud you.
aosux

OK. Cause NASA doesn't already have those pics. Nice try guys. J/K someone should give these people some real money to work with.
pat

yeah, right…
Zee

#2 is awesome!

BigDingo

Ground control to Major Tom Thumb

JFrost

Lol, move over NASA? How bout move over Newton, if they’ve found a way to break the laws of physics.

Poot

Pretty sure they're working within the laws of physics.
Jay

One of the most retarded things I've read on the internet. That sir, is an honor.

alex

Actually, he's onto something. A plane, using wing lift cannot escape the atmosphere to get into space. To get out of the atmosphere you need thrust. These guys might have gotten into the high atmosphere but not into outer space.

Naz1962

I don't get why pic #10 shows the wings all square and boxy … suggestions anyone?

wizkid

because they didn't build a plane that flew into space– it's physically impossible. At the altitudes that the pictures show, wings don't function because the atmosphere isn't dense enough. Also, there's clearly no form of propulsion on the airplane. All the group did was attach a model airplane to a weather balloon, which anyone can purchase, and released it into the sky (whether they did it legally or not is unknown).

Naz1962

Well that's just stupid, lol … they could have attached a toilet seat and done the same thing and bragged about sending a toilet seat into space, much less a plane. Debauchery! lol
JFrost

Do you have to get permission to launch high altitude balloons into space with a camera? I thought it was a hobby

wizkid

You can't just send anything flying into airspace, especially when it could potentially interfere with commercial or military air traffic. I'm pretty sure you need to purchase a permit, and you'll likely get approved for a certain location and time.

Despite this, because it's a tiny balloon and the sky is rather large, you can probably get away with it.

Thane

You fail wizkid. These guys had Nasa asking them how they took pictures that would have costed Nasa millions to do. Don't be a hater, just cause you did not think of it.

…

And you should try not to be an idiot and actually learn something about physics.
Shabs

and where's your proof that NASA was asking these guys anything?
metalwest

cost*

costed is not a word.

josh

Why can't you guys just believe everything you see on the internet?? Quit trying to ruin it for the rest of us. Oooooo……pretty pictures!!!!

Paula

its legal to launch a weather balloon into space. All you have to do is notify your local airports of when and where and the estimated path of travel (wind direction) and thats it. The only thing i could think of with the wings is that they expanded , the same way the balloons do in the upper atmosphere, and having less elasticity, maybe they didnt just bounce back to their original shape. As for propulsion, you got me, maybe a little scram jet motor or something…that would be fucking great, realistically, if its just the balloon though, still cool, just not as cool.

Kisses,
Paula

P.s. I love commas.

Poppin Fresh

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13…
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/slideshow/paper-…

Helium Balloon used for lift, wings used for landing. and it didn't really make it into space just really really thin air i guess. still cool but very real.
schwartzensteinberg

good point paula, now fuck off
samson

Looks like there is some sort of box below the balloon that they mounted the plane to. You can see the wings in #10 if you look closely, and they're the same shape as the original. They're just underneath the box.
They obviously didn't expand because you can see the plane after it landed and they are normal. Also that wouldn't make any fucking sense.

wizkid

The box clearly housed the camera–where else did the pictures come from?

spencer

it was attached to a weather balloon http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13…
gofistyourself

look closer, the wings are inside a boxy container, probly to keep them from getting mangled before release for its return trip

Naz1962

Ahh you're right, I didn't see that! I give your reply a thumbs up

billybob

OOOrrrrrrr… That paticular picture is just one of the low altitude tests they did with a cheaper model to test the release mechanism. If it was the actual model being released from the balloon at the altitude they reached, then that's some pretty amazing photography.

aaa

its probably a box mounted on the plane to hold the camera, since neither the plane, the balloon or the sac in between are large enough to protect a camera.

Hi

Agh my ass hurts n the girl in the apartment behind me is such a slut.

The Real D. Nozzle

Dude, is Snakebro a chiver? http://twitter.com/snakebro
Snakebro, FTW.

Orvil

I believe this as much as I believe Dead Space 2 is a great game.

Beth Vogel

Zing!
Isaac

Dead Space 2 is a great game.

mick

I see what you did there, mister Clarke

Your Mom

I hate that game.

Naz1962

What the hell? I just tried posting again and got a message that my post must be approved by site admins before it can be shown publicly?? Wtf??

josh

you must be on the black list…..uh-oh! what did you do??

Naz1962

lol I don't know! I was able to submit two other posts, as well as this one, and didn't get that message warning. So I'm thinking there must have been a word that caught the attention of a filter. Oh well

Poot

The n-word.

PWNT

What, Jew?

Naz1962

again, no.

Naz1962

Uh … no.

Joe pancake

….how did they get lift?
fng

Its a ufo. Im telling you thats what we saw.
Wolfram

Those look an awful lot like the pictures taken from a camera strapped to a big balloon!

Naz1962

Exactly!

N8 rawr

cool!!!!
Fisheyes

#1 the guy on the left looks like the only thing that he designed was sex slave quarters (ie, prison) in his basement.

WoogyMonster

He does look like that freak from Austria a few years back. The one that was getn' it on til' 3 in da morning……with his daughter!
Phondo

Bush had sex slave quarters in his basement. Actually… of course he did.

Bacon&Eggs

it was done by a website called the register a British tech(ish) blog, google Vulture 1, i think they broke the altitude record for a paper glider.

wizkid

That doesn't seem too fair– in #10 you can see a parachute attached to the glider…

WoogyMonster

#10 The plane has the aerodynamics of a brick. If you put that thing in a wind tunnel, the wind tunnel would blow away.
femtrooper

Faked, cheated, or not the little dude in the plane is cute. Tiny Astronaut away!
Genghis

It's a fake!
TheTruth

Yep, definitely space.
Rick

They used a helium balloon to get the plane up there. Then it just floated back down. Much more impressive if they actually flew the plane, under its own propulsion, to the edge of the atmosphere. But seeing as though there is barely any atmosphere that high up.
Milo

People who think using a helium ballon to take pictures of the earth is so unimpressive should have done it themselves. You could have been rich, or slightly famous at least

This is what these guys were copying:

Million Dollar NASA Photos Beaten by Budget Balloon

Amazing space photos taken with a digital camera and helium balloon.

It’s amazing what a little British ingenuity and a shoe-string budget can achieve. These glorious photos of space were taken by amateur enthusiast Robert Harrison, using a cheap Canon digital camera, some duct tape and a helium balloon.

"In total, the rudimentary space camera cost just £500 ($747) on a project which a NASA spokesman admitted would have cost them millions of dollars.
Speaking to The Times, Mr Harrison explained: “A guy phoned up who worked for NASA who was interested in how we took the pictures. He wanted to know how the hell we did it.” The space experts thought Mr Harrison must have used a homemade rocket to take such spectacular shots from over 20 miles above the Earth’s surface."

Shabs

Damn, the American dollar is seriously going downhill, almost half the value of a British pound now.
wizkid

This has been done hundreds of times before. Do a quick search of google or Youtube. These guys just happened to place an airplane at the bottom of the balloon and that's what got them attention. Nothing extraordinary about it.

Also, I find it difficult to believe that NASA can be quoted as saying that their methods of obtaining the same pictures would have cost them millions of dollars. Surely NASA is aware of weather balloon technology. NASA is often misquoted for the sake of publicity.

Ken

Never let the laws of physics get in the way of a nice story.
nakedpants

I see what they did there.

I think they used the balloon to lift the glider (the plane) to space, then the glider detached and dropped back down.

Mate Bozanic

Yes, Captain Obvious, read the previous comments!
Bauglir

That's exactly what they did. Once the plane reached around 90000ft, it detached from the ballon and glided back to Earh. It had a GPS and a few cameras on board.
These guys are from English tech site The Register, and they have the whole building process detailed here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/science/paris/

Genghis

I retract the previous statement. Good link here = http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/11734434

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Move over NASA (11 photos)

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