Take the risk of not recovering your hardware out of a near-
space camera launch by streaming the data during flight. [Tim
Zaman] is part of a team that developed the rig seen above. It
sent 119 image back during the recent balloon launch. This
included transmissions from as high as 36 kilometers. The main
hardware included a BeagleBoard with connected Webcam housed in
a Styrofoam cooler for thermal protection. Pair that with a GPS
module for location tracking, and a GPRS module for data
transmission and you’re in business. But that’s not all that
went up. The team built a backup hardware module in case the
primary failed. This one also had a GPS and GPRS radio, but was
driven by an Arduino. The radio connection made it easy to
recover the hardware. GPS data led the team directly to the
landing site. The package came to rest on the roof of a
building, but we guess that’s more convenient than getting
snagged at the top of a huge tree. Don’t miss the hardware
detail video that we’ve embedded after the break.