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2 MIT students put together Project Icarus — an ultra low cost rig which they lofted a digital camera via weather balloon to the edge of space.
Ingredients: Helium, a styrofoam beer cooler, a cheap Canon A470 camera, and instant hand warmers to prevent the camera batteries from freezing.
They added a prepaid GPS-equipped cellphone for tracking to recover the rig when it landed back to earth.
Total cost: $148.
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Sources:
Project Icarus
http://space.1337arts.com/
The $150 Edge-of-Space Camera: MIT Students Beat NASA On Beer-Money Budget
Charlie Sorrel
Wired, September 15, 2009
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/the-150-space-camera-mit-students-beat-nasa-on-beer-money-budget
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