Teen Launches Space Camera, Grabs Gorgeous Shots of Earth
He placed the camera, a simple Canon A570, in an insulated box with a GPS device, radio transmitter and microprocessor.
Then he used a balloon to send the makeshift spacecraft more than 20 miles into the sky high enough, his photos show, to capture dramatic views of the Earth’s curvature.
The device took about two and half hours to ascend, then Cudworth used the GPS and radio transmitter to locate its landing spot about 30 miles away from his home, the Telegraph reports.
Cudworth was also able to track the package’s speed and altitude using a built-in circuit board.
“When I retrieved the camera I was stunned it had captured some incredible photos and footage,” he says.The precocious and successful stunt might lead you to believe Cudworth is some sort of child science prodigy.
But that’s not the case. He’s an engineering student at Nottingham University whose highest formal science background consists of a standard physics course.
“I have no background in astrophysics or anything like that, I’m just an engineering student,” Cudworth tells the Telegraph. “People think it’s something that costs millions of pounds, but I’ve proved you can do it on just a £200 budget.”
Source: Mashable
