Raspberry Pi launched into earth’s atmosphere and takes images from near-space

The Raspberry Pi is an incredible piece of gadgetry. It has inspired electronic enthusiasts to do incredible things with it. Cool stuff like the BBC Micro-inspired keyboard and the ingenious video game console we covered earlier this month are only a few examples of what you can do with it. But a certain guy from the U.K. had an entirely different idea. Dave Akerman strapped his Raspberry Pi to a weather balloon so that he could snap live photos from space. Well, due to the limitations of the balloon, it eventually exploded after flying over 40 kilometers.

But that was just enough for the Raspberry Pi to take cool photos from the atmosphere. “I looked at the Pi and saw none of these desirable features. What I did see though was a USB port offering quick, easy and inexpensive access to a webcam, meaning that for the first time I could have live images (SSDV) sent down by my payload – something that hasn’t been done very often,” Akerman said. You can check out the details of Akerman’s experience via his blog. You can also view the amazing photos here.

Gene Ryan Briones
Categories: Computers
Tags: raspberry pi