Saturday, January 28, 2012

My kids are jealous (hell, so am I!)

Okay, while I don't know Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, I have to respect what they did.

This pair of 17-year old guys, who live in Toronto, successfully launched a Lego figure into near-space (14 miles up) using a weather balloon, a lot of weekends, and costing about $400.

Just for fun.

They even sent 4 cameras and a GPS tracker with him, so they could film and recover him.

This is the movie they posted.





I'm thoroughly impressed guys. That's really cool.
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21 comments:

  1. Solitary Diner (Also Known as The Frugalish Physician)January 28, 2012 at 10:53 AM

    Go Canada! This is what a functioning educational system allows people to do. :D

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  2. SuFu PhDJanuary 28, 2012 at 10:57 AM

    so fake, the flag isn't even blowing in the wind

    /for all you conspiracy nut out there ;)

    //that is pretty damn cool

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  3. Neuroscience PhDJanuary 28, 2012 at 10:57 AM

    I wanted to see the end, where he came down! It's awesome that you can see the weather balloon finally burst.

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  4. RamblingJanuary 28, 2012 at 11:09 AM

    Better than sitting on a couch playing video games.

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2012 at 12:32 PM

    That is profoundly cool! I wish they'd had a few dollars more so they could attach a thermometer to it.

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2012 at 12:50 PM

    Too bad NASA isn't worried about exploring space any more, because these guys could have worked there.

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  7. Ole Phat StuJanuary 28, 2012 at 3:27 PM

    Did the GPS have a max. altitude readout?

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  8. SusanJanuary 28, 2012 at 5:17 PM

    So neat! This video includes the landing and interviews with the two guys.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lum1DMTdccE

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  9. SharonJanuary 28, 2012 at 5:56 PM

    I saw these (really cute) kids on CBC. They were so casual and unassuming.
    They found Legoman the next day. (He hadn't traveled far horizontally.)

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  10. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2012 at 8:27 PM

    I want to ride with Legoman!

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  11. JamesJanuary 28, 2012 at 10:35 PM

    That is really cool.

    Here in the U.S. the thing would have been shot down, and the Muhammad kid would have been labeled an Islamic terrorist.

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  12. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2012 at 12:17 AM

    A nice alternative instead of stepping on all those little pieces with your feet.

    murgatr

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  13. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2012 at 7:25 AM

    They sure are ready to be launched into the future!

    So what will your kids be up to in grade 11?

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  14. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2012 at 8:34 AM

    I loved the fact that you could see the curve of the earth. It was an awesome sight.

    --Queen Anne's Lace

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  15. Nurse DeeJanuary 29, 2012 at 2:17 PM

    Leave it to a Canadian to do something like this... wonder if they're from the northern part of one of the provinces as we're ALWAYS trying to find interesting things to do!

    Go Canada Go!

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  16. The Bus DriverJanuary 29, 2012 at 3:54 PM

    Geeks of the world unite!

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  17. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2012 at 9:24 AM

    Oh, those spendthrift Canadians. Here in the states, where we keep our space program running on a shoestring budget, they managed to do it for $150. Though the northerners did manage to include the passenger for the extra $250...

    http://space.1337arts.com/

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  18. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2012 at 9:38 AM

    so, did your kids ask you for $400 because they felt inspired and wanted to start a cool project like those 2 kids? :p

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  19. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2012 at 2:17 PM

    @ SufuPhd: It is a plastic lego flag. It won't blow in the wind.

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  20. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2012 at 5:36 PM

    Anonymous at 1:17 -- i do belive SufuPHD's tongue was planted firmly in her/his cheek when s/he made the comment about the flag. ..

    And the students live right along the north shore of Lake Ontario, placing them south of a lot of Americans.

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  21. PackerJanuary 31, 2012 at 12:30 PM

    http://vimeo.com/15091562

    Hate to burst your collective balloons , but this has been done many times before.

    The real trick is the garbage bag hot air balloon, you know the one with the candle and the coat hanger, where they scramble F-15s in search of UFOs. Now that is cool, not that I would know anything about it.

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So wadda you think?