Dear UUGers, Awhile ago, I read a story on Slashdot[1] about a guy to designed, built, and launched a weather balloon. This wasn't just an ordinary weather balloon, though. It had all kinds of gizmos and stuff on it, including a Linux system running the whole thing. I'll let you read the article if you are interested in his project.
[1] http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/02/22/1711242&mode=thread&tid=137 The idea did, however, light a spark in me and I started to look into the feasibility of doing it myself. In researching this, I've found a few groups that launch these types of balloons on a regular basis. Among them are groups at the University of Montana[2], the University of North Dakota[3], and Edge of Space Sciences in Denver[4]. Apparently, other groups do these launches on a regular basis. [2] http://www.physics.montana.edu/borealis/ [3] http://balloons.aero.und.edu/habp/ [4] http://www.eoss.org Well, I'd like to start something of the sort here at BYU, with the first launch slated for sometime early next summer. The only problem, (besides all the technical details) is the funding. I'm tempted to apply for an ORCA[5] grant, but it is only $1250 for the student, and that would just be enough to build a prototype, but not start the program. [5] http://orca.byu.edu (Be careful, not Mozilla friendly) So, wise ones, how would you recommend getting something like this off the ground? (pun completely intended) Who would you recommend contacting, or do any of you have any contacts which you could make, here on campus or else where, to push this project forward? Feel free to contact me off-list if you know of anybody, I'd like to get this rolling as soon as possible. As a small aside, once the project does take off, we will need a number of individuals (including several licensed Amateur Radio operators) to help in the project. Any of you that would be interested in helping to work on it, also feel free to contact me. Regards, Hyrum Wright KD7YQK ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
