The $150 Space Camera: MIT Students Beat NASA On Beer-Money Budget

(From Wired.com -- By Charlie Sorrel)

The $150 Space Camera.

The two students (from MIT, of course) put together a low-budget rig to fly a camera high enough to photograph the curvature of the Earth.

Instead of rockets, boosters and expensive control systems, they filled a weather balloon with helium and hung a styrofoam beer cooler underneath to carry a cheap CANON A40 compact camera.

Instant hand warmers kept things from freezing up and made sure the batteries stayed warm enough to work.

Of course, all this would be pointless if the guys couldn’t find the rig when it landed, so they dropped a prepaid GPS-equipped cellphone inside the box for tracking.

Total cost, including duct tape? $148.

The $150 Space Camera: MIT Students Beat NASA On Beer-Money Budget