Space pics...real cheap!

Engineering students from Cambridge University in the UK...in fact three of them...sent a balloon into the upper atmosphere! Their idea was to test the idea of an unmanned space craft being sent into space. They used off the shelf components and ideas such as GSM text messaging, radio communications and a regular 5 megapixel camera!

Some of the snaps that they have captured are impressive...it shows the blackness of space, indicating as to how high the craft went...32 kms! Here are a few (click on each one to enlarge)...

They also have a short video showing the launch.

Their next idea is to attach a rocket beneath the balloon to carry it into outer space, all for the price tag of under £ 1000, which according to the new scientist, report,

£1000 is about price of one door handle on the space shuttle. And that Anousheh Ansari just paid 13,245 times that for a tourist trip to the International Space Station!

This should cause some consternation among the space agencies...