The "Ebony" Explorer

Coord 42.72816 88.16911 alt 16053.1ft hd 358.6 t 63fbat 4.098

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Welcome and FAQ

Hi All,

The Explorer has three simple concepts in its design.
1) Light weight (3 ounces total weight)
2) Picture and Video reports from the sky
3) Enough battery life to circumnavigate the Earth. Twice.

The Explorer wakes up periodically to send in a report of where it is, along with a picture or video documenting its journey. It shuts completely off between updates to preserve battery.

Q: When does the Explorer wake up to send updates?
A: Good question! If it wakes up during the sunnier hours (7 AM through 8 PM local time) it will send a report every 15 minutes while the battery is greater than 4.0V. Between 3.7 and 4.0, it wakes up every 25 minutes. Less than 3.7V, it will wake up only every hour.
During the night, when pictures will come out poorly, it will wake up every 2 hours until the battery gets to 3.6V, and then it will wake every 4 hours.

Q: Hey, how come Explorer sometimes sends videos instead of pictures?
A: Between 5PM and 9PM it will arbitrarily send videos instead of pictures.

Q: Why didn't the Explorer post a picture or video at all, and just coordinates?
A: Due to a limitation of the network/signal strength. It will send SMS's in case it can't get a data connection for email.

Q: The pictures are out of order, what gives?
A: The explorer will sync all contents (email and SMS) every time it finds a network. If it fails, the message will sit in its outbox until a network is seen.

Q: Where else can I see updates or higher resolution pictures?
A: We'll try to upload them here, visible on a map:
http://www.panoramio.com/map/?user=3167053

Q: What altitude will it reach?
A: We're not balloon scientists but we think it shouldn't get much higher than 12,000 feet. We'll see.

Monday, May 4, 2009

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