Hi everyone,
The Explorer is launching at approximately 1:00 PM today 5/4/2009 from the Libertyville soccer fields. It will be blogging here, telling us about the conditions aloft and taking pictures and video for us to see.
Hopefully it works.
Read the FAQ to the left if you have any other questions.
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A small package with big dreams
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.
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.
Followers
Blog Archive
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2009
(33)
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May
(33)
- LAUNCH #2
- Explorer report
- Post Mortem
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- OK, well, Altitude is down, temperature is down, w...
- Explorer report
- Coord 42.90253 88.15732 alt 15639.7ft hd 2.1 t 63f...
- Coord 42.84137 88.15782 alt 15944.8ft hd 2.7 t 63f...
- Coord 42.78703 88.16259 alt 15990.8ft hd 4.5 t 72f...
- Explorer report
- No title
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- Coord 42.72816 88.16911 alt 16053.1ft hd 358.6 t 6...
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- Coord 42.67290 88.16329 alt 15954.7ft hd 351.1 t 7...
- Coord 42.62424 88.15260 alt 15885.8ft hd 351.8 t 7...
- Explorer report
- Coord 42.37628 88.12288 alt 4842.5ft hd 351.6 t 81...
- Explorer report
- Known issues list
- Coord 42.31421 -88.03493 alt 1233.5ft hd 293.6 t 8...
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- Explorer report
- Welcome!
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May
(33)
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