While NASA spends millions on satellites that are launched into outer space to take pictures of the Earth, nineteen-year-old Adam Cudworth managed to achieve this with just a £200 budget.
Cudworth, an engineering student from Worcester, UK, spent 40 hours working on a simple do-it-yourself spacecraft with a Canon A570 placed in an insulated box carrying a GPS device, a radio transmitter and a microprocessor. He sent the spacecraft 110,210 ft (33,592m) into space using a high-altitude two-meter latex balloon with a parachute. Cudworth’s makeshift spacecraft floated in space for two and a half hours, and it managed to capture several stunning images of the Earth from outer space.
Cudworth used the GPS tracker to follow the spcecraft’s progress and the radio transmitter to be able to find it when it hit the earth. The built-in circuit board allowed him to constantly track the speed, G-force and the altitude at which his spacecraft was moving.
“It’s just a bit of hobby really, I just wanted to set myself a challenge—but I’m amazed at the results,” Cudworth tells Telegraph. He says that he is currently working on another project which would hopefully allow him to control where his spacecraft lands when it falls back to earth.
Sources: Telegraph