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Sending my 32gb iPhone 4 into space. Have questions.

R

Rbai63

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 24, 2010
41
0
I am going to be sending up my 32gb iPhone 4 attached inside of a styrafoam cooler to a weatherballoon to record hd video of the earths atmosphere from 90,000ft up. It should take 1.30 - 2 hrs from launch to impact back to the ground.

I will have the styrafoam cooler with newspaper and hand warmers inside to keep the inside temp warm.

I have a SPOT gps messenger just incase of no Cell phone service I will still be able to track it, the SPOT messenger relies on GPS satellites.

Is it true that their is a record limit of 50min at a time? If so is their an app or something to make it record longer?

Also

I will be running mobile me to track the phone also + hd video recording on the phone, with a full battery will it last 2hrs? Or should I make an external battery adapter consisting of 4 AA batteries which I believe is enough for 1 full charge.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Rbai63 said:
I am going to be sending up my 32gb iPhone 4 attached inside of a styrafoam cooler to a weatherballoon to record hd video of the earths atmosphere from 90,000ft up. It should take 1.30 - 2 hrs from launch to impact back to the ground.

Is it true that their is a record limit of 50min at a time? If so is their an app or something to make it record longer?

Also

I will be running mobile me to track the phone also + hd video recording on the phone, with a full battery will it last 2hrs? Or should I make an external battery adapter consisting of 4 AA batteries which I believe is enough for 1 full charge.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Granted that there are others who have attempted a similar feat successfully, I don't know exactly how well (nor has it been detailed) how your iPhone will be physically impacted by the extreme temperatures and pressures in our upper atmosphere afterwards, and whether or not a simple styrofoam container will suffice.

This would be a great opportunity to contact a company like Otterbox to see if they can send you a complimentary or discount on one of their cases. Same for Mili or Mophie for additional battery power. They might like the idea of being part of a project that could gain some additional publicity for them and their products.

I don't know if there are any stringent weight requirements, so I don't know if the Otterbox and/or similar products would negatively impact the ascent of your weather balloon.

Good luck, and keep us informed!
 
BeyondtheTech said:
Granted that there are others who have attempted a similar feat successfully, I don't know exactly how well (nor has it been detailed) how your iPhone will be physically impacted by the extreme temperatures and pressures in our upper atmosphere afterwards, and whether or not a simple styrofoam container will suffice.

This would be a great opportunity to contact a company like Otterbox to see if they can send you a complimentary or discount on one of their cases. Same for Mili or Mophie for additional battery power. They might like the idea of being part of a project that could gain some additional publicity for them and their products.

I don't know if there are any stringent weight requirements, so I don't know if the Otterbox and/or similar products would negatively impact the ascent of your weather balloon.

Good luck, and keep us informed!
Click to expand...

On youtube someone put their iphone w/o a case inbetween two pieces of styrafoam and It worked well
 
I would certainly add an external battery back.

The battery should last long, but after you've gone to all this trouble why not have a bit more safety? Anyway, from the last video I saw it was the cold that finally killed it, not the battery running out. That's the real problem you should be finding a solution for.

I don't know about the video recording time. You should just test that out and see what happens.
 
Rbai63 said:
You don't think hand warmers and newspaper would do the trick?
Click to expand...

Sorry, missed your comment about hand warmers. They worked for the guys in the video so should be fine for your attempt. Bubble wrap might be a better bet than newspapers - probably provides better insulation than newspapers and also offers good shock protection on impact. Good luck!
 
I did a similar project back in college, and basically, don't put anything in the box that you don't want back. We did recover everything in one piece, but you never know if it will land in the middle of a highway and get run over, fall into a body of water, etc.
 
AML225 said:
But mobile me will work just fine when the iPhone is back on the ground waiting to be recovered.

Assuming it survives the fall.
Click to expand...
I get the feeling that it won't. I feel like the other one survived because it got stuck in a tree. But this one might face a direct impact into the ground, even with a parachute that might be fatal to the phone.
 
AML225 said:
But mobile me will work just fine when the iPhone is back on the ground waiting to be recovered.

Assuming it survives the fall.
Click to expand...

That's assuming it lands somewhere with cell service. Ours landed in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Missouri and I don't know if there was cell service. One of the guys working on it was an amateur radio and electronics expert and rigged up a GPS to a radio to transmit it via radio.
 
Get the ImpactBand for the iPhone, but like I said, I think the Otterbox inside of a styrofoam container might survive a straight fall to a grassy land.
 
yg17 said:
That's assuming it lands somewhere with cell service. Ours landed in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Missouri and I don't know if there was cell service. One of the guys working on it was an amateur radio and electronics expert and rigged up a GPS to a radio to transmit it via radio.
Click to expand...

I have a SPOT gps messenger just incase of no Cell phone service I will still be able to track it, the SPOT messenger relies on GPS satellites.
 
weatherballoon... 90k ft... hmmm.
it wouldn't be the phone I'd be worrying about as much as my freedom.
assuming, of course, you don't have a friend at the FAA. ;)

IOW, I'd be looking into the necessity of contacting and clearing this with authorities. I read a while back about a guy doing this and that was one of his main comments (may have been on a DIY site). It's at least something to consider.
 
Rbai63 said:
You don't think hand warmers and newspaper would do the trick?
Click to expand...

no hand warmers will not work. You need something type of active heating system that does not real on stuff on the air to work.

Those hand warmers work by a chemical reaction reacting with oxygen in the air. At that high there is just enough enough oxygen left for them to work correctly.

So you will need something that that will warm it up that is complete self contained and does not really on anything from the outside environment.
 
A chemical heat pack would do the job. It doesn't rely on atmospheric oxygen, but mixes water and calcium or magnesium sulphate in a sealed package to create an exothermic reaction.
 
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