Raspberry Pi space jaunt ends in dramatic mountain rescue

Blighty's two-pronged High Altitude Ballooning (HAB) assault on Europe over the weekend ended dramatically with the rescue of one payload from the slopes of a snow-capped Austrian mountain, while the other is officially AWOL somewhere in France. Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team members Dave Akerman and Anthony …

[Anonymous Coward]

Well done everyone involved

This is proper boffinry combined with international cooperation that came together over the Internet and all in the name of fun and science.. It's what a less cynical me from a couple of decades ago was hoping for.

[Crisp]

Locals bearing flaming torches and pitchforks

Ah! The bane of every mad scientist!

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Re: Locals bearing flaming torches and pitchforks

But, but, but,..... was one member of the team called Igor?

Please let somebody say "Yeth, Marthter!!"

[Anonymous Coward]

super

A very excellent tale.

Too bad the other one landed in the third world, never ever to be seen again.

(Though maybe it will come to be worshipped as a deity from the skies - who knows)

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: super

You mean it only made it to suffolk?

[Robert E A Harvey]

Re: only made it to suffolk?

He said "third world" not "stone age"

[A. Coatsworth]

What are they hiding?

Something was clearly (and poorly) edited from the first sky pic, near the bottom right corner. What did they find up there? Evidence of the sky-beasts that roam above us? An intelligence from beyond the stars? The newest project from the marvelous mad scientists at DARPA?

Tinfoil hat is firmly in place. Black choppers are circling. Conspiracy time is go!

[daveake]

Re: What are they hiding?

If you check the image collection at http://ssdv.habhub.org/ you'll see this suspicious image downloaded from the flight http://ssdv.habhub.org/images/2013-04-13--20-43-44-PIE5-DD.jpeg?u=66 ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What are they hiding?

They also intercepted the following cryptic radio message:

"Plan 9 is a go!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What are they hiding?

Yes,whatever happened to Plan 9? I never really understood the documentation, such as it was, other than that it was so uberGeeky that if you needed to ask, you couldn't possibly understand it.

[Charlie Clark]

Proper backronyms required

Standards at SPB are obviously slipping! Why on earth was HAB not REbranded to REHAB before launch? Where will this madness end? Proper science needs proper backronyms!

[Rob Carriere]

Re: Proper backronyms required

Maybe because they already have a REHAB?

[Anonymous Coward 15]

Re: Proper backronyms required

Because they said no, no, no?

[Anonymous Coward]

We like this...

... We like this very much. :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Another benefit of the end of the Cold War

One wonders what the (over)reaction would have been 30 years ago to balloons from the UK crossing into Czech airspace and then being rescued by a team of Slovenians. Might have made a good "race to get their first" spy novel though!!

(Iconic Cold War image used to indicate worst-case scenario!)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Another benefit of the end of the Cold War

> ... and then being rescued by a team of **Slovenians**.

<cough> Slovaks

[Anonymous Coward]

70cm Links

Being an anorak-wearing radio ham, how have you got permission to use the 70cm band for link-back via APRS? Aeronautical mobile operation is strictly prohibited. Even trying to use so-called licence-free radios at 70cm would not cover this activity. This would be bad enough in the UK but across several countries in Europe it would be a licensing nightmare.

[imanidiot]

Re: 70cm Links

That particular concern was adressed in the article announcing this undertaking: <url>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/12/pi_camera_launch/</url>

I'm not exactly sure the rest of europe counts as "a less restrictive atmosphere" though.

[Anthony Stirk]

Re: 70cm Links

We use the license exempt 70cms band to transmit RTTY at 10mW. You don't need a license to do this and it is permitted for airborne usage. The APRS was transmitted on 144.800Mhz but to comply with the legislation in the UK the transmitter wasn't enabled until it left UK airspace. There are other European countries where its not permitted so the code had geofences in to disable the APRS to comply with the local laws.

Additionally the code prefixed my call sign with the correct ITU prefix i.e DL/M0UPU. The law is a little silly in this respect as the transmissions were received by UK stations and igated whilst the payload was over the Netherlands/ Germany.

[Johnny Canuck]

Here in Canada

Hab fans are to be looked down upon, denigrated and ridiculed - especially when they lose to the beloved Leafs.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Here in Canada

And they deserve to be pilloried when they lose to the Mighty Ducks.....

Posting this using the Disney marketing department icon!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, "Tony Stirk"?

If you say it with an thick Australian accent, it almost sounds like a certain industrialist billionaire. What were his parents thinking?

[imanidiot]

Re: Seriously, "Tony Stirk"?

I doubt that particular "playboy philanthropist billionaire" was much of a "thing" back when his parents named him.

[Winkypop]

More

We need more of this kind of thing!

[Trustme]

Nicely done!

Def deserve a pint for this!