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Toronto teens launch Lego man into space (with video)
toronto.ctv.ca ^ | Wednesday Jan. 25, 2012 | Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad

Posted on 01/27/2012 10:45:27 AM PST by Razzz42

A challenge usually left to NASA eggheads or PhD students was conquered by two Toronto teenagers earlier this month when Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad sent a Lego-manned flight capsule into space.

The two 17-year-old Agincourt Collegiate Institute students completed their year-long mission two weeks ago, successfully sending a balloon carrying a Lego man and a small Canadian flag out of earth's atmosphere.

The unit was launched from a park near Ho's east-end home and ascended 80,000 feet before the balloon popped. The Lego man and his cargo fell safely to earth, with the help of a homemade parachute, where it landed in a Peterborough field...

(Excerpt) Read more at toronto.ctv.ca ...


TOPICS: Hobbies; Science
KEYWORDS: balloon
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To: PGR88
Doesn’t someone need to worry about this entering commercial airspace? Would they need to talk to air-traffic control before doing something like this?

It's a really big sky.

21 posted on 01/27/2012 11:27:33 AM PST by Tenacious 1
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To: Razzz42

Was that a UFO or the Moon at the 1:00 and 1:20 mark?


22 posted on 01/27/2012 11:37:21 AM PST by Deaf Smith
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To: Razzz42
My 9-year duplicated the Hooters Bowling Alley down the street with Legos. OK maybe not as cool as launching a Lego Man into space, but I can guarantee you the Lego Men in the Lego Hooters had larger smiles.
23 posted on 01/27/2012 11:37:21 AM PST by NavyCanDo
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To: DuncanWaring

Well, it did make it out of the troposphere but now where near out of the stratosphere.


24 posted on 01/27/2012 11:44:27 AM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
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To: Deaf Smith

I was wondering the same thing myself especially since the new Moon was this past Monday so all we should be seeing is a crescent Moon.
http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases_calendar.phtml


25 posted on 01/27/2012 11:46:28 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Razzz42; writer33

Canadian kids now has a better space program than Obama does


26 posted on 01/27/2012 11:47:42 AM PST by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Lego Man, is not alone.


27 posted on 01/27/2012 11:55:56 AM PST by Deaf Smith
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To: GeronL

Lets not get carried away. It was a camera in a box with a lego man holding a CDN flag walking a little plank.

Not exactly the second coming of the space shuttle..

The video they showed on The National the other night was pretty good for such a low rent ‘craft’ though..


28 posted on 01/27/2012 11:57:20 AM PST by RitchieAprile
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To: Razzz42
I”m actually surprised that it traveled only 120km from the launch point. The Japanese launched balloon bombs in WW2 and some made it to the US. Granted their altitude control systems were far more sophisticated but they went alot farther.
29 posted on 01/27/2012 12:02:01 PM PST by Cowman (How can the IRS seize property without a warrant if the 4th amendment still stands?)
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To: Tenacious 1
That's nothing. These three figures are on their way to Jupiter aboard the Juno spacecraft.


30 posted on 01/27/2012 2:04:01 PM PST by NCC-1701 (In Memphis on January 20, 2009, pump price were $1.49. We all know what happened after that.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Video of balloon fill and launch of record breaking trans-Atlantic flight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I9T7zDZaFQ

Thanks for the link! The package was a whole lot smaller than I imagined. Putting a 2 meter transmitter, GPS and battery into such a small box was an amazing feat.


31 posted on 01/27/2012 2:30:32 PM PST by 109ACS (If this be Treason, then make the most of it. Patrick Henry, May 1765)
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To: 109ACS

The GPS and transmitter (and even the battery) you can buy from this website.
http://www.bigredbee.com/


32 posted on 01/27/2012 3:11:25 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: PGR88

I don’t know what the laws are in Canada, but in the US, you are supposed to notify the ATC before launching weather balloons, etc.


33 posted on 01/27/2012 3:17:06 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: Razzz42

It shouldn’t count if you don’t achieve orbit.


34 posted on 01/27/2012 7:37:15 PM PST by eclecticEel (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: 7/4/1776 - 3/21/2010)
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To: NCC-1701

That must be Galileo, Newton, and Thor - god of thunder.


35 posted on 01/27/2012 7:40:13 PM PST by eclecticEel (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: 7/4/1776 - 3/21/2010)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

I think the kids did alright on a $400 budget. Cell phones are cheap and application(s) software is usually free.

Wonder if they check the weather conditions for upper altitudes that day since their project didn’t drift that far.


36 posted on 01/27/2012 7:40:29 PM PST by Razzz42
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To: Razzz42

They’re lucky the EPA didn’t charge them with attempting to pollute space.


37 posted on 01/27/2012 7:44:59 PM PST by aruanan
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