The Icarus project sends a camera high into the stratosphere to take pictures of the Earth from near space. - 影片檔

The camera is enclosed in a flight box and attached to a helium weather balloon which lifts the camera to an altitude of approximately 35,000 meters above sea level. The camera is controlled by a small micro computer which takes pictures at timed intervals in various directions. Other sensors to measure temperature, barometric pressure and altitude are incorporated into the flight box. The on board computer transmits location and altitude data to the ground station. This information is transmitted using radio teletype (RTTY) which is faster and more reliable than CW (Morse Code). '.