Quirky, an industrial design company based in New York City, is developing a product that enables consumers to take surprisingly good photos from space, utilizing a weather balloon with a mounted camera inside. The product is called the Kepler Space Kit, which is an upgrade of their previous product called the Kepler Kit. The company says of the upgrade:
"The base Kepler kit transforms with minimal waste: the kite turns into a parachute, the rods into landing legs, and the custom mount supports a capsule for high-flying travel. Add a weather balloon and a GPS transmitter, and your iPhone or Go Pro camera will be ready to blast off and return with footage of the great beyond."
Read more on the product specs and development at Quirky. Link -via PetaPixel
(Image credit: Quirky, inc.)
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Thanks for your comment, James. That's an interesting point. The company that is developing this new product does not address that issue in their description, which is limited at this point. They do state that the kit will fly up to 100,000 feet, well above the 30,000-45,000 feet that commercial airliners fly. Even military planes don't fly that high. I suspect that once the kit is released for distribution, the company would have to address any such issues in the information within the product packaging.
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I believe that if the balloon is flying above a certain altitude at which planes typically fly, one must get permission from the FAA or equivalent administration. I wonder if this issue is addressed by the sellers. I know in Canada the fine for being caught without having permission is extremely hefty...
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