ModelRockets
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iPhone takes flight on a model rocket to capture data using techBASIC
Back in the 1970s before the advent of personal computers, I was a model rocket geek. Using thin tubing, balsa wood, plastic, glue and toxic paints to build lightweight rockets that could soar thousands of feet into the air, I never thought that some day people would be able to actually launch small data-collection computers into the air. Now the folks at Byte Works -- the developers of techBASIC for iOS (US$14.99) -- have done just that, using an iPhone 4s and a custom-designed model rocket. This was more than just flying an iPhone on a rocket, though -- Mike and Patty Westerfield, the proprietors of Byte Works, used a TI Bluetooth Low Energy Sensor Tag (officially announced today) to capture acceleration and gyro information and send it to a techBASIC program running on the iPhone 4s. Immediately after flight, the information was available for viewing in the techBASIC app. Should you decide that launching your brand new iPhone 5 is in your future, Byte Works has a full writeup of the project here. The iPhone launcher (AKA ST-2) is now on its way to Norway to be exhibited by TI at a conference, but it sounds like the Westerfields have plenty of plans for ST-2 flights with higher powered engines in the future. Enjoy the launch video below!
Austin Scouts' model rocket launching record on video
For local Scouts in Austin, Texas, there's quite a bit of celebrating going after they officially dismantled the previous world record for amount of model rockets launched within a five second window. According to a Flickr user who was at the scene snapping photographs of the event, the troops were only able to send up 965 of the 1,000 rockets they had hoped to deploy, but the previous record of just under 400 was still soundly broken. We know what you're anxious for, so go on and give the read link a visit to see the launch as it happened.[Thanks, Michael B, image courtesy of fauxtoe]
