Project Icarus
Encyclopedia
Project Icarus refers to three unrelated projects. Two at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in 1967 and one current international effort between the Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society
(BIS).
, found to be on a collision course with planet Earth, using rockets.
This later served as the basis for the 1979 film Meteor
.
in 2009 to launch a camera
into the stratosphere
undertaken by MIT students, Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh.
The launch vehicle consisted of a weather balloon
filled with helium
and a styrofoam
beer cooler that hung underneath the balloon. Inside the cooler was a Canon A470 compact camera, hacked using the Canon Hacker’s Development Kit open-source firmware to shoot pictures in five second intervals. To keep the temperature of the batteries high enough for the camera to work it was heated by instant hand warmer
s. In order to keep track of the vehicle's location a prepaid GPS-equipped cellphone was included.
The launch occurred in Sturbridge, Massachusetts
at 11:45 am on September 2, 2009. The device traveled to around 93000 feet (28.3 km) before free fall
ing back to earth. It was eventually recovered in Worcester, Massachusetts
. The mission was a success, and the pictures were retrieved. The project cost only $148.
"We looked at these photographs and thought wow, these are beautiful—this is artwork," said Lee. "This inspired us to sit down and really think deep about the relationships between science and art."
According to the Federal Aviation Administration
, the launch was legal because the payload was under 4 pounds (1.8 kg). However, they advised anyone interested in a future launch to contact the federal agency beforehand.
The MIT students were not the first to take pictures of the earth using helium balloons, but this experiment is noteworthy because it used inexpensive consumer products and did not require specialized hardware.
, Project Icarus was launched on September 30th 2009.
Project Icarus has a three fold purpose:
The objective of Icarus will produce "a completed set of technical reports which describe the engineering layout, functionality, physics, operation, expected performance and mission profile of an unmanned interstellar probe."
Project Icarus is currently seeking qualified volunteers.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT) in 1967 and one current international effort between the Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society
British Interplanetary Society
The British Interplanetary Society founded in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest space advocacy organisation in the world whose aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration.-Structure:...
(BIS).
1967
The first "Project Icarus" was conducted in the spring of 1967. It was an assignment by Professor Paul Sandorff for a group of MIT graduate students to design a way to deflect an Apollo asteroid, 1566 Icarus1566 Icarus
1566 Icarus is an Apollo asteroid that at perihelion comes closer to the Sun than Mercury, i.e. it is a Mercury-crossing asteroid. It is also a Venus and Mars-crosser. It is named after Icarus of Greek mythology, who flew too close to the Sun...
, found to be on a collision course with planet Earth, using rockets.
This later served as the basis for the 1979 film Meteor
Meteor (film)
Meteor is a 1979 science fiction Technicolor disaster film in which scientists detect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and struggle with international, cold war politics in their efforts to prevent disaster. The movie starred Sean Connery and Natalie Wood.It was directed by Ronald Neame...
.
2009
The second "Project Icarus" was an experimentExperiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
in 2009 to launch a camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
into the stratosphere
Stratosphere
The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler...
undertaken by MIT students, Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh.
The launch vehicle consisted of a weather balloon
Weather balloon
A weather or sounding balloon is a balloon which carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a small, expendable measuring device called a radiosonde...
filled with helium
Helium
Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
and a styrofoam
Styrofoam
Styrofoam is a trademark of The Dow Chemical Company for closed-cell currently made for thermal insulation and craft applications. In 1941, researchers in Dow's Chemical Physics Lab found a way to make foamed polystyrene...
beer cooler that hung underneath the balloon. Inside the cooler was a Canon A470 compact camera, hacked using the Canon Hacker’s Development Kit open-source firmware to shoot pictures in five second intervals. To keep the temperature of the batteries high enough for the camera to work it was heated by instant hand warmer
Hand warmer
Hand warmers are small packets which are held in the hand and produce heat on demand to warm cold hands. They are commonly used in outdoor activities such as hiking and skiing to keep extremities warm and assist insulated clothing...
s. In order to keep track of the vehicle's location a prepaid GPS-equipped cellphone was included.
The launch occurred in Sturbridge, Massachusetts
Sturbridge, Massachusetts
Sturbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is home to Old Sturbridge Village living history museum and other sites of historical interest such as Tantiusques.The population was 9,268 at the 2010 census...
at 11:45 am on September 2, 2009. The device traveled to around 93000 feet (28.3 km) before free fall
Free fall
Free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it, at least initially. These conditions produce an inertial trajectory so long as gravity remains the only force. Since this definition does not specify velocity, it also applies to objects initially moving upward...
ing back to earth. It was eventually recovered in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
. The mission was a success, and the pictures were retrieved. The project cost only $148.
"We looked at these photographs and thought wow, these are beautiful—this is artwork," said Lee. "This inspired us to sit down and really think deep about the relationships between science and art."
According to the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
, the launch was legal because the payload was under 4 pounds (1.8 kg). However, they advised anyone interested in a future launch to contact the federal agency beforehand.
The MIT students were not the first to take pictures of the earth using helium balloons, but this experiment is noteworthy because it used inexpensive consumer products and did not require specialized hardware.
2009 - 2014
The current "Project Icarus" is a five year volunteer theoretical engineering study to design an interstellar spacecraft. Inspired by Project DaedalusProject Daedalus
Project Daedalus was a study conducted between 1973 and 1978 by the British Interplanetary Society to design a plausible unmanned interstellar spacecraft. Intended mainly as a scientific probe, the design criteria specified that the spacecraft had to use current or near-future technology and had to...
, Project Icarus was launched on September 30th 2009.
Project Icarus has a three fold purpose:
- motivate a new generation of scientists to design extra-solar space missions.
- generate interest in real prospects for interstellar precursor missions.
- "design a credible interstellar probe that is a concept design for a potential mission in the coming centuries so as to allow a direct technology comparison with Daedalus and to provide an assessment of the maturity of fusion based space propulsion for future precursor missions."
The objective of Icarus will produce "a completed set of technical reports which describe the engineering layout, functionality, physics, operation, expected performance and mission profile of an unmanned interstellar probe."
Project Icarus is currently seeking qualified volunteers.
External links
- Project Icarus
- MIT Students Launch $150 "Space Camera" - JBS.org
- Project Icarus Tau Zero Foundation & BIS