SUNDAY, 03 OCTOBER 2010
By JULIE MASIS
THE PHNOMPENHPOST
By JULIE MASIS
THE PHNOMPENHPOST
Video courtesy of: ShareVision, Mango Maps, InSTEDD, Yoolk and Aruna Tech View from the “ cockpit” of Cambodia’s first steps into space – via helium balloon
The Cambodian space project is no longer just a name of a band.
That’s because on Saturday morning, a group of software developers sent a helium balloon with a Styrofoam box into outer space from Kandal Province to take photos and video of the Earth above Cambodia.
One surprise of the experiment, they said, was that it was successful.
The Styrofoam spaceship – named “Prah Atit” (which means “the sun” in Khmer) by Long Reaksmey Chhorpon, a 16-year old high school student from Phnom Penh – made its way above the clouds in two hours, snapping photos every five seconds, before falling back down on a parachute about 65 kilometers away in Kampong Speu province.
Cambodia’s first space mission was led by Eduardo Jezierski, the chief technical officer of an NGO called InSTEDD, which is funded by Google and focuses on innovative responses to disasters and epidemics – such as disease reporting by mobile phones.
Jezierski, who is from Argentina, spent less than US$1,000 on equipment for the spaceship, which included importing 6,000 liters of helium from Vietnam – since the gas is not available locally. …read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.
That’s because on Saturday morning, a group of software developers sent a helium balloon with a Styrofoam box into outer space from Kandal Province to take photos and video of the Earth above Cambodia.
One surprise of the experiment, they said, was that it was successful.
The Styrofoam spaceship – named “Prah Atit” (which means “the sun” in Khmer) by Long Reaksmey Chhorpon, a 16-year old high school student from Phnom Penh – made its way above the clouds in two hours, snapping photos every five seconds, before falling back down on a parachute about 65 kilometers away in Kampong Speu province.
Cambodia’s first space mission was led by Eduardo Jezierski, the chief technical officer of an NGO called InSTEDD, which is funded by Google and focuses on innovative responses to disasters and epidemics – such as disease reporting by mobile phones.
Jezierski, who is from Argentina, spent less than US$1,000 on equipment for the spaceship, which included importing 6,000 liters of helium from Vietnam – since the gas is not available locally. …read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.
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