Danny Pier, a 25 year-old software developer, has started the Astdroid project over at Kickstarter.com, where he needed help to send his HTC Evo 4G in space. Why? Because he simply wants to show that anyone can send a phone into space. Well, at least anyone with an extra smartphone, a weather balloon, the resources, and the time to set it all up and pull it off.
The $1,800 funding he needs for the project has actually been more than filled, with 66 backers pledging more than $2,000 to help him fund the ‘journey.’ So here’s how he plans to do it: Pier plans to fix the Evo 4G onto a weather balloon to take it up and use the phone’s camera to take photos and videos along the way. After the balloon bursts at its maximum altitude, a recovery parachute pops open, and the phone’s GPS will help him track it down and retrieve it.
Pier will be creating an Android app to help with the journey that’ll allow it to take photos and videos along the way. It’ll probably be shakier than a feature-long first-person account of a group of friends being chased in the woods by a mythological witch, but we’re pretty sure we’d want to see it anyway. Or at least check if he pulled it off.
If he does, Pier says he’ll be sharing the resulting app—as well as the project notes and videos—to anyone who’d want to use it for, uh, sending other stuff into space.
Tags: Android, HTC Evo 4G, Kickstarter, Mobile Phones
