Launch of HAB – From Codebits to Spacebits

Internet live event!

Launch and flight of meteo hot air balloon – from Codebits to Spacebits!

As I am sure you are aware, I like codebits, the yearly meeting in Lisbon – 72 hours non stop of overdosing on pizzas, coke/red bull and of course code. Talks, Workshops, Quizzes, Fun and of course CODE – it is all there!

I have now learnt that in their spare time, some of the organizing team have gone to Spacebits! – here’s what they say:

“We’re a group of nerds who are not afraid of making a fool of ourselves. Deeply inspired by recent amateur ballooning projects seen on the Web we have decided that, like Obama, we could do it. We’re aiming to launch a meteo probe balloon, loaded with geekish software and electronics, into near space from somewhere in Portugal.”

There have been several personal HABs launched throughout Europe and the US in the last months – some of which have hit the news. So why build yet another balloon? I am told this project is different. Not only the first balloon going as high as 30 km in Portugal but most importantly:

• The Balloon will be sending its coordinates and sensors measurements live to the Internet, (http://spacebits.eu/). You’ll be able to follow the whole trip for about 2 hours on a live real-time web dashboard, complete with on-board instruments, an interactive map that moves accordingly and a few surprises. It’ll be a live Internet event.
• Spacebits will tweet it’s status and coordinates to Twitter, in real-time too, over at @flyspacebits
• And much more

Scheduled launch: 30^th May, 2010 at Castro Verde, Portugal.

Check Spacebits’ presence on Facebook, and watch the video of the test flight: http://videos.sapo.pt/M9LyzEryEhjP5dkrd1QF