Page 9 - 2366-JA_Delmas-GB
P. 9

SPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER






















                  Kit Newell, Innovation Partner   burst the balloon, and the phones   nervous they might not survive
                  Manager at the Bullitt Group,   would plummet back to earth.    the extremes of space. As with
                  shares, “We’re always looking                                   any phone, if they get super-hot,
                  for really extreme ways to      Sound simple enough?            they shut off. In contrast, extreme
                  show just how tough our Cat     Perhaps not.                    low temperatures will drain a
                                       ®
                  phones really are. So, when the                                 battery really quickly. Truth is,
                  students contacted us about     The biggest problem with this   we didn’t know how they were
                  sending one into space, we were   method is that it’s common for   going to react.” But both phones
                  always going to say yes.”       weather balloons to land in     survived, complete with their video
                                                  inaccessible places where they   footage of the whole journey.
                  The project gave the University   can’t be retrieved. The problem
                  Collegiate School (out of Bolton,   was solved by enlisting the help   The final word has to go to Nathan
                  England) students real world    of David Akerman, a high altitude   Vautier, CEO, Bullitt Group. “This
                  experience studying how Cat     balloon expert. Using his software,   was a fascinating project, and
                  phones are designed to cope with   he collated Met Office data with   the images captured speak for
                  impacts and extreme temperatures.   the speed and direction of the   themselves. It just goes to show
                  It also gave them the ability to   wind at different altitudes to predict   space is not just for billionaires!”
                  test a device first-hand that’s   where the balloon would fall.
                  designed to operate in hostile                                  “Plus, if Cat phones can survive
                  environments. And ultimately, fuel   Attached to the balloon was a   a round trip visit to space, just
                  their imagination on how to design   rig containing two Cat S62 Pro   think of what they can survive
                  products for such specific needs.  phones facing one another. One   on an average worksite!” ■
                                                  would record in standard video.
                  As the students’ budget didn’t   Meanwhile, the other would shoot
                  stretch to rockets, the plan was to   thermal images to document
                  launch the Cat phones by weather   the extreme temperatures.
                  balloon. The phones would then
                  float up to the edge of space where   Kit goes on to explain. “I felt
                  the atmospheric pressure would   confident the phones wouldn’t be
                                                  physically damaged, but I was


















                                                                                Capturing the beauty of the English
                                                                             countryside on the way to space.
                                                                               The two Cat S62 Pro cell phones return
                                                                             to Earth having recorded their journey.
                                                                               The student of University Collegiate
                                                                             School preparing for the launch.



                                                                                                        Cat Magazine 9
   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14