RS teamed up with Rlab, a peer run community hackspace, card modeller, Jude Pullen, and high altitude balloonist, Dave Akerman, to send a Superman action figure to the edge of space and back in a custom-built capsule.
Mattel’s Extreme Toy Travel takes its action figures to exotic and extreme locations all around the world. Inspired by Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking freefall from the edge of space last year, Mattel Italy, together with La Scatola dei Giocattoli, a support project for Mattel customers, approached RS to replicate this jump with one of its Superman action figures.
A team of makers, hackers and engineers within the DesignSpark community designed and built a capsule that attached to a weather balloon containing hydrogen. The craft, packed full of electronics and 3D printed components designed for the mission using DesignSpark software, travelled to an altitude of some 39km, where Superman then free-fell back to Earth. The capsule included a RaspberryPi to capture mission data, as well as a specially designed tracking unit to locate and retrieve the Superman figure.
The launch took place on September 12, from Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. During the flight, the mission data (altitude, temperature, weather) was collected along with HD videos and images. Both Superman and the capsule were monitored via a radio connection and a GPS. At the end of the mission, RS posted all the design files, bill of materials and design notes on the DesignShare section of DesignSpark under an open source licence so others could build their own.
The space capsule weighed about 2.5kg and slowly drifted down on a parachute to minimise impact. Since temperatures can drop to around -60°C at high altitudes, and electronics tend to get warm when running, carefully housing them inside the capsule was an important consideration. The components and devices – including the batteries - were subsequently tested beforehand to ensure that they would be able to withstand the rigours of a flight of several hours duration. Pete Wood, RS Components’ DesignSpark community manager, takes up the story:
“This project is a demonstration of our innovation in engineering design, using our industry-leading design resources, together with products such as the Raspberry Pi and 3D printing, made possible through collaboration with leading engineers and technology experts via DesignSpark. It has been a unique experiment as it involved carefully identifying the several challenges associated with high altitude ballooning and developing a team of engineering experts who came up with the right plan for the capsule.”
“I wanted to personally follow the launch of the spaceship with Superman,” says Mattel’s associate manager, digital marketing for South East Europe, Andrea Ziella. “It has been very exciting for me to see the Toy Travel in Space project come to life. The whole experience felt like travelling back in time to when I was a kid and dreamt about going to the moon with ships I had built myself! We are delighted to be partnering with La Scatola dei Giocattoli and RS Components, a company that has not only demonstrated its technology expertise, but also an incredible initiative and will to innovate, as we have at Mattel.”
The Toy Travel project also aims to enrich children’s learning experience and inspire their competitive creativity by engaging them to build their own spaceship and posting the design on the La Scatola dei Giocattoli website.
For further information on the project visit Pete Wood’s blog.
Mattel and RS have shared a video with their communities to show Superman’s flight to space and back.