Too often ham radio bloggers and podcasters tend to focus their efforts on the projects of, well, older guys like us. I think it is a good idea to direct attention toward young innovators, the next generations of people who are working on interesting new projects using new technology.
Yohan Hadji is definitely one of these young innovators. He is 16 years-old and is working to develop a system that would guide the parachutes of descending balloon payloads to designated safe landing areas. Having spent a lot of time chasing the parachutes of Estes rockets, and after having to PERSONALLY guide my own parachute to a safe landing area (sometimes without success), Yohan's project caught my attention.
The videos above describe the project.
A Hack-A-Day article provides good background:
https://hackaday.com/2021/01/07/gps-guided-parachutes-for-high-altitude-balloons/#more-454705
And finally, if you want to support Yohan's work, he has a GoFundMe site:
Excellent article! and *Very* good idea, Bill! This young fella ought to be a (wekll-rewarded) consultant for Aid organizations, scaling (t)his 'toy' up to Mil. spec for supply-drops post-cyclone etc.
ReplyDelete