Or cold, actually, given average temperatures in the stratosphere on a given day.

The High Altitude Lego Extravaganza kicked off on July 29th (or yesterday, depending on your relative temporal position and various values of “yesterday”). The project, a joint effort between Lego Mindstorms and the University of Nevada at Reno, sent Lego NXT Mindstorm payloads up into the heavens via weather balloon, to conduct experiments which engaging in free-fall.

Is it safe to send LEGO MINDSTORMS into the stratosphere?

Perfectly safe… but I’m having trouble convincing the minifigs that will ride along of that . Seriously, the NXT can function under the near vacuum conditions, and will function at low temperature (although the payloads do have insulation and heaters to try to keep them warmer than the -60° C temperatures outside). So for the NXT, conditions aren’t a major problem.

NevadaSat, the student satellite program of UNR, has been doing weather balloon research for years, but this is the first time Lego have come out to play with them. More info about the project and its payloads can be found here, at the NevadaSat HALE site.

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