ACT has launched its latest cloud-based product ACT365 in the most literal sense by sending a unit into the upper atmosphere.
ACT365 is a cloud-based integrated access control and video management solution that can be accessed using a web browser or the ACT365 smart phone app.
David Moran, Marketing Director of ACT, said: “We thought we would send the unit somewhere pretty remote and really show it to the world. It’s a cloud product of course but ACT always likes to go one level higher so we’ve sent it 34 kilometres into the upper atmosphere! A reader and a mini-dome camera mounted to a board were launched from a site in Sheffield tethered to a weather balloon which travelled 34km up and drifted for approximately 80 km. It eventually landed five hours later near Leicester in the back garden of a champion show jumper who kindly allowed us to retrieve it.”
The footage shows the board from launch to reaching its peak altitude. On the video you can see ice build-up inside the mini dome camera with the weather balloon clearly reflected in the glass. During the ascent the curvature of the earth and its thin blue atmosphere is clearly visible above a carpet of cloud. This comes to an end with the balloon exploding and the payload free-falling back towards earth before the parachute is fully deployed.
See launch video here
