Our group of UAV professional and enthusiasts kickstarted the first attempt for a high-altitude UAV flight in Indonesia. The program which was initiated by AeroTerrascan, an Indonesian UAV designer and manufacturing company, has since grown into a very resourceful collective of Indonesian aeronautic devotees. The formerly named AeroTerrascan Menembus Langit has dropped the company’s branding and now simply known as Menembus Langit. Literally means ‘pierce the sky’.

Menembus Langit was officially started by the trial flight held at LAPAN’s (Indonesian Institute of Aeronautics and Space) launch facility on 27 August 2016. The privately funded non-profit program successfully lifted a 2.9kg aircraft (600gr worth of payload) with a high altitude balloon up to altitude of 12.7km (41,600 ft) before separated and let it managed to achieve stable flight within seconds. It took more than 40 minutes for the aircraft to glide down in a loiter mode before taken over by the pilot and landed manually. 

While it is (may or) may not exactly a ground breaking achievement in the international UAV world, we certainly hope it will become the start of a big things for the generally-unheard Indonesian UAV industry and community. Especially with the current state of regulations and the fact that we are trying to use off-the-shelf equipments as much as possible and will openly publish our research and findings at the end of the project.

From our mission objectives:
- To set a milestone in national aeronautic achievement
- To provide a method for reusable stratospheric research platform
- To pave the road towards HALE platform
- To inspire people, communities and institutions

For the coming month we will keep raising the altitude to reach our target of 30km (100,000 ft) and achieve stable flight at 28km (90,000 ft). We certainly hope our attempt will be able to trigger the rise of Indonesian UAV community as well as South East Asia region. Big thanks to Ardupilot community who has provided us with a system that made it happen.

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I stumble upon this thing today.
Could be a good (great?) camera platform for UAV.
What do you guys think?

Source: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/olympus-air-a01/olympus-air-a01A.HTM
More: Google: Olympus Air

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The front of the Olympus AIR A01 is pretty much all lens mount with the Micro Four Thirds bayonet flange (1), lens alignment mark (2), and locking pin (3) called out. You can also see the 4/3" sensor through the cover glass and the electrical lens contacts along the bottom.

Looking down at the top we can see a power switch (1), a large shutter button (2), stereo microphone ports (3), and a status LED (4). These minimal controls allow the AIR A01 to take quick snap-shots without the assistance of a mobile device.

Looking at the bottom, we see a standard tripod socket (1), the lens release lever (2), a speaker port (3), and a release lever for the AIR's own mounting flange (4). Not shown is a pair of threaded mounting points, located on the left and right sides of the barrel, occupied by little button-head screws, to keep them pristine and clean until you want to use them to attach the AIR to something.

And finally on the back with the protective cover removed, we can see the accessory mount flange (1), accessory mount locking pin (2), wireless radio on/off switch (3), microSD card slot (4), micro USB port (5), and a QR code (6) along with Wi-Fi SSID, password and Bluetooth device name printed on the label.

The Olympus AIR A01 includes an "AIR Coupler" accessory, which lets you mount a smartphone in landscape orientation at about a 45° angle. It supports a variety of smartphone sizes.

The product images above are all from Olympus. We normally replace the manufacturer's shots with our own once we have a camera in-hand, but in this case decided to leave the above, because they were so beautifully done, but also because the details are so much easier to see on a white body than the black one we received as an eval unit. (We were given a choice of white or black, but opted to go with black for improved "stealth" operation when shooting candids.) The product shots below are all our own, though.