iPad Survives Fall From Edge of Space in Jaw-Dropping Video

Pretty awesome video, but it looks like they cheated a little bit by weighing the back of the device, so that it would land on its back rather than screen.

An iPad 2 weighs 1.33 lbs, and has ~0.5 sq. ft of surface area when flat, which according to this NASA applet [1] means its terminal velocity is 12.2 mph (17.8 ft/sec).

A drop at 12 miles per hour onto its back is probably not enough to destroy the iPad whether or not there is a case on it.

[1] http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/termv.html

I wonder what kind of permissions they had to obtain in order to do that? Surely they'd need to worry about air traffic and the chance of it landing on someone or someone else's property (however unlikely). Or maybe they went to some privately owned bit of desert to do it? I wonder how much that costs?

Also - it kind of reminds me of a geek-version of the "bow and arrow" game from the film "Grown Ups"...

I don't know why you didn't mention it in the title, but I would think it's pretty relevant that it wasn't just an iPad. It was "An iPad with a G-Form Extreme Edge case". Doubt the survival is something the iPad should be credited for.

Seems like the idea was to make the iPad rotate like falling maple seeds [1] so it would considerably slow down.

[1] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUEXKapAVcY

Actual headline : iPad Survives Fall From Edge of Space because of an awesome case in Jaw-Dropping Video

I do not really care about the case or the iPad, but the footage is just stunning and worth your time.

I've seen this once before on HN, I just don't see how it is relevant (to HN) in either case though

I'm so skeptical about this. Seems like the fall wasn't really that fast.

And what about the go pro, it survives as well !!!

Hmm... Mine fell one foot and was ruined.