By Sid Perkins
Before airplanes and hot-air balloons came along, early meteorological research was like child’s play on a windy day: Scientists flew kites. In the mid-18th century, researchers studied the atmosphere by attaching well-padded thermometers to a kite’s tether and sending them aloft. A slow-burning fuse later released the instruments, which plummeted to Earth. The scientists’ big challenge was to quickly find the thermometers that survived the fall before they warmed up.
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Conceptually, research with kites today remains unchanged—just hang some sort of sensor from a kite and send it up. However, modern designs and materials, sophisticated electronic instruments, and inexpensive, lightweight cameras transform a simple toy into a data-gathering system with broad applications.