Why?

Project jointly developed by Josh (@quadling) and myself (@recompiler).
I got the idea for the system in May of 2011 as I was looking at some pictures taken from a high-power model rocket and comparing them to pictures I took from my high power model rockets years ago.
Electronics have come a long way since I last launched anything large and I was really anxious to have a mini-arduino or something similar instead of a small kluged together altimeter. I was also pretty sure I would be able to have a wireless video camera instead of a still camera with film I'd have to develop later.

There's all sorts of situations I wish I had a rocket with a camera on it. Everything from camping, hiking, HAM field day, urban exploring, paintball games etc. The down side to rockets is that the launch mechanism is cumbersome and unreliable.

I looked over at my Spikes Tactical 37mm flare launcher and I knew I had a solution.

The 37mm launchers are ATF approved life safety devices. They can be legally possessed by all law abiding US citizens in all 50 states.

As I thought about it more I realized that a system that launched a camera and sent images or video wirelessly would be great for Ground Search and Rescue teams. The local paintball and airsoft teams might also like to have this. As I thought more about this I realized the SWAT teams may also be interested in the system as the only system that even comes close to what I envisioned (firefly system) is over $2,000 a shot.

Few days later I was talking to Josh since he is an expert on camera systems and he got excited about the possibilities. Josh agreed it'd be a cool project and we got to work.