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igloo held their 8th anniversay event at Knots Cafe (Pasir Panjang) last Thursday with a #unlockSpace Campaign.

Started in 2015 by Anthony Chow and Kelvin Ho, igloo was born as Anthony Chow, igloo’s co-founder and CEO, was himself a busy Airbnb host and experienced first-hand the frustrating inefficiencies of physical key exchanges. Since then, the company set out to build a World Without Keys.

I was one of the first to review the Igloohome Smart Lock back in mid-2016, and igloo has come a long way.

To celebrate igloo’s 8th anniversary, on 9th August 2023, igloo launched eight Smart Padlock 2 Space Edition into space. It is the first time a smart padlock has reached space (technically stratosphere).

A custom-made launch vehicle carried by a high-altitude hydrogen balloon transported all eight padlocks 33 km above sea level before they were released. For context, a passenger aircraft reaches a maximum altitude of 11 km.

At 33 km above sea level, the temperature is around -65°C and 0.0618 atmospheric pressure (atm). After peak altitude, the hydrogen balloon that carried it will explode, and the padlocks will re-enter Earth. A parachute will be deployed to slow the padlock’s reentry to about half the free-fall speed of about 4.5 m/s.

This #unlockSpace Campaign demonstrated the ability of the Smart Padlock 2 Space Edition to withstand the ascent to space, function at peak altitude in space, and withstand the descent to Earth in working conditions.

Igloo has produced a limited run of 88 serialized Smart Padlock 2 Space Edition, so if you want to get your hands on it, you can visit the #unlockSpace Campaign to learn more about the giveaway.

I have seen the padlocks during the event, and they are very nice. I love the matte-white design of the padlock. Black locks are prevalent, but not white ones. Maybe igloo should consider adding another color scheme, white, to all their locks!

You can read more about my review on the igloohome Smart PadLock 2.

Here is the video of the launch event: