Introduction
In spring of 2009 I participated in an elective course funded by the Colorado Space Grant Consortium and NASA to build and launch a balloon satellite at a height of 100,000ft.
Crew
Noah Beasley - Shell design and production, project management, electronics, graphic design
Harrison York - Sensor data analysis, experiment planning, assembly
Collin Kuhn - Assembly, documentation
Ken Tai - Scheduling, acquisition
The finished BalloonSat prior to launch
Bottom view showing the camera lens and G-sensor
Initial design proposal. The final design was changed from the horizontal shell sections, shown here, to a vertical arrangement for durability.
Production
Instead of the standard foamcore box design, I proposed constructing a vac formed polystyrene sphere to improve durability and water resistance.
Our experiment payload consisted of:
- Flip Mino HD video camera, modified for external switch control, and pointed towards the ground
- Turbine connected to a generator and volt meter to assess the viability of generating power during launch (prop was a salvaged fan blade, due to time constraints and lack of prop design knowledge on the team)
- HOBO G-meter
- HOBO light/temp sensor
- Heater
Vac forming the polystyrene shell
Internal foam sections, initial fitting
Fitting the heater and electronics
Modifying a Flip HD video camera to be controlled with an external switch. This turned out to be surprisingly easy, since they provided handy internal contacts!
Attaching switches to the shell
Launch
We launched from Windsor, Colorado at just after dawn.
Pre-dawn flight preparation
Attaching the spacecraft to the balloon line
Recovery
Immediately upon launch it became clear that, though the turbine spun up beautifully, it spun the ENTIRE BalloonSat around the central shaft! We should have thought to bolt it down to prevent that...
So, all video footage from the flight ended up spinning far too fast to be of any use.
Otherwise, the design was highly successful. The spherical shell stood up well, and the solid polystyrene insulation kept our craft toasty throughout the entire voyage.
Rough landing!
The shell survived landing with no damage, but the prop wasn't as fortunate.
Looks like all those holes drilled to reduce weight compromised the structural integrity of the hub
