HacDC Spaceblimp 5

Spaceblimp-5 Launched: July 9, 2011

Summary

This time we were going for altitude. By using a larger balloon, hopefully it will burst at a higher altitude, 120k feet predicted. (117k actual. Within 3%. Not too shabby!!)

The launch site was: Strasburg VA, in a open area near the town on Rt 11, near the I-81. Lat: 38.9968 N Lon: 78.3508W

Or follow along at home! There are two radios on board the blimp that transmit out the GPS data:

• The primary radio is tied to the GPS and transmits out to a network of amateur radio enthusiasts who then pass the location information on to get mapped here: APRS.fi. We also are running some custom software that passes this data on to a Twitter account (once per minute!) which you can follow on your phone: DC Spaceblimp Primary Twitter Feed. (Click the link in the Twitter to pull up a map!)

• The secondary radio is actually a GSM cell phone module, and will broadcast its data when in range of a cell tower. It will be broadcasting both GPS data for tracking, and a lot of the sensor data for science. You can follow that Twitter feed through Society Of Robots Twitter Feed.

Payload

The payload contains a couple cameras:

• a video camera (Canon Zi6)
• a still camera (Canon Powershot A-480) running custom firmware to get better exposures from space

and a lot of instrumentation:

• a geiger counter
• 9 degree-of-freedom IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit on Wikipedia)
• high-speed (50 sample/sec) accelerometer
• internal and external temperature sensors
• humidity sensor
• air pressure sensor
• IR and visible light sensors
• a solar panel, hooked up to measure the voltage

Data

Accelerometer

For now, here is the raw accelerometer data: Media: spaceblimp5_accelerometer.csv.gz

Analysis to come in the next few days....

Launch Plans

Planned launch date:	Saturday, July 9, 2011
Launch time:	10:00 AM, Launch should take less than an hour.
Launch Location:	Strasburg, VA
Coordination/Talk-in:	146.685 MHz simplex (this might change, please monitor Twitter (@HacDCSpaceblimp) and mailing list for updates.
Planned Altitude:	120,000 Feet
Planned Ascent Rate:	1,000 feet/minute
Planned Descent Rate:	1,000 feet/minute
Primary Beacon:	Son-of-WhereAVR with ublox GPS. Yaesu VX-1 handi-talkie with 1 W Transmitter, call sign W3HAC-11 (map), Frequency 144.390 MHz
Secondary Beacon:	GSM mobile phone modue, uBlox GPS
Payload:	9 DOF IMU, Geiger counter, temperature, pressure, humidity, and light sensors

HacDC Spaceblimp Project:

Main Page	Press Page	First Launch (Found)	Second Launch (Successful)
Third Launch (Successful)	Fourth Launch (Successful)	Fifth Launch (3% short of goal)	Sixth Launch (Successful)	Seventh Launch (Successful)

HacDC Spaceblimp Team Contact Info:

[email protected]

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