cubinator Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 (edited) Tomorrow is launch day for my homemade stratospheric balloon! I've equipped it with amateur radio telemetry, environmental sensors and data logging, and a camera. Hopefully those all work! Yesterday I subjected the capsule to prolonged exposure to dry ice, a more extreme and lengthier period of cold than it will experience in flight yet all systems operated for at least the full flight duration of 2.5 hours. Lots left to do today to prepare, and I'm not sure I'll even get to everything, but tomorrow I think I'll have a balloon capable of doing better than the bare minimum for a first-time flight. Expected max altitude is between 30 and 33 km. I've got to get back to work, but I'll send an update tomorrow on the flight results! ================================================ UPDATE: Flight results https://imgur.com/a/h7I99WF The flight was highly successful, and I achieved all my goals: To launch and recover a high altitude balloon, to collect interesting environmental data, and to surpass 30 km in altitude (this one seems to have just *barely* been made!) I recorded the temperature inversion at the start of the stratosphere, with a minimum external temperature around -53 Celsius. This temperature is calibrated assuming equal temperature between interior and exterior during pre-flight preparations. The flight computer lost power shortly after the balloon burst, and while the circumstances of this picture aren't exactly the reason for that, it will certainly give you an idea why: Power was restored shortly after the probe, well, reentered the atmosphere (minimum pressure would have been about 13 mbar, though I couldn't measure it due to a bug in the flight OS), but until it regained GPS lock back on the surface it wasn't running its periodic data collection. Recovery couldn't have been easier, an APRS tracker led me and my helper directly to the landing site in a small field just on the edge of a town. That tracker was provided by the local university ballooning team, who supported my launch allowing me to tag along for one of their launch days in order to provide lifting gas, filling equipment, and support in launch and recovery operations. Unfortunately my WSPR device proved less than useful for chasing the balloon, but I can see how it would work well for a long-distance balloon that isn't meant to be recovered. The signal from it was decoded all over North America. The feeling of the balloon flying out of my hands and watching all my hard work float away on the wind was unlike anything I've felt before. At that point I didn't know if a piece of paper was covering the camera, let alone if it was recording at all. I was pretty confident I would recover the balloon, especially with the supplemental equipment, but I hadn't ever seen tracking work on my own equipment yet. This was a great experience and now where one balloon has landed, I have ideas for two more. But I am taking a break as this thing has taken my full attention for over a week. I feel like I should frame the popped balloon or something. If you want to set your personal altitude record for something you made to be 30% of the way to space for a few hundred bucks, this is the way to do it! Edited March 16 by cubinator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 1 hour ago, cubinator said: Tomorrow is launch day for my homemade stratospheric balloon! I've equipped it with amateur radio telemetry, environmental sensors and data logging, and a camera. Hopefully those all work! Yesterday I subjected the capsule to prolonged exposure to dry ice, a more extreme and lengthier period of cold than it will experience in flight yet all systems operated for at least the full flight duration of 2.5 hours. Lots left to do today to prepare, and I'm not sure I'll even get to everything, but tomorrow I think I'll have a balloon capable of doing better than the bare minimum for a first-time flight. Expected max altitude is between 30 and 33 km. I've got to get back to work, but I'll send an update tomorrow on the flight results! Very cool! Best of luck and looking forward to the update Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColdJ Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 @cubinator Looking forward to the footage where the U.S military shoot it down with a missile and the news cycle says UFO or Chinese spy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 It's in the air and tracking! On the chase now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 1 hour ago, cubinator said: It's in the air and tracking! On the chase now Get pics, and please share the imagery from the balloon assuming that is part of the design. These days it is kind of assumed. Cool stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted March 14 Author Share Posted March 14 11 hours ago, darthgently said: Get pics, and please share the imagery from the balloon assuming that is part of the design. These days it is kind of assumed. Cool stuff! Will do later, everything was a success and I have great video. Max altitude was just shy of 30km. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 On 3/12/2025 at 8:55 AM, darthgently said: Very cool! Best of luck and looking forward to the update On 3/13/2025 at 2:39 PM, darthgently said: Get pics, and please share the imagery from the balloon assuming that is part of the design. These days it is kind of assumed. Cool stuff! On 3/12/2025 at 1:33 PM, ColdJ said: @cubinator Looking forward to the footage where the U.S military shoot it down with a missile and the news cycle says UFO or Chinese spy. I just posted some flight results and photos on the OP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Well done, and inspiring pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 13 minutes ago, AckSed said: Well done, and inspiring pictures! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.f41d27ddfefbbcda354ea9269edbd28a.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.