Stratos 2 - KHS High Altitude Balloon Flight UK

Another Stratos 2 video from the successful launch by KHS on June 30th, 2011. Working with Trackaphone, BT and Steve Randall (high altitude balloon enthusiast).

We used a 1000g weather balloon - which was filled with approximately 3 cubic metres of helium.

We used a couple of GPS trackers, one from Trackaphone (http://www.trackaphone.eu/) and the other from Steve. The RF/GPS tracker was a 10mW transmitter on 434Mhz and a similar in frequency and power to those used in key fobs. A PIC microcontroller takes position data from a GPS and transmits it over a very narrowband channel (300 baud) to the ground - where its received by multiple ground stations who upload its position onto a google maps webpage (http://spacenear.us/tracker/). The position of the balloon and its track across the country is shown.

We also used balloon path prediction software produced by the Cambridge University Space Flight (CUSF) - used before the flight to give a rough indication of where the payload is expected to land. This makes sure we don't land in the sea or risk landing in a town or city. The payload actually landed within about 5 miles of the predicted spot.

A digital camera modified with a PIC microcontroller so it take pictures every 11 s or so and a 10s video after every 4th picture.

Note that a launch permit that is needed from the CAA to allow people to release weather balloons. So don't try this at home!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• GPS
• tracking
• balloon
• space
• june
• camera
• helium
• uk