3am Balloon Launch 5th May

Team9.99 launched another high altitude balloon for a test of the cutdowns to the payload.
We launched at about 3am from Lake Coleridge, the recovery team was posted in Ashburton and monitored the launch with directional antennas and GPS.

The test was successful, with the payload successfully tracked by our radio system and recovered in Ashburton. The cutdown system fired when the balloon left the pre-set flight polygon determined before launch.

Preparing the payload to be sealed, payload boxes are made from the same foam as one would find in a surf board. The material is very light and strong, with the bonus of being easy to carve for the boards in the payload. The payload was broken up into 3 packages, one for the SPOT GPS, one for the flight CPU board and radio, one for the cameras (we had light illuminating the balloon from below for the flight).

Payload boxes parcel tied and secured with safety patterned duct taped. Each box has about a meter of cord. The Parachute is at the top of the packages.

 Maneuvering the hydrogen tank onto the scales for balloon filling.

The recovered payload, parachute is visible here and at the base one of the LED tube lights can be seen. The payload had one green, one red, and one white LED stick to light up the payload and make it more visible on recovery. 

Video of balloon release to come soon!

Vacuum testing igniters 10-01-13

Yesterday evening some of the team got together to test igniters in a vacuum.

The broader context is developing a cut-down mechanism for high altitude balloons based off some existing methods.

In the picture below you can see that the portion of igniter charger in the immediate vicinity of the hot wire reacted, but that's only a small portion of the whole charge.
From the test it seems that the black powder needs gas around it to help transfer heat to adjacent grains.

Balloon Launch, Sunday 6th Jan 2013

On Sunday morning, January 6th, 2013, the team released a high altitude balloon.

This was a test for the radio and GPS systems to accompany another of our projects we have been working on for around a year (the rockoon- details to come soon).


Here are a bunch of pictures from the event, and a video of the balloon release.

The Payload box, planning the internal layout

The controls board, including a Battle Blimps board, and a SPOT GPS tracker

Removing the skirt from the weather balloon. Latex gloves at all times when handling the balloon!

Balloon with skirt removed.

Parachute and payload box. This was for a drop test to check the parachute size.

Recovery team set up. Yagi antenna and FunCube dongle. FLDigi decoding, and HDSDR.

The Recovery team, hanging out in Chertsey.

The launch site, next to Lake Emma.

Hydrogen tank

Setting up the balloon prep area.