Fun with Balloons

• by Nate
• March 11, 2009

• Projects

Meteotek has combined two of my favorite things - balloons and electronics. Checkout the images for this balloon sat project.

Every time I see projects like this, it makes me want to buy a large tank of helium. Meoteotek was a project put together by a group of students to launch a data logger into the lower atmosphere. I am unable to translate Spanish Catalan, but pictures have a way of speaking for themselves.

Awesome! It's like wardriving but looks colder and earlier in the morning.

This team emailed us to let us know that the Copernicus GPS module and the SCP1000 pressure sensor performed admirably at 30,677m (100,000ft)! I love that they used a brick of AA batteries. I would have used a LiPo (lighter, better capacity). Do alkaline batts hold up better under cold temperatures than LiPos? There's a good video of the preparations and launch.

So cool. Can we even do this in paranoid America? Can I just find an open spot in Kansas and launch a payload to 100,000ft? There must be clearance or something I have to get from the FAA? I think we should have an autonomous payload rendezvous competition next year.

It looks like it was a successful launch and recovery. Congrats guys! Awesome project!