« Posts tagged High Altitude Balloon

Project Space Balloon Launch

Thursday, July 4, 2013 / posted in Amateur Radio / No Comments

Project Space Balloon has a balloon launch planned for this Saturday the 6th July 2013 from Bendigo Victoria.

Hi all,

FYI, our project team is planning to release a high altitude balloon from Bendigo this coming Saturday 6th July 2013 at 11am.

We will have an onboard camera sending images back via SSDV (http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:ssdv), which is basically broken up JPEG with some extra headers.

RTTY will be used for radio transmission.

We do not expect to recover the balloon, and will appreciate any assistance with getting data from the payload along the path, in Victoria, Southern NSW, ACT, and Tas. See attached expected path.

All you need is a radio capable of receiving SSB at 434.650MHz, and a Mac/Windows/Linux computer with sound card input and access to the internet. High gain antenna is highly desirable.

See instructions here: http://projectspaceballoon.net/ssd/

The other details are:

– Frequency 434.650Mhz (+-10Khz), USB

– RTTY with 460Hz shift, 300 baud, 8 bit ASCII, no parity, one stop bit.

– Hardware is a Rev A Raspberry Pi, with a 25mW UHF transmitter module.

– Antenna is a quarter-wave with radials.

– Expected “cruising” altitude is 20km.

You will be able to see the images on your computer if you can receive the RF signal directly.

If internet access is available the images can be uploaded to the internet for others to view.

Tracking (from distributed listeners like yourselves) will be available at http://spacenear.us/tracker Images will be available at http://ssdv.habhub.org

The call sign for tracking and SSDV is PSBPI.

We plan to have someone in #highaltitude chatroom on irc.freenode.net on the day to co-ordinate.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards.

Andy VK3YT

Reference:
Project Horus

Update: Project Horus Launch 15/06/2013

Sunday, June 16, 2013 / posted in Amateur Radio / No Comments

This some screen shots put into a video showing PicoHorus-3 flight that was launched approx 1000 ACST the 15th June. This is from my point of view as a listening ground station based on the north side of the Adelaide CBD.

At approx 0800 ACST the 16th June PicoHorus-3 ran out of battery power and stopped broadcasting telemetry and now categories as unknown and lost, but if you happen to find its playload please contact the great people at Project Horus

Quick video showing the reception of Horus from my QTH

Project Horus Launch 15/06/2013

Thursday, June 13, 2013 / posted in Amateur Radio / No Comments

Email that came across letting know that there be a Balloon launch this weekend. Check Spacenear.Us in the morning (15/06/2013 1000hrs ACST) to get the frequency if you like to help with tracking.

Update 14/06/2013 18:44
Confirmed freq is 434.150MHz

Hi all,

This Saturday Mark is going to have another shot at a pico floater launch, though instead of a foil party balloon, he’ll be using a 100g latex balloon.

Launch will be at approx 10am local time.

Mark’s aiming for a <1m/s ascent rate, which should float it at 20km altitude. The float prediction has it floating to the south of Mildura, before continuing along the border towards Wagga Wagga, then on to Sydney. Much like Horus 16, but at about half the altitude.

We’re looking for listeners in both Mildura and Wagga Wagga – if anybody has contacts in these areas, please pass the message on.

The frequency and baud rate of the launch haven’t been decided yet, but the information will be on the http://spacenear.us/tracker/ page at the time of launch.

All the best,

Mark & the Project Horus team.

Project Horus