This week we spent the class period developing separate apparati for two upcoming mapping projects: one for low-altitude mapping and one for a high altitude balloon launch (HABL). Professor Hupy describes this project as 'like Apollo 13" in that we were provided with a finite assortment of materials from which to construct rigs to which we will affix digital cameras (and GPS's) that are to act as remote sensors. The only difference is that in Apollo 13, the folks working on adapting air filters were the best and brightest engineers of a generation and in this case, two dozen undergraduate geographers are trying to send sensitive digital equipment into space and get it back in workable condition (its still not a life or death situation though). The low-altitude balloon will be held onto by guide wires and taken through campus while a GPS tracks the location of each shot. After collecting our images, if all goes well, we intend on patching the images retrieved together and generating some nice maps! But more on that later, for now we need to focus on getting the images!
As the instructions that we encountered while trying to prepare for this launch over the internet were found to be perfunctory at best, the end goal of this week's blog is to provide detailed information on how we developed both the low-altitude module and the space module. This way, the readers will be left with an exact account of what to do (or not to do) when trying to collect images from helium balloons launched into space.
Methods:
Let me preface this discussion of our methods by stating that this is not a good project for young children: we did use exacto-knives, a leatherman, and a hot knife. If you and your kids are embarking on the noble endeavor of sending some legos into space, be sure that a responsible person is on hand to do the slightly dangerous aspects themselves.
Now, the first determination that needs to be made in developing our rigs is what we need the rig to do. In the case of the High Altitude balloon launch, we need to have a rig that:
- Can be attached to our helium weather balloon
- Is light weight
- Is stable and won't spin uncontrollably in the breezy upper atmosphere.
- Insulates a digital camera from both physical damage and the elemental cold of the mesosphere, but still allows for the camera to take quality images on the flight.
- Insulates and protects a GPS unit that can be used to track the end location of our rig
- Carries and effectively deploys a parachute
The Low Altitude rig must:
- Still be attached to a helium balloon and still be stable
- No parachute or thermal insulation is necessary
- Be attached to guide wires
Fortunately, our instructor provided a rather large bundle of usable equipment, from which we selected for our launch:
~seven pairs of hand warmers
~three two-litre soda bottles (empty)
~Digital Cameras: TYPE Cameras will be unsing continuous shot mode instead of video as to preserve both image quality and data space limitations. As such, we will have to rig our cameras with something to hold the trigger down.
~GPS/GoPro
~Some 1" thick styrofoam insulation
~One Styrofoam bait container
~Strong rubber bands
~Bleach bottle (empty)
~Zip ties
~Small Carbineers
~Two Weather balloons, and a helium tank provided through the University.
Exacto knives, a small pocket knife, packing tape, and an electric hot knife (insulation cutter) were also used in the construction of our rigs. Before any consturction takes place, an integral step in the process of developing these balloon-powered craft is identifying the weight capacity of the balloon and the expected weight of the rig. To that end, several students diligently weighed the components of our craft as well as the final products of the high-altitude module. Fig 1 is an snapshot of that data in MS Excel. This is an especially important aspect of the High Altitude Launch, because the goal is to get our camera as far from the surface of the earth as possible while still having it return to us.
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| Fig 1: Our weight data |
Low Altitude Aerial Launch:
We garnered two seperate attempts at developing a low-altitude model, one unnamed devce (fig 2, 3) and one known as The Hindenburg (fig 4,5). The constuction of the as-yet unnamed module
consisted of removing the bottom from the bleach container and affixing the camera to the indide with some string. A rubber binder and pencil eraser were used to hold down the capture button on the camera; plastic wings were fashioned from the bottom of the recepticle to keep the device from spinning in the air, and attached with packing tape as seen in fig 4. The Hindenburg was formed from a two-liter bottle with the camera attached to the side with zip ties. A hole was cut from the opposing side to allow for clear images. Both modules used string to attach them to the balloon, the unnamed module used the string attached to the container itself and the Hindenburg attached the string to some zipties strung through punchutes made at the oblong ends of the bottle.
High Altitude Balloon Launch:
The High altitude Module is based around a strofoam minnow container with a hole in the bottom where the camera lens will poke through. COVER The camera is affixed to teh inside with string pulled through the sides of the container, and insulated by seven pairs of hand warmers. Additionally, a styrofoam cover was cut with the hotknife to help insulate the package further and secure the hand warmers in place against the camera. It will be attached to the ballon by yarn pulled through the sides of the container near the top. Parachute?
Discussion:
Hopefully we have provided an adequate representation of how we developed our modules. I will be updating this blog post with any modifications made before the launch of each module so that you, the internet-scouring public, can fully take our observations to heart and learn from our experience. I also notice that we did not take exact measurements as to the dimensions of our models, and I will try to get some before we launch. As I mentioned abover, the end goal of this batch of posts is to provide better instruction on how to develop modules for both Low-Altitude and (especially) HABL rigs than what we ourselves were able to find. Now you have our instructions, but it won't be until next week when we get to find out how well or unwell our attmpts worked.
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