The Goods

GoPro

Instant Hero: Just add reckless behavior 

GoPro HD Hero 2

The centerpiece of our whole project, a GoPro HD Hero 2 will document on HD video the entire flight. The battery should last around 2 hours, which is about the same length of the flight. I will be doing a test later on to see for myself how long it lasts. I will most likely shoot in 1080p. The GoPro will be mounted on the side of the capsule, with a view of the horizon. 

Balloon

Up, Up and Away!

One of the most expensive and unfortunately disposable pieces of the project is the balloon, of which we will be buying two, as previously stated, in case one pops. If you want an idea of what it looks like, here it is on Amazon.com. Depending on the final weight of the payload, the launch diameter will be between 4 and 6 feet. The bursting diameter is about 20 feet (yeah, pretty crazy). When we fill up the balloon, we're going to have to wear latex gloves because the oils on skin can cause the balloon to degrade and burst prematurely. We have to be very cautious when handling the balloons, because they are very delicate and very expensive. 

Capsule

A fancy word for a Styrofoam box

The capsule we're going to use is a little box I found that is made of Styrofoam and has a nice lid. The box is about 6" by 5" by 4" and should hold all of the components. We'll cut an opening in the side for the camera. Then we'll affix lines to the box to connect it to the balloon, parachute, and radar reflector. The box will be painted black in order to absorb most of the sun's rays, preventing malfunction by low temperature. After that we'll put on a couple GoPro and Android stickers just because. 

Parachute

You know, so we don't kill anybody and break everything inside the capsule

We haven't quite decided where we'll get the parachute yet. We may end up making it ourselves, but I would have more trust in something we buy. If we buy one online, it could cost anywhere from $20-50 dollars, but we'd like to pay no more than $30. Interesting bit of info: the parachute will not start slowing down the capsule until it reaches a dense enough atmosphere, until which time the capsule will be in free fall. The parachute will slow the capsule down to about 15 fps (10 mph).

Recovery

If all else fails, we spend the rest of the summer trying to find it

Our main system of recovery is an Android powered LG VM670 smartphone. The smartphone will be loaded with the Where's My Droid? App that will send us gps coordinates when it receives a text with the password. A second application which will be running the entire time is an offline gps logger which will record data points throughout the entire flight from gps satellites. 

Our secondary system of recovery will most likely be a short range radio beacon or something of that sort. I am going to experiment with some different ideas like walkie talkies or build a transmitter and receiver of my own. This will be fairly cheap if I am able to build it all myself. 

Our tertiary system of recovery will possibly be some sort of timer triggered foghorn, which will hopefully alert us of its location if we have not found it before a set time. 

Our quaternary (yes, quaternary) option will be a sticker affixed to the capsule with a sign reading "IF FOUND, IMMEDIATELY CALL ***-***-****. DO NOT TOUCH OR MOVE"

Maybe I will also add "Dangerous-Radioactive". Which is indeed true, at least the radioactive part, but in such a small level it isn't considered dangerous.

Well that's all I have for you this week. In the future I will make a few posts about the science involved or something of that sort. If you have any questions, suggestions, comments, or any other type of response, don't hesitate to email us at nearspace13@gmail.com