Colorado Space Grant Consortium University of Colorado at Boulder Undergraduate Research Opportunity Fund
High Altitude Student Payload – Supported by LSU Provides students opportunity to conduct research and experiments 11 million ft 3 helium balloon 36 km (120,000 ft) In-float hours 8 small - 3kg payloads 4 large - 20kg payloads
Interface TypeSpecification Maximum Weight20 kg Maximum Footprint 38cm x 30cm Maximum Height~ 30cm Supplied Voltage29 – 33 VDC Available Current2.5 30VDC Maximum Serial Downlink 4800 bps Serial Uplink2 bytes/command Serial Interface4800 baud, RS232 Protocol, DB9 connector Analog Downlink2 channels in 0 – 5 VDC range Discrete Commands 6 available – i.e. Power ON/OFF Analog & discrete interface EDAC
Mission Overview Shall demonstrate the feasibility of high-altitude balloon based observatories Shall analyze and understand solar phenomena by observing the Sun in Hydrogen-Alpha and Calcium(II) Potassium wavelengths Observations of the Sun currently rely on ground and orbiting solar observatories, hindered by cost, accessibility, and atmospheric interference James Webb Space Telescope ~ $1.6 billion Kepler Telescope ~ $600 million Average Shuttle Launch ~ $450 million Mission offers analysis of: Lower Chromosphere (Ca II – K) Mid Chromosphere (H-A) Solar Magnetic Field (both) MicroFlares (both) Arch Filaments (both)
Flight Timeline Day FloatNight Float Descent Landing Launch Ascent 36 km Altitude T-0 hrs System powered off for launch and ascent T 1 hrs Ascent to float altitude of 36 km T 4 hrs System Initialized SHAIRC/ADCS tracking/imaging Sun T 10 hrs Sleep mode T 20 hrs System powered off for descent T 24 hrs Payload Retrieval
Ultimate objective: to gather quality data and images at high altitude by which we can prove the feasibility of high-altitude balloon observatories Space Grant is awesome