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Show HN: We chased a weather balloon across Montana and never found it

https://radi8.dev/blog/uplink/
12•radeeyate•39m ago
Since April, I have been working with Sam Flynn (https://drook.dev) to make this balloon payload, UpLink. We did a similar launch last year with Hack Club but this was our first independent launch.

UpLink was a 491 gram payload testing the insulation properties of 3D printing filaments, while also transmitting 320x240 images over a radio link -- up from the 18x10 images last year!

This is a writeup on our engineering process, mistakes made, and learning experiences. It covers:

- Custom electronics designed in KiCad

- Firmware design

- Results from the data we received on the ground

- Image transmission

- Launch day logistics, and where things went wrong

All hardware, software, firmware, and CAD is available on GitHub: https://github.com/radeeyate/UpLink, licensed + certified as open source hardware: https://certification.oshwa.org/us002826.html

If you just want to see the images received, I put up a gallery here: https://uplink.gallery.radi8.dev/

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know. I'm happy to answer anything!

Comments

macintux•21m ago
Impressive level of detail, impressive work for anyone, much less high school students.
ErroneousBosh•19m ago
The images seem a bit scrambled, presumably due to missing data blocks. At that low a resolution, have you considered maybe Robot36 SSTV?
radeeyate•6m ago
The problem with SSTV is the power required. From some looking it seems that transmitting would need at least 5 watts. This wouldn't be feasible running on the balloon, as it was powered by Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries.
verelo•18m ago
Wait, so at 28k/km the temp goes up to 15C?

This is all very cool but this temperature reading caught my eye as unexpected.

radeeyate•2m ago
I found that surprising too! This probably isn't a completely accurate number, as the sensor is black and likely experienced some heating from the sun. Something also worth noting is that different layers of the atmosphere experience different temperatures, so while the 15c measurement may have been a bit high, it's still pretty close to what it actually was: https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/atmosphere/layers-of-atmosphe...

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Show HN: We chased a weather balloon across Montana and never found it

https://radi8.dev/blog/uplink/
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