High Altitude Balloon Project At Penn State Wilkes-Barre. Albert Lozano

Transcription

1 High Altitude Balloon Project At Penn State Wilkes-Barre Albert Lozano

2 Background Pennsylvania Space Grant: member of National Space Grant. Supports PA Students and faculty participate in NASA s space programs and initiatives to enhance STEM education, research and outreach. Support: - July 2009: Invitation to Workshops by PSG: High Altitude Balloons and Systems Engineering at NASA s Kennedy Space Center. - AY : Funding to develop High Altitude Balloon Activities at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. WHY? NASA s Outcome 2: Attract and retain students in STEM disciplines through a progression of educational opportunities for students, teachers, and faculty (Educate and Engage).

3 Background Goals of the funding received by PSG: PSU-WB: Student learning through direct experimentation Undergraduate Research Classroom activities Extracurricular activities Student club Open to ALL students and faculty Schools: Engage primary and secondary educator and students Involve primary and secondary students and teachers Outreach Students and Faculty

4 Background There is room and the need for everybody s involvement

5 Background: Real Data The BalloonSAT Outreach Program Mobile Command Center BalloonSAT Recovery Team The Air Borne Classroom Student built payloads Data In the Classroom (Mission Control) The classroom is networked to the mobile Or fixed command center (On Internet). GPS Tracking on screen Data Recovery and Achieving Real-time LabView Data Analysis

6 What is High Altitude Ballooning? The Balloon 1500 gram natural latex Helium 8 ft diameter at launch 40 ft diameter at burst 72 inch parachute Payload Multiple Pods Student experiments Sensors, cameras Telemetry system Altitude, Position, Data Real-time reports to mobile stations for chase group

7 100,000 ft High Altitude Balloon Flight Profile (experimentation platform at 90,000 ft) 40 ft Near Space 65,000 ft 8 ft Altitude: 80,000 to 100,000 ft Ascent: 1000 ft per minute Descent: 1500 ft per minute (close to ground) Ground traveled Typical: 40 miles 1 to 150 miles Typical flight time 2 hours 30,000 ft Operation under FAA Part 101: Each pod < 6 lbs Total weight < 12 lbs Line force < 50 lbs No hazardous materials

8 Example Flight Profile Reconstructed from real time GPS data Launch: Taylor University, IN Max alt. 92,000 ft landing site

9 What can we do? Pictures extracted from video recording Horizon: 350 miles (3 m surface) Views similar to space Temp: -90 F Almost vacuum (1%) After burst can exceed Mach 1 before enough air for parachute Chaotic effects after burst

10 Video: Ascent and Burst Video camera 1: towards balloon

11 What can we do? Examples of sensors used by Taylor University Electric Field Probes VLF Receiver Plasma Probes Solar Cell Array CO2 Horizon Sensor Torque Coil Test Viper PC104 Flight Test Boom release System Live Video APRS Beacon Transmitter Dropsonds Humidity Earth Temp. Space Temp. Magnetometer OPT101 Light Sensors Spectrometers Geiger Counters Altitude Valve Control CUBE Sat Multiple 900MHz RF Units PASCO

12 Example data collected: post-flight analysis

13 Phases of a High Altitude Balloon Flight Pre-flight: Decide experiments Connect and test sensors Assemble pods Predict flight path Launch: Fill up balloon Connect pods to balloon Safety checks Check telemetry Release balloon Flight Ascend stage: Receive telemetry data Recovery vehicle starts moving towards predicted landing area Flight Descend stage: Telemetry: Altitude decrease Readjust flight path Predict landing area Visual contact Telemetry will be lost before landing Recovery: Locate balloon Secure permission private property Document landing Turn off electronics and telemetry Post-flight: Retrieve and analyze data / video Share data / video as needed Debriefing Modifications for next flight

14 Why we want to do this? Students are the focus. Faculty supporting role Build Scientific & Engineering payloads. Experiments Track & Recovery payloads Coordinating logistics. Working in teams Managing budgets and schedules. Creative problem solving Engineering students: Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical Undergraduate Research Not limited to Engineering and Science students Create, process videos from flights. Write about experiences 3 cameras per flight: About 6 hours of video and it is fun!!! Outreach Involve K-12 students: Create experiments, be at launch, track Service to K-12 teachers: Vehicle for hands-on science Media coverage

15 Example pre-flight analysis Predicted flight path Data from NWS observations Strongly dependent on local conditions and burst altitude. Order of magnitude approach.

16 Video: Take off Video camera 2: towards ground

17 High Altitude Balloon program PSU-WB Provide a Multi-use Educational Platform - Building Science & Engineering payloads: Sensors, communications - Experiment with new sensors. Build new sensors - Hardware and software development - Track & Recovery payloads: Telemetry, other communications - End-to-end project - Creative problem solving: Unexpected problems that appear - Meet deadlines: Experiment ready before flight. No turn it in late - Post-flight analysis - About 6 video hours per flight Digital commons - Present it to campus community - Open to all majors and it is fun!

18 Where else can you photograph this? Come join us!

19 Contact me: Albert Lozano Technology Center