Pegasus High Altitude Balloon Project

Pegasus II launched...

+6 hours and no contact - fear the worse that Pegasus II has been lost, probably in the sea

Latest Updates

• Quick Update (this week just keeps getting busier.) - Permission has come through, planned launch is, if the weather is okay, Sat morning (4th) at 8.30. Helium is ordered and being collected on friday afternoon. In regards to the payload I'm a little behind, phone/gumstix/gps is working, last night connected the GM-tube to the gumstix and it records though it requires a little more adaptation to record clicks per minute. Still to connect are the cameras and temp sensor and work out a way of connecting the payload to the cord. Finally I still need to buy some phone credit. All stations are go still.
• Sorry for lack of speed in updating - Permission has come through so the plan is to launch on the 4th March which leaves me with about 5 days!!!! Construction is underway - here are a few pictures of the construction. Of course everything isn't secure yet - got lots more roles of duct tape to apply. Neutrino has kindly put together a GM-tube which has arrived and will be linked up via a GPIO (i hope) to the gumstix. Very few things left to get:
  • Order Helium (on monday)
  • Phone Credit
  Am going to try and make away of updating the internet realtime with the coordinates so those that are interested can follow. However there might be a small wait as I won't have an internet connection at the launch site itself - will have to see...
• Ordered the batteries from batteryforce - 4 lithium AA, 8 lithium AAA and 1 lithium 9V.
• Thanks for all the offers for help with the payload - have actually found enough polystyrene to construct it now so thats my job for tomorrow.
• The new digital camera (4MP) arrived but I'm not sure i'm going to use it as its quite heavy and a little bit rubbish!
• Apologies for the gap in updates, lot has progressed:
  • I've sent off for permission with the hope of getting a launch window for the month of March with the first attempt at launching on the 4th.
  • I've switched the plan from using tinytag temp. sensors (even though I have them) to the serial based 4 channel sensor which has arrived and i've assembled. All is left is to interface it with the gumstix through ttyS0.
  • Given up on the geiger counter as it was awfully made and nearly impossible to work out a way of interfacing it.

Therefore all that is left is to:

• Find a polystyrene container - actually proving harder then I thought, sadly the uni's path department don't have a spare ice container, so the search continues
• Get all the batteries
• Link up the cameras to GPIOs (a 4Mpixel is coming from ebay - I'm having to give up on the idea of 3 cameras to create a panoramic view due to weight and cost issues, instead I think I'll have the old 640x480 camera facing up, and the 4MP and 3MP facing sideways in different directions finally with the digital video camera facing down)
• Interface the serial port of the temp. sensor to the gumstix
• Test GPS and phone reception in container
• Order helium - I think I'm going to use a local supplier and collect it myself.
• In the software department:
  • Set up logging of temp. sensors
  • Set up shutter control on cameras
  • Work on allowing the payload once landed to call and establish a ppp with base to allow downloading of information - nearly got it to dial the internet for Pegasus I but had to abandon due to time constrants
• Here are some stitches of the pictures taken by the downward facing camera.
• Have got hold of a 1200grm totex balloon from the British Antarctic Survey (out of date) - its enormous! Reckon with a 1.5kg payload its going to go very high.
• Digital Video Camera has arrived.
• Have orderd a geiger counter off ebay to be hacked up and attached to the gumstix (either through the spare serial port of a gpio)
• Found this interesting link - should give some perspective on what height Pegasus I got to, here
• Nokia and Gumstix connected up, gnokii working, digital video camera ordered and bidding on 2 tinytag temp. sensors
• Here is a page explaining the pxa and 8250 namespace clash and how i solved it, hope it helps!
• Find the log of #highaltitude here
• Ordered a gps external antenna
• CF GPS and phone cable have arrived - already through some terrible kernel hacking got the gps to work - now working on gnokii
• Finally uploaded the launch videos for Pegasus I - see here for more info
• Ordered off ebay a CF gps unit and also a nokia cable so am waiting for them to arrive before I can properly start work.
• Back on track - my new gumstix arrived today
• Pegasus II has been delayed after I fried my gumstix! Looking into getting a newer one perhaps with a CF slot to allow additional functions. Ideas for additional functions please email me!
• Pegasus II planning has begun
• Pegasus I reached 20,000m and travelled 63 miles. Took over 600 photographs - see here.

What is the Pegasus High Altitude Balloon Project?

The Pegasus High Altitude Balloon Project is a UK based student project where payloads are launched to 60,000ft and above with meteorological weather balloons filled with helium. The concept of launching payloads with balloons is not new especially at an amateur level with many launches taking place all over the world especially in the USA. However being in the UK adds additional challenges due to differences in the geography, weather and legal system.

The main concepts of the projects are:

• Design and build a payload
• Launch
• Identify landing site
• Retrieve payload
• Go to the pub :)

What are the aims?

There isn't a main aim to the project apart from to actually launch and recover a payload though now that the first mission has been successful the aim is probably to go higher! If you have any ideas of what we can add then get in touch!

Why did the project start?

The idea originally came from slashdot (yes its not original I know) and thought it was very cool. I happened at that time to be at university and mid exam term so nothing happened. However a couple of weeks later I had to start chemotherapy and so decided that while i was recovering over the summer I would have a project. As I had a lot of time on my hands I chose a very hard project which ended up becoming the Pegasus 1 Project. The project though still mainly done by me has expanded a bit and I hope for it to expand more...