LaACES High Altitude Ballooning

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LaACES High Altitude Ballooning

• Atmospheric Density

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PROJECT GOALS

• To determine the density of the atmosphere
  throughout the flight using the P and T that we
  find assuming air is an ideal gas.
• To better understand the effects that freezing
  temperatures and low pressures can have on
  equipment through the atmosphere.
• To learn about circuits and electronics and
  attempt a hands on experiment.

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Why pressure changes at different altitudes

• Atmospheric pressure reduces with altitude
• -Due to gravity
• -The gravitational attraction between the earth
  and air molecules is greater for those molecules
  nearer to earth than those further away
• -Molecules further away from the earth have
  less weight but they are also 'standing' on the
  molecules below them, causing compression

http//www.npl.co.uk/pressure/faqs/atmosaltitude.h
tml
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Density
Simple density formula
? (rho) - is the density of the substance,
measured in kg m3 m - is the mass of the
substance, measured in kg V - is the volume of
the substance, measured in m3
Boyles Law
R - is the universal gas constant - we used
0.000082057 m3/atmK m - is the molar mass (in
our we use air) kg P pressure atm T
temperature K ? density kg/m3
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Payload Design

• Flight Control Unit BalloonSAT
• Power Source One 9V Lithium Battery
• Polystyrene insulation for structure
• We choose to do a double box design instead of
  using the Polystyrene insulation we used thin
  foam board because rigidity and thermal
  characteristics.
• We put polystyrene inside our small box to hold
  our BalloonSAT in place and in the inside of the
  bigger box to also hold the small box in place
  and provide stability on the impact.
• We put our pressure sensor onto the BalloonSAT
  and the temperature sensor in a little hole that
  could read the outside temperature of the box,
  yet still be insulated.

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AUTOCAD DRAWINGS
INNER BOX
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AUTOCAD DRAWINGS
BIG BOX
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Data Acquisition

• Intervals
• Our payload was set to take 400 data points
• It read data every 36.05 secs.
• Set to last 4 hours
• Retrieved
• We recorded data for 3 hrs 30 mins
• We got about 250 good data points
• Our payload reached a 100000 feet

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Flight Summary

• The flight was a little fast, but I still had
  some good readings.
• Our results were good and nothing seemed to go
  wrong except for some of the temperature
  readings.
• The pressure readings turned out great!
• Temperature readings ended up decreasing as the
  payload descended. This could have been due to
  the increase in velocity due to technical eras in
  the decent down once the tether balloon burst.
• I was expecting the temperatures to increase on
  the decent, but I was wrong.
• Density retrieved was a bit different than what
  we expected due to sudden temperature decreases.

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Altitude vs. Pressure
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Temperature and Pressure
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Expected vs. Results
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Conclusion

• Pressure Results turned out great!
• Temperature Results seemed to have read different
  to what I expected.
• Density was close to my expected.
• Our final goal was reached and everything
  worked!!!
• Great learning experience and happy to be a part
  of this program.

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Acknowledgements

• CSBF
• Dr. Guo
• Dr. Guzik
• Dr. Wefel
• Mr. Giammanco
• Mr. Ellison
• Jeff Kornuta
• NASA
• AND Clovis for keeping my payload in order on the
  flight!!!!! ?

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Questions
Questions
Questions