Stratospheric balloon launched by students at Deville-Les-Rouen’s Sainte-Marie college.
Once again, a successful landing for our balloon!
Don’t hesitate to revisit the
website for progress updates in regards to the balloon’s data and to enjoy photos and videos uploaded throughout the project.
Mysteries of the nacelle
Friday, June 9th at 2:49… impact!
In contrast to its’ older brothers, Leonardo 3 is scoundrel: undisciplined and defying mathematical models that predicted his trajectory in advance. It seems that the vessel landed in the Fontainebleau region instead of obediently landing its’ nacelle near Disneyland… Both treasure hunters hastily departed in direction of the landing point (they were the ones who previously salvaged Leonardo 1 and 2). The began scouring the Fontainebleau countryside at 8:30pm.
We all know that nothing is worse that searching an unfamiliar supermarket for a product that they don’t have in stock… you can look for long, fruitless hours… and you have to start wondering what’s up after scouring a hayfield from top to bottom… Léonardo 3 is conspicuous in its’ absence… (Next time, we’ll have to add a drone with a built-in camera to the experiment…)
As nightfall arrives, the phone batteries begin to falter… (to maximize power, we exchange text messages). Instead of returning home, the balloon chasers chose a different target and tried to find a place to sleep for the evening. It’s important to know that finding a vacant hotel room in the Paris area is its’ own kind of treasure hunt. A certain number of kilometers later, that mission is finally accomplished.
So after they slept on it, the quest for the Grail resumed in the morning with an incontrovertible truth: If Leonardo 3 isn’t there, it must be elsewhere… (but whatever happened to the 7th battalion?) Is it possible that the GPS data is incorrect?... “Of course is is!” … Is it possible that the data provided by the new emitter are not in decimal form?
On the corner of a table in a fast food joint, we recalculate our latitude and longitude, converting out data into degrees, minutes, and seconds. It seems we need to set course for the Marne-la-Vallee region…. And we’re off!
More wandering around in the woods… still no Leonardo 3… Noon… Suppertime… Time to come home? A glimmer in the darkness: The last decimals must be the minutes and not the seconds…
New calculations… We end up in a forest near Disneyland… Another hour of pointless wandering, and it’s the dimming of the light in the souls of the searchers as they set a course towards home, empty-handed, when they see in a nearby wooded area the nacelle, the object of their endeavor (looks like it had a rough landing)… A few nicks and scratches, the batteries dislodged from their housings, but the various electronic instruments are intact…
It’s Saturday, June 10th, 2017. It’s 6PM. (The initially predicted course trajectory was correct.)
There’s always a silver lining: Despite the fact that Leonardo 3 was a rebel with a sense of humor, it brought back to earth a trove of photos, videos, and readings infinitely superior to any of its’ predecessors, as you will be able to appreciate in the coming days.
Mission Objectives
1) Mission description:
The objective of the mission is to send a helium-inflated balloon into the stratosphere at an altitude of about 30000 meters above sea level. The balloon will carry two nacells containing measuring equipment, cameras, and a device that automatically takes high-altitude atmospheric samples.
The use of onboard computers has became indispensable to complete some of the automated functions, which led to our dedicating our primary nacell as an automated system. That nacell will contain two microprocessors (Arduino). Among its functions will be all mechanized controls, such as releasing the second nacell. The secondary processor, consequently, will control all of the capture devices (such as temperature, air pressure, etc.), in addition to the GPS that will feed information to the Kiwi, which will ultimately transmit the information to the ground. As a result, we will know the position of the device, the air pressure, and the temperature every two seconds.
2) Mission schedule:
Early in the morning of June 9rd, Leonardo3 will be launched. The nacell will continue its path towards the stratosphere, and we will be able to track it due to the real-time data transmitted from its GPS. When the balloon pops, due to internal pressure, and the parachute-equipped nacell falls to the earth, it will be retrieved by a recovery vehicle using the transmitted GPS coordinates. In addition to its position, the KIWI transmitter, provided by CNES, will allow real-time transmission of certain sensor data.
3) Onboard equipment:
The nacell will carry three cameras that will film the Earth from the stratosphere. It will also carry a pressure sensor and two temperature sensors (one inside and one outside of the nacell) in addition to a GPS module that gives the position of the balloon in latitude, longitude, and altitude. The GPS will send the balloon's position to the earth in real time. At a designated altitude, the onboard computer will take measurements of atmospheric pressure to be analyzed by a laboratory at the University of Rouen, which constitutes a certain technological challenge in of itself.
All of this information will be relayed through a transmitter provided by the CNES, which allows the transmission of the data gathered from the various sensors. Moreover, the balloon will carry a device to reflect aircraft radar signals.
4) Preparatory experimentation:
The sixth-grade students will have completed experiments to understand and resolve the constraints imposed by the project, as there are security requirements to follow. Students will have tested the resistance of the cable connecting the balloon to the nacell by using a dynamometer. The cable cannot exceed 23 kg of resistance, so that it doesn't interfere with the turbine engines of a commercial aircraft. They also had to test the range of the WIFI of the sports cameras, so they can retrieve the video data in the event that the balloon touches down in an inaccessible location. Finally, they will have tested the functioning of the pressure and temperature sensors.
5) Use of the results:
Thanks to the video files, we will be able to see the Earth from an altitude of 30000 meters. The various sensors will also allow us to see the differences in temperature experienced by the balloon throughout its journey. Passing through the ozone layer, which captures the sun's rays, should let us observe an increase in temperature. From minus 50C at 10000 meters, we should see measurements of a only a few degrees below zero at an altitude of 25000 meters. We will also be able to observe pressure variations subjected upon the balloon.
A sound transmitter and sound receiver should allow us to observe how sounds are carried through rarefied air. The speed of the balloon in relation to the Earth should also give us a sense of the prevailing winds at various altitudes. The analysis of the readings in the stratosphere should teach us a few things regrading its composition and pollution levels.
English translation by
Steve Cormier
Bernice MacNaughton High School NB Canada
