Fall
Balloon Satellite Proposal
Team: O2n Cloud 9
Team members: Ben Woeste, Brodie Schulze, Caitlyn Cooke, Ian
Barry, Lea Harris, Megan O’Sullivan, and Sebastian-Johannes Lorenz
ASEN 2500
University of Colorado at Boulder
Professor: Christopher Koehler
November 2nd, 2010
10
Revision
A/B
C
D
Description
Conceptual and Preliminary Design Review
Critical Design Review
Analysis and Final Report
Date
9/15/10
11/2/10
12/04/10
Mission Statement
The BalloonSat “Cloud 9” will rise to an altitude near 30km in order to complete
our two missions. Our first mission is a field test of In-Situ’s RDO pro optical oxygen
sensor. Our second mission is to acquire 3D images at different elevations.
Mission Objectives
1.
Construct a BalloonSat by 11/5/2010 that will reach altitudes of 30km
2.
We will measure the amount of elemental oxygen in the air using an
oxygen sensor
3.
Take 3D images of surroundings
4.
Measure the external relative humidity in the atmosphere
Mission Overview
The satellite on cloud 9 will be completing two independent missions. The first
mission will be to test In-Situ’s RDO pro optical oxygen sensor in an open air
environment as opposed to its normal application in a water environment. In-Situ Inc.
wishes to expand the marketing platform to include atmospheric applications, and needs
to verify the performance of the sensor. The second mission is to take 3D pictures from a
high altitude balloon satellite. This is to explore methods of obtaining more effective
visual data for UAV pilots.
Requirements for O2n Cloud Nine:
In order to achieve this mission the team has to meet requirements set both
by the class and by the mission team. The requirements start at level zero, which are
the ones that were given to us from class, and go up level by level so that we can
meet the requirements set.
Level Zero Requirements
1. The team shall construct a balloon sat that will ascend to 30km and fly for
two hours and will take pictures during the flight
2. The balloon sat shall weigh less than 850 grams
3. The construction cost shall not exceed 300 dollars
4. Satellite shall be built by November 5th, 2010
5. The satellite shall carry a HOBO data logger and must perform another
scientific experiment and will remain above -10 degrees Celsius
Level One Requirements
1.1 The balloon sat will be constructed from foam core, hot glue, and aluminum
tape
1.2 It shall be launched on a weather balloon on November 6th 2010 to reach the
altitude of 30km
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
2
Nov. 2nd 2010
1.3 The balloon sat shall carry a camera (model??) that will be taking pictures
the whole flight
1.4 The structure shall be tested in order to ensure that it will survive the
atmospheric conditions and to ensure all of our hardware works
2.1 We shall use lightweight materials such as foam core
2.2 The team shall keep a strict weight budget to monitor the total weight
3.1 The team shall ask about possibility for donation of parts
3.2 The team shall keep a strict monetary budget plan to ensure we do not go
over budget
3.3 All parts bought above budget shall come from team members
3.4 Any parts bought outside of class shall be verified and reimbursed with
receipt
4.1 Team shall hold weekly meetings to work and build satellite and more
meetings if needed
4.2 Team shall make a schedule to keep us on track of what should be done
5.1 The satellite shall carry the HOBO data logger provided by the class that will
record external temperature, internal temperature, and internal humidity
5.2 The satellite shall carry an In-Situ oxygen sensor to measure external oxygen
levels
5.3 The satellite shall carry an Arduino Pro board that will be logging external
humidity
5.4 The satellite shall fly with a ceramic heater the team built
5.5 Camera shall take 3-D pictures using a system of mirrors
Level Two Requirements
1.2.1 The satellite will have a flight tube constructed for the flight string
1.3.1 Camera shall be programmed to take pictures every 20 seconds
automatically
1.4.1 Satellite shall pass the whip test, drop test, cold test, and full mission
simulation
1.4.2 The hardware shall be tested separately and then, when fully integrated,
shall be tested all together to simulate the flight
1.4.3 Camera shall be tested using the mirrors prior to launch
4.1.1 Team shall be split so that each person has parts they are responsible for so
that we can split the workload
Technical Overview
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
3
Nov. 2nd 2010
Structural – The structure of our BalloonSat “Cloud 9” is cubic, with sides of
15 cm. The cube is constructed of foam core with aluminum tape and hot glue to
hold the edges. Glued onto the two lateral faces are additional foam core flaps
measuring 15 cm by 20.2 cm, for the purpose of holding mirrors at 45-degree angles
to the face holding the camera window, as shown in the drawings below. In order
for our satellite to reach the target altitude we will attach it to a weather balloon by
a nylon flight cord through an internal flight tube. The structure thermally isolates
the interior by use of one-centimeter thick insulation glued onto the inside of the
structure, in addition to a heater which will be discussed in the electrical section
below.
Optical – Part of our experiment is to take 3D images throughout the flight.
The design uses a digital camera aimed at a system of mirrors to create a simulating
retinal disparity (or stereopsis), one of the cues used by human eyes to perceive
depth. The camera, as shown in the drawings below, is placed on one end of the
structure facing outward through a small hole toward a set of two mirrors fixed at a
ninety degree angle to each other and at forty-five degree angles to the face holding
the camera. These mirrors direct light into the camera lens from the sides, where
two larger mirrors are placed. This second set of mirrors directs light from two
parallel views pointing outward into the first set of mirrors and ultimately into the
camera lens. The large mirrors are rectangles measuring 15 cm by 8.4 cm, and the
small mirrors are 3.3 cm square. The effect of this design is to obtain images of two
parallel views, splitting the image recorded by the camera into two separate, nearly
identical images. The image recorded by the camera will be split and processed by
free Start3D software to create a single image with a sense of depth based on the
slight differences in the two images obtained. Because the box is not airtight, antifogging agent is applied in order to protect our optical system from condensation.
Electrical – The heater within our satellite is powered by three nine-volt
batteries, which are mounted on the inside of our structure. The heater is placed
near the electrical components so they do not get colder than 0 degrees Celsius. This
subsystem is wired to a switch that is on the outside of our structure so that we can
power it on and off.
The HOBO data logger has an internal power source that will allow this
system to remain functional for the duration of the flight, but in order to make sure
that it does not run out of battery mid-flight we have programmed it to delay the
start of data collection until the time of launch. This system logs the external
temperature by means of an external probe sticking one inch out of the structure,
the internal temperature sensor by means of a thermometer mounted within the
HOBO, the internal relative humidity by means of another sensor mounted within
the HOBO casing. Our experiment also uses the HOBO data logger to record data
from a separately powered oxygen sensor, which is mounted within the box except
for a small portion of the sensor that pokes out into the air through a hole in the
structure. The oxygen sensor is hooked up to the HOBO via a 4-20mA connection.
The power of this system comes from two nine-volt batteries that will be mounted
inside our structure using Velcro.
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
4
Nov. 2nd 2010
The next subsystem is our camera. We will use our mirrors in order to get
one picture split into two parallel views from similar vantage points. The camera
uses a 2 GB memory card and has an internal rechargeable battery. Because the
camera takes pictures every twenty seconds and will run for about two hours, we
expect to take no more than 500 in-flight images, which will fit on the memory card
provided.
The last subsystem is our external relative humidity sensor. This is
connected to an Arduino Pro board powered by a nine-volt battery connected to a
switch in order to log our data. The Arduino Pro board is equipped with its own
internal memory that will store the data for the duration of the flight. The Arduino
will be mounted to the inside of the structure using Velcro.
Final Parts List
 $ 0 – Oxygen Sensor donated by In-Situ Inc.
 $ 0 – HOBO provided by Gateway to Space class
o $ 0 – External temperature probe
o $ 0 – Internal temperature probe
o $ 0 – Relative humidity probe
 $ 0 – Camera provided by Gateway to Space class
 $ 9.99 – Mirrors bought from Home Depot (cut two large, two small)
 $ 0.90 – Bolt and washers for camera mounting
 $ 16.95 – Relative humidity sensor (HIH 4030 Breakout) from Sparkfun
Electronics
 $ 19.95 – Arduino Pro board (328 – 3.3V/8MHz) from Sparkfun
Electronics
 $ 0 – 1 2 GB memory card donated by Gateway to Space class
 $ 0 – 6 nine-volt batteries provided by Gateway to Space class
 $ 34.00 – 4-20mA cable from HOBO Onset Corporation
 $ 0 – Plastic flight tube provided by Gateway to Space class
 $ 0 – Foam core provided by Gateway to Space class
 $ 0 – Aluminum tape provided by Gateway to Space class
 $ 0 – 2 Washers and paper clips for flight tube and rope attachment
provided by Gateway to Space class
 $ 0 – Heater provided by Gateway to Space class (assembled by team)
 $ 0 – Insulation provided by Gateway to Space class
 $ 0 – 2 Switches provided by Gateway to Space class
Illustration and Special Features of our Design
The team’s design includes a digital camera with a system of angled mirrors,
which will allow for stereoscopic imaging and provide some sense of depth in the
images of clouds obtained. The slanted side on which the mirrors are mounted will
allow the camera to point downward toward the clouds in the troposphere for a
longer interval. There is an oxygen (O2) sensor and a relative humidity sensor that
will take measurements outside the structure.
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
5
Nov. 2nd 2010
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
6
Nov. 2nd 2010
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
7
Nov. 2nd 2010
Budget and Weight Overview
We shall keep our budget by minimizing the cost of all the supplies we require. This can
be accomplished by shopping around to find the best value for the components we need.
Another step we will follow to avoid going over budget is by going through an approval
process for all purchases outside what is built into our budget and Ben Woeste will
control the purchasing power.
Item
O2 Sensor
Glass cutter
Mirror
4 to 20 amp cable with built
in resistor
Arduino Pro 328 3.3V/8MHz
Humidity Sensor - HIH-4030
Breakout
Velcro Strip
Camera mount hardware
Total
Cost
~$2250
Donated
$ 3.79
$ 9.99
$ 34.00
Subtotal
$ 0.00
Purchase Location
In-Situ Inc
$ 3.79
$ 13.78
$ 49.78
Home Depot
Home Depot
Onset
$ 19.95
$ 69.73
Spark Fun
$ 16.95
$ 86.68
Spark Fun
$ 5.95
$ 0.90
$ 92.63
$ 92.53
$ 92.53
Subtotal (g)
Home Depot
Home Depot
Weight (g)
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
8
Nov. 2nd 2010
Camera
HOBO
Heater
Oxygen Sensor
Additional power
Structure
Humidity and arduino
Glass Mirrors
Mylar mirrors*
Switches
Flight Tube
Total
130
35
46
37
276
180.1
30.3
221.8
~30
15
8.4
130
165
211
248
524
704.1
734.4
956.2
971.2
979.6
5 each
*Mylar mirrors will replace glass mirrors when they arrive.
Schedule
Date
11/2/2010
11/5/2010
11/6/2010
11/9/201011/18/2010
11/19/2010
11/20/201011/28/10
11/30/2010
12/4/2010
12/7/2010
12/9/2010
12/15/2010
DTL Event/Deadline
4 Launch Readiness Review,
LRR presentations, DD Rev C Due
1 Balloon Sat Weigh in, Balloon turn in by
2PM, LRR cards Due
0 Launch!
-3 Bring Raw Flight data
-13
-14 Fall Break
-24 Final Presentation due 7 AM
-28 9-4 ITLL design Expo, DD rev D due @
judging Team video due @ judging
-31 Hardware Turn in
-33 Final exam review,
HW 08 due
-39 Final Exam 4:30-7:00 PM
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
9
Cloud Nine stage
Data Analysis final
presentation drafting
Final Presentation Done
DD Rev D Drafting
Nov. 2nd 2010
Organizational Flow Chart
Lea Harris (612-730-3570) Lea.Harris@colorado.edu
- Team Leader and managing director of the teams, coordinating the team and
helping in any of the building, structure, electric, or science teams.
Ian Barry (970-372-7883) Ian.Barry@colorado.edu
-Head of Structures team, designing the basic plot of the structure and the technical
design of how to make our satellite fit to the double camera and multiple sensors.
Ben Woeste-(303-257-6931) Ben_woeste@yahoo.com Head of the Optical team.
Researcher and head of the optical design team for the satellite’s 3-D picture data
and constructing the plans for the space inside our box to put the cameras.
Brodie Schulze-(970-629-3832) Keegan.Schulze@colorado.EDU Head of the
Power Team. He will be controlling the research and construction of how the three
sensors will be connected to batteries, the two cameras, and the thermal heater. One
job will be helping the structures team to place the power components in the
satellite.
Caitlyn Cooke-(530-249-2354) Caitlyn.Cooke@colorado.EDU Head of the
Electrical team that connects the Oxygen sensor to the HOBO sensors and the two
cameras to the power. Caitlyn is also the main Software Head for the specialized
sensor that requires special data retrieval.
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
10
Nov. 2nd 2010
Sebastian-Johannes Lorenz-(303-618-3160)
SebastianJohannes.Lorenz@colorado.edu Head of the Thermal Crew. Designating
where and how we wish to use the thermal temp controller. Designing the cold tests,
and making sure each subsystem is safe while in flight.
Megan O’Sullivan- (832-656-9096) megan.a.osullivan@colorado.edu Head of
the Health/Safety and Science crew. Megan will be the safe keeper on hand, with
help from Lea to control all possible injuries or stress factors. Megan is also the
Head of the Science Research to control our satellite’s main systems. This subject is
the outer science research that will link all of the different crews together to
construct the details of the satellite that don’t fall under the Electric, Optical,
Managing, Thermal, and Structural teams.
Testing of our design
There are several tests that were done on our BalloonSat to prepare it for flight.
Here is a description of each and how the data acquired helped get our satellite ready for
flight. During all of the tests that involve the structure strength we simulated the mass by
placing rocks inside.
-The Drop Test:
One stage of this test was dropping our structure down a flight of stairs to
simulate the impact on the structure as it hits the ground when it lands. Our structure
withstood the impact from the stairs, so we are sure that it can survive the impact with the
ground. The second stage of this test was dropping it off a second story ledge to simulate
the impact of the landing. Our structure also survived this test with only minor corner
damage, so we believe that it will remain intact upon landing. Both tests were done with
mass simulations, secured inside our box using Velcro in a similar fashion as our actual
flight. One special aspect of our design is that we have an external mirror assembly,
which does not need to survive the impact with the ground.
Box after several drops
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
11
Nov. 2nd 2010
-The Whip Test:
In this test we attached a flight string to our satellite and swung it around in
circles. This test provided two results, one that our flight string interface is strong enough
to endure the forces that will be exerted on it from launch and the fall back to the ground.
It also told us that our structure will withstand the forces acting upon it during the flight.
This test was also done with mass simulations to test the strength. Our structure and
mirror assembly survived this test, so most likely it will remain intact for the flight.
-The Cooler Test:
In this test we verified that our internal technology and our insulation will
withstand the extreme cold of high altitude. We placed our satellite with all of our
technological components inside a cooler with dry ice for three hours to simulate our
entire flight. Our HOBO’s internal temperature sensor was running for the test and it
verified that with our heater operating we maintained a temperature above 0 degrees
Celsius.
-Camera Test
In this test we ensured that our 3D pictures worked, and we tested all the software
needed to make the 3D image. We took our camera and mirror assembly, now a right
angle and 45 degree angle assembly, and tested taking pictures. Our new assembly works
and we are able to get two slightly differing images of a single object. With these two
images we can use the online software to create our 3D images.
-Oxygen Sensor Test
We tested our oxygen sensor and its ability to connect with the HOBO by
connecting it to the HOBO and running it while plugged into the Boxcar program. We
observed that the partial pressure of oxygen dropped when the sensor was introduced to
concentrations of nitrogen, as it was supposed to. This test showed that our sensor is
properly working and is properly calibrated for our mission.
Voltage of RDO Pro
2.3
2.2
2.1
2
Voltage (V) (*4)
1.9
1.8
1.7
1
17
33
49
65
81
97
113
129
145
161
177
193
209
225
241
257
273
1.6
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
12
Nov. 2nd 2010
-Full Mission Simulation:
We also tested our satellite as a whole, to make sure that all the components
worked together. Everything worked and everything is now mounted in place, and all
switches are mounted on the outside of our structure.
Expected Results
Although our mission has changed slightly, we still expect relatively the same
results. We have several sensors on our craft that we expect results from: our oxygen
sensor, our humidity sensor, our optical sensor (3D Images). From our oxygen sensor we
expect to find an inverse relationship between oxygen levels and elevation. We expect
that the oxygen sensor will perform just as well in atmospheric conditions as seen in
water environments, and In-Situ will be able to promote this application in any
environment. From our humidity sensor we also expect to find an inverse relationship
between humidity levels in the atmosphere and elevation. We assume this because we
know that, as you get higher in the atmosphere temperatures decrease, and thus water will
condense leaving only dry air. We expect that the air will be dry enough to accommodate
In-Situ’s testing requirements.
Our optical sensor is where our expected results differ. We hope that the two
pictures we get will have enough variance between them to have a 3D image, but we are
not completely sure they will, because we cannot test our assembly accurately for the
distances we will be experiencing during flight. All these expected results, with the
exception of the optical sensor, are based off of prior scientific knowledge. Our results
may vary depending on the maximum elevation we reach.
Partial Pressure of Oxygen (torr)
Partial Pressure of Oxygen
Mission Simulation Test
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
50
100
Time (min)
150
200
Torr O2
13
Nov. 2nd 2010
Internal Temperature and Humidity
Mission Simulation Test
25
50
45
40
35
15
30
25
10
20
15
5
Humidity (%)
Temperature (ºC)
20
10
5
0
0
0
50
100
Time (min)
Internal Temperature ºC
150
200
Relative Humidity
Launch and Recovery
The launch of BalloonSat “O2n Cloud Nine” will be held on Saturday
November 6th. Team member Ben Woeste will be launching the payload, and
Megan O’Sullivan will be responsible for the successful recovery of the payload.
Once the payload is recovered, the switch powering the heater and oxygen
sensor will be turned off. The switch controlling the Arduino will remain on until
the data is removed. This will prevent the Arduino software from overwriting
the test data when it is reattached to power during data removal. We will bring a
laptop with the Arduino software installed in order to immediately remove the
test data before the batteries die. The HOBO will continue to take data until we
return to Boulder and can retrieve the data using the Boxcar software installed
on Ben Woeste’s home computer. The logging interval will be set at 16 seconds,
which allows for 22 hours of continuous data logging, proving that the HOBO will
remain functional until the data can be retrieved. The pictures from the camera
will be stored on the camera’s internal memory card. This card will be
downloaded onto Megan O’Sullivan’s laptop at the recovery site. Our data
retrieval plan was successfully executed during our full mission simulation and
has proven effective.
As for the payload’s condition after landing, we expect the main section of the
box to be unharmed and all of its internal components to be intact even through
high impact landing. There is a possibility that the external mirror structure
could be damaged upon landing, but this does not affect the overall success of
the mission.
Gateway to Space
Team O2n Cloud 9
14
Nov. 2nd 2010