Abstract

The HABET group at Iowa State University has been designing and building balloon payloads for years, giving students hands on experience with the engineering involved in creating and launching payloads to near space conditions. After attending the AHAC conference in 2014 the group begain to design a balloon for the 2017 solar eclipse. Working closely with the Space Grant Consortiums design team, HABET has designed and completed preliminary testing on a Solar Eclipse Video payload. This payload uses multiple subsystems to complete the mission. The mission required an altitude control system, live video downlink, and a camera pointing system. Our proposed system will use density control rather than ballast and helium venting to control the altitude of the balloon. For video downlink it will be using the Ubiquity Rocket M5 Wi radios. The camera pointing will use a custom built gimbal with specially programed pointing algorithms. These algorithms will automatically point the camera at the sun allowing for the focus of the balloon crew to be on recovery and maintaining radio connection. This design should allow for a relatively inexpensive and advanced balloon payload for launch by groups from all over the country.

How to Cite:

Peters, A. M., (2015) “An Overview of A Solar Eclipse Video Payload”, Academic High Altitude Conference 2015(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/ahac.5574