In Spring 2019, through the Cornell University Amateur Radio Club, we were able to launch a high altitude balloon to the edge of space.

One of the goals of the launch was to take images and record flight footage from our camera payload. We had a Adafruit Feather that we had programmed. Based on the altitude, we were able to turn on and off cameras to take images and videos. Sadly, we had forgotten an SD card at the launch, so we were unable to launch with the camera payload. Instead, we attached a GoPro to the top of our other payload and took footage that way.

Another objective for the launch was regarding a second payload. We had a stuffed bear attached to a release mechanism. This was one of the main tasks of the launch that I worked on. I helped design, test, and 3D print the release mechanism. The purpose of this was to drop a stuffed bear from the payload at about 90,000 feet up in the air. Ideally, we would release the payload using DTMF tones, but this was not successful. We believe this was the case due to excess noise and the antenna being at an angle.

Something else that I helped with was etching custom boards that we used as trackers on the main payload as well as soldering battery packs to the trackers. We were able to successfully track and recover the main payload as well as the bear that we dropped before apogee.