Project: Design, build, test, and deploy atmospheric and remote sensing instruments on a high-altitude weather balloon
In this class, students will learn how to use a systems approach to build a sensor board using a micro-controller to take both in situ and remotely sensed observations of a high-altitude environment. The topics will include:
- Sampling the sensors and storing the data on-board
- Designing and building simple circuits for these types of applications
- Writing programs for controlling the sensors and data on the micro-controller as well as plotting the stored data on a computer
- Testing the system that they build for robustness
- Deploying their system in different places
- Learning and applying flight procedures and best practices for high-altitude balloon flights
- Processing and interpreting the sensor measurements post-launch
The payloads that are built and tested will be deployed on a high-altitude balloon launch, in which the payloads will be carried to about 100,000 ft. altitude, and the students will analyze the data that they collect from the boat launch.