Weekly Reports from Student High Altitude Launch and Payload Teams

Week 3: Project Elijah Update

Week 3 involved further development of the three experiments.  On the UV sensing side of things, two UV lenses and sensors were ordered Monday.  One UV lens will only allow UVA light to pass while the other will only allow UVB to pass.  The next task was to come up with a housing device for the sensors and lenses that can withstand the conditions it will face at high altitudes.  This involved making a preliminary design in the program Solidworks and then using Styrofoam models to get a better idea how well various ideas will work.  It was also decided that the UV sensing housing device will be incorporated into the camera board from the sun tracking experiment.  Testing of the new equipment will start when it is received.

Pictures of UV sensor housing models

            The sun tracking team worked on developing the data acquisition system that all the experiments will be using.  Part of this included analyzing the UV sensor signal output, which will have to be strengthened to be compatible with the system.  The camera board structure that will include the UV sensors is partially designed but cannot be completed until more parts are received.  Since the board is being depended upon by this experiment and the UV experiment, it is critical for the design to be dependable.  To make sure the design serves all the necessary purposes the design is being worked on by the UV team as well.  So far of the parts ordered for this part of the project, the GPS unit and pressure sensor have been received.

The solar cell team began the week by making a model of the solar cells connected in a circular model.  The rest of the week was spent soldering leads on the cells and starting to do preliminary performance tests.  This involved such variables as wiring the cells in parallel and series, different wavelengths of light, and filters.  Further testing will continue this week.

Picture of solar cell model:

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