Weekly Reports from Student High Altitude Launch and Payload Teams

Week 4: June 24 – 27, 2007

This week, most of the parts for our various experiments came in, and we began to test parts. As a group, we were able to collaborate and come up with a new design for the payload structure. We made a trip to the machine shop and selected materials for the central shaft and metal “bird cage” which will make up a portion of our structure. Eric developed a computer rendering of this design which is attached in the email. We continued to work in pairs on the individual experiments.

Eric and Jon worked on the camera and electronics systems. Eric built a design prototype from wood in order to have a visual idea of the central camera mounting structure. The camera and camera assembly arrived, so Jon and Eric began constructing the camera mount. They also began and nearly completed programming the camera system. The final electronic parts for the system were ordered during the week.

Kenion and Roderick continued work on the UV sensing system. With the arrival of UV sensors and filters, they began devising experiments to test the stamina of these devices as well as environmental effects of altitude on our data results. These experiments include testing for temperature extremes using dry ice, pressure tolerances using a bell jar, and a velocity and shaking test to test the durability of these instruments. Based on last week's styrofoam models, a computer rendering of the UV sensor and filter housings was designed and well be sent for machining later next week.

Caitlin and Chelsey finished soldering the leads of all the solar modules. The remainder of the week was spent testing the efficiency of the solar modules. A controlled power source was placed over single solar modules, and the power output was then calculated from the measured voltage and current. This power in/out efficiency will allow us to calculate the solar irradiance as the payload increases in altitude.

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