High Altitude Balloon

Over the course of summer 2019, I worked on high altitude balloons as a research intern at Temasek Labs in NTU. High altitude balloons (HAB) are a robust and low-cost method to conduct scientific experiments in the near space region.

First, I conducted an extensive lierature survey on high altitude balloons to understand the various challenges in launching a HAB such as proper insulation of payload against temperatures as low as -50 C and robust tracking systems to successfully retrieve the payload after touchdown. Following this, I experimented with a multitude of prospective sensors and tracking systems for the payload - temperature sensors, Geiger counters, inertial measurement units (IMU), LoRa (Long Range) tracking and SPOT tracker. I interfaced these sensors with standard microcontrollers such as Arduino and PyCom.

In August 2019, we finally had the chance to launch a high altitude balloon in collaboration with two universities in Malaysia! The NTU team (comprising of 5 members) travelled down to Kuala Lumpur and on September 1,2019 we successfully launched and retrieved two HABs. Our NTU team’s payload primary payload was a new tracking system called LoRa (Long Range) to track and retrieve data from the balloon in real-time. LoRa proved to be really robust and we were able to successfully receive data even at large line-of-sight distances. Not only did the experiments provide us with some valuable data, the onboard camera also helped us capture some spectacular images of earth from near-space.

The joint venture was the first of its kind and was an enriching experience for all of us. Back in NTU, I had the honour to present my work to a bunch of space enthusiasts!
Media Coverage : Space Tech Asia