Another successful balloon flight

Our customer TDA Research has completed a second successful balloon flight using StratoStar's high-altitude balloon service with Pumpkin hardware and software.  These flights utilize Pumpkin's GUTS flight software (FSW) to provide full end-to-end TT&C as well as to capture telemetry from the entire system during the flight. A Pumpkin EPSM1  dynamically controls the flow of power into and out of a Pumpkin BM2 (outfitted with customer-supplied Li-Ion cells utilizing new battery chemistries), in order to validate charging (CHG) and discharging (DSG) performance under various environmental conditions during the flight. As part of creating this 6U test platform, Pumpkin added a low-cost (terrestrial) surplus GPS receiver to provide GNSS information in real time; since the balloon's velocity is relatively low, a standard GNSS receiver (with its COCOM velocity limit intact) can be used. All telemetry is stored locally for later retrieval, and some telemetry is broadcast during the flight in real time, subject to balloon-to-ground link bandwidth restrictions.

Pumpkin's BM2 can be adapted to any Lithium-based cell chemistry, with safety settings (OV, UV, OC, OT, UT, etc.) appropriate for the particular cell chemistry.

Images courtesy of StratoStar.