Mission Statement
To develop the University of Hawaii Advanced BalloonSat #5 (UHABS-5) which will be capable of carrying payloads to a near-space environment and return to safely to Earth for intact recovery. If it lands on the ocean, the BalloonSat will autonomously propel itself to a designated target for recovery.
Front row (L-R): R. Paz, D. Arine, J. Yamaguchi, K. Calaro, J. Torigoe, C. Noveloso.
Back row (L-R): K. Liu, J. Yang, Y. Tan, E. Valdez, K. Clark, L. Aipa. Not pictured: A. Bui, B. Wong.
Project Overview (Executive Summary)
The University of Hawaii Advanced BalloonSat #5 (UHABS-5) is the first BalloonSat project at UH to be done as an ME 481 senior design project as opposed to as a ME 419 Astronautics project. This year, instead of having three months to complete the project, the team will have one full academic year (both fall and spring semesters) to fully design, build, test, and launch a fully functional BalloonSat. The UHABS-5 team consists of 12 mechanical engineering students and 1 electrical engineering student. Although the team is large and have been given a longer time period than usual, expectations are higher, as the UHABS-5 should not only launch into the atmosphere, but also incorporate an autonomous recovery system that will propel itself through the ocean to a recovery site upon landing, as well as location beacons such as lights and alarms in case it does not land in a body of water.
The UH ME 481 team will successfully develop the UHABS-5 which will be capable of carrying payloads to a near-space environment and return to safely to Earth for intact recovery. If it lands on the ocean, the BalloonSat will autonomously propel itself to a designated target for recovery. To be considered successful, the BalloonSat should ultimately be able to carry a 12-pound maximum payload, consisting of multiple modules that weigh no more than 6-pounds each, into a near-space environment with an altitude nearing 60,000 feet. While doing this, it should also be collecting atmospheric data while flight testing the Comprehensive Open-architecture Solution for Mission Operations System (COSMOS) software, which is used in the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) here at the University of Hawaii. Furthermore, upon landing in the ocean, the BalloonSat will be programmed to autonomously propel itself to a designated recovery site while maintaining full functionality. This will remove environmental concerns of losing large pieces of styrofoam in the ocean, prevent losing expensive hardware, and prevent losing collected data if the modules were lost. Upon retrieval, the BalloonSat and all of its hardware should remain mostly intact.
UHABS-5 will be broken down into three subsystems in order to satisfy the objectives and success criteria: ground station, balloon and command and control (C&C) module, and payload and propulsion (P&P) module. The ground station is responsible for monitoring the real-time data from the BalloonSat (such as state of health and location) and sending commands. The balloon and C&C module contains all of the hardware and sensors for the data, such as Data Acquisition software (DAQ), thermocouples, SD memory card for storage. Parachutes and tethers will be used to slow the descent and cameras to capture images and video. This module should be as lightweight as possible since it will be towed to the recovery site by the propulsion module. The payload and propulsion module will consist of the autonomous recovery system. The recovery system should function similarly to an autonomous boat.
To improve upon previous BalloonSat missions, UHABS-5 will use leftover material from past missions to thoroughly research and test methods in order to find ones that are best suited for a successful mission. Recycling the materials and resources from past projects that work the best for the mission will allow for better allocation of funds. Having a lower-cost BalloonSat will give more flexibility for testing more prototypes and purchasing more materials. The achievements and errors of previous projects can also help improve methods of UHABS-5. Each subsystem has come up with several ideas on the best way to accomplish the objectives of UHABS-5, analyzing each iteration on various criteria to ensure it is the optimal choice.
The C&C module will be in the shape of a capsule, to limit drag, maximize the internal volume, and allow for best placement of cameras, tethers and parachute attachments. The outer shell will be made of styrofoam since it is light, well-insulated, and low-cost. The central processing unit for both the C&C and P&P module will be a Teensy 3.2, since it is lighter, lower cost, and more powerful than an Arduino, with the same capabilities. The P&P module will incorporate a rounded, double-hull catamaran design with two propellers made of ABS plastic. This allows to ease through the ocean currents, and provides enough space for necessary components such as the antenna, solar panels and electronics. The selected motors and propellers should maximize its capabilities to ensure it is able to navigate properly to the recovery site. The ground station will utilize a turnstile antenna because it can be manually orientated and adjusted to follow the BalloonSat, and has a higher general gain value at low-cost, and has a better selection of products. These design considerations may be changed until the critical design portion has been completed.
So far, $2000 has been granted for UHABS-5 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Mechanical Engineering department. The current design places the budget slightly over this amount, but the group has applied for more resources and are awaiting approval. If these do not go through, the remainder will be fundraised or the budget will be adjusted further to fit within the amount of funds that are available.
Reports and Presentations
Proposal
Preliminary Design
Critical Design
Schedule and Budget
Photo Gallery – keep checking for updates
From PDR