Team ARC NASA Balloon ProjectInstructors: Dr. Timothy Frank and Rick Sparber

Team Lead: Cesar Marin

Team Members: Rahim Muhammad, and Austin Luo

November 22, 2013

Essentially, our main goal in this project was to learn and use the engineering design process as a tool to meet the criteria and constraint for building a payload.

Main contents of payload enclosure

Overall Payload Features:General Features

• Payload Enclosure-Made of Black Foam Board

• Two BASIC Stamp Circuit Boards-For mechanical and electrical support of components

• HackHD Digital Camera-For capturing images while in the air (approx.$165.00)

• TMP External Temperature Sensor-For measuring heat and chill variations of the air at various altitudes (approx. $1.50)

• TMP Internal Temperature Sensor-For measuring temperature variations inside of the payload enclosure (approx. $1.50)

• Barometric Pressure Sensor-For measuring the maximum height that our payload will reach (approx. $10.95)

• Accelerometer-For capturing data of the maximum rotation of the payload during freefall back to the ground (approx. $9.95)

Overall Payload Features cont.Bonus Features

• Power Resistor-For keeping all of the components warm for optimal operation within the enclosure (approx. $3.95)

• .NET Gadgeteer UV Radiation Sensor-Which measures the relation between air density and the transmission of UV Radiation(approx. $10.45)

• Voltage Divider-This component will tell the software to shut down the heater for the remainder of the flight to conserve energy

• High Pitch Buzzer-To help locate the payload once it hits the ground(approx. $1.95)

Most components can be bought from SparkFun Electronics.

BASIC Stamp Circuit Boards duringPopulation and Soldering Process

Questions to be answered by our sensors:• At what height can the curvature of the earth clearly be seen?

• What is the maximum height that our payload will reach?

• What is the maximum rotation of the payload during freefall?

• What is the variance of the magnetosphere at different heights from the earth?

• How does air density affect transmission of UV Radiation specifically in comparison between 32,800ft and ground level?

• Will adding a loud buzzer helps us to better locate the payload?