Battelle’s Stratospheric Balloon Flight

Balloon Ascent Technologies is proud to announce its participation in Battelle’s recent stratospheric balloon campaign: https://inside.battelle.org/blog-details/come-fly-away-on-our-beautiful-stratospheric-balloon

Steven Peterzen, from the ISTAR Group, reached out to us to design and build a new termination system for this and one of his future flights. We had already partnered with Steven in the past to help with the Sisters, Oregon High School stratospheric ballooning program: https://nuggetnews.com/Content/Education/Education/Article/High-school-students-launch-science-balloons/8/8/28210

For this flight we provided the balloon’s telemetry and termination hardware. With our in-house rapid prototyping and extensive experience with designing lightweight, reliable devices we ensured that the project was a success. By working hard, we meet the aggressive timeline even in the midst of a pandemic and were honored by the acknowledgment in Batelle’s article:

“The entire project was completed in just four months. The low cost and fast turnaround demonstrate that stratospheric balloons are an excellent option for rapid qualification of innovations targeted for space at lower mission risk and cost. Stratospheric balloons have the potential to significantly cut costs and reduce timelines for pre-validation testing of technologies designed for a suborbital or deep space environment.”

Inside Battelle by Battelle Insider 6 Nov 2020

HAB Pilot

We designed a small termination device that is capable of controlling up to four (4) burn-wires or pyrotechnic squibs while providing real-time Iridium SBD telemetry and control capability. All while weighing only 70 g (including its foam enclosure and batteries).

• Line-Cutter Control, either:
  • Squib (pyrotechnic)
  • Or Burn-wire (thermal)
• Logs and reports position, pressure, and other flight characteristics
• Utilizes two-way Iridium SBD communication for world-wide coverage
• Thermal management device that maintains a constant temperature to ensure proper operation throughout the flight
• Long-duration capable: up to 48 hours on internal batteries, longer with optional external batteries

The HAB Pilot is available for sale through this website.

About Battelle’s Stratospheric Balloon Flight

This was a short demonstration flight that lasted about 2.5 hours. It reached an altitude of 36928 meters, where it was at float for about 15 minutes. And at this altitude, the balloons horizontal velocity was 35 m/s.

Flight termination was achieved with the HAB Pilot using a pyrotechnic cutter to separate the balloon from the payload. A second cutter on the balloon’s destruct cord was fired about ten seconds later to separate the balloon remnant from the descending flight train.