The BalloonSat Extreme’s BS2pe is powerful enough to operate
experiments for multiple students.
With the Extreme, I see a classroom
of student teams designing individual
experiments and then integrating
them into a single large BalloonSat.
This design and integration process
simulates the design and construction
of real spacecraft like the New
Horizons.
New Horizons
New Horizons is a mission to
explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
The little spacecraft has so much
kinetic energy that it will cross the
solar system in only 10 years. As a
result of its large kinetic energy, it will
sail past this “Mickey Mouse” of a
world and right out of the solar
system. More importantly, there are
seven experiments onboard to
characterize Pluto and the outer solar
system.
Scientists/researchers responsible
for each experiment assembled them
into a single New Horizons
spacecraft. One neat example is its
student designed and built dust
collector experiment. This instrument
will show how the concentration of
dust varies across the entire soar
system.
The point I’m making with New
Horizons is that it wasn’t designed
and built by a single team. Large
missions of exploration like New
Horizons are the product of lots of
scientists, researchers, and engineers
coming together to produce the most
capable vehicle of exploration that
their budget allows. Teachers can
replicate the same model of design
62 July 2014
Sometimes a simple
flight computer just
isn't enough for all
your near space
experiments. That's
when a BASIC Stamp
2pe really comes in
handy. This month, I'll
describe my largest
BalloonSat flight
computer: the
BalloonSat Extreme.
■ BY L. PAUL VERHAGE NEAR SPACE
The BalloonSat Extreme
Post comments on this article and find any
associated files and/or downloads at
www.nutsvolts.com/index.php?/magazine/
article/july2014_NearSpace.
■ Nope, it's not a robotic octopus. This is a very large BalloonSat
flight computer built around a BASIC Stamp. When one
BalloonSat flight computer isn't enough, this is your baby.
