CNSP & Scientific Balloon Solutions California Near Space Project (CNSP) has been working on techniques for long duration balloon flights. We pushed the latex weather balloons far beyond their normal capability. In 2011 we flew CNSP-11, the very first latex balloon to ever cross the Atlantic; it flew from California to the Mediterranean Sea. We flew a second latex balloon across the Atlantic again in 2012. We realized that we needed to...
Read MoreSPEED Project
Super Pressure Evolution Efficiency Design California Near Space Project (CNSP) is pleased to announce the launch of our latest project, Super Pressure Evolution Efficiency Design, “SPEED.” The primary goal of the SPEED Project is to design and build successful Super Pressure Balloons. The evolution of efficiency and design with a Super Pressure Balloon requires extensive testing of candidate films including, tensile strength, film...
Read MoreCNSP Supporting Open Source Payload
The California Near Space project, with the help of several engineers including John Malsbury, Johnathan Corgan, and Ian Kluft, is developing an open source payload design. The objective of this design is to enable new balloon developers with an end-to-end framework with the following capabilities: Global Position and Status Reporting with Iridium Communications Two-Way Communications, with legacy support for APRS transmitters Support for...
Read MoreAlicat Mass Flow Meter Used in R&D
The CNSP team has been working on research and development projects the past few months. One of our requirements with these projects is to accurately measure gas volume and gas molecules. The Alicat Scientific Mass Flow Meter with totalization allows the CNSP team to fill with a precise number of gas molecules on the ground, so the lift and volume of the gas at altitude is just right. The accuracy in measuring the lift gas is...
Read MoreLittle Python Saves Big on Iridium SBD
Iridium Integration Challenges As mentioned in our previous posts, we are beginning to develop more sophisticated payloads. One of the features that we are adding is two-way global communications with Iridium. As payloads become more complex a number of issues pop up. First, the total labor required to design, program, and test the payloads. But the increase in effort is non-linear. Every interface, every additional programmer, and every...
Read MoreOur Introduction to Iridium
Mission: Global, Two-Way Comms While APRS has served as the primary tracking system on our previous missions, the idea of having two-way communications capability in all geographic areas is appealing. We have investigated satellite communications for our future missions. Starting out, we considered several services, including: OrbComm Globalstar Iridium After talking with fellow balloonists and evaluating the options, we decided Iridium...
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