Balloon R&D Flight an Unparalleled Success
UpLift50 Exhibits Rock Solid Stability
Payload hanging under weather balloon have every reason to spin. The air is rushing past at 6 to 7 metres a second and the slightest asymmetrical difference will push the payload to spin. a slow spin is often tolerable but a fast spin can be useless for most applications . Video recordings, sensor technology, directional antennas and much more like optimising solar panels.
The Release
The video below starts off with all the cards stacked against us. The wind was 20kph gusting to 30kph. The balloon was nearly impossible to handle. It should be noted that the balloon in the video is flat on one side at release. Flight Design’s CEO, Jason Brand, has to run with the payload or it will pendulum and hit the ground before ascending. The launch was clean. The flight controller was set to be facing the opposite direction to the way it released. You will see it spin 180 degrees and suddenly stop spinning – rock solid. The result is stability in all three aspects of flight. Pitch, roll and Yaw. The system that we designed effectively removed yaw, but this also created a certain amount of stability in the other 2 axis.
Top of Flight
The flight was solid all the way to the top of flight and the stability improved as the air thinned. The stability system was designed to maintain stability to altitudes of over 30Km (20 miles). On this flight, the balloon burst at 30Km as we had added excess helium to have a good rate of climb. The
The Landing
Due to a poor drogue chute deployment when the balloon burst, there would only be stability when the Main chute opened. This caused a rapid decent and twisting of the drogue parachute. The payload returned to stability for the landing and was again rock solid in its stability. Future flights will utilise an additional 2 parachutes. This flight was a little balloon classification and we could not at any further mass.
There will be a further test flight before we are satisfied but with some minor adjustments. This stability is truly an amazing breakthrough. Its not a slow spin, its “LOCKED” to a compass bearing. Stability like this is a real breakthrough for customers.
The camera that looks like its floating beside the payload is an INSTA360 and it is designed to eliminate the pole it rides on.
