Balloon Payload Technology Expansion

06/04/2022 flightdesign

UpLift50 Breaks New Ground

Flying a payload like this is not something that the average person or company can do. It is a lot of experience and an amazing technology. Our electronics experts and mechatronics engineering is first class. Skills include knowing how to create balloon technology in an amazingly low mass that uses lots of high tech gear and systems. Our team uses mechatronics, surface mount electronics, aerodynamic understanding, Lua Script for the flight computer, air pressure systems and much more.

As Flight Design carries bigger and more expensive payloads on their balloons for customers we need to do several new things:

make our tracking more secure and not available to the general public.
make our systems more stable even in this difficult environment.
Land very gently
keep our payload pointing in the same directions with little movement during the climb
provide real time telemetry between the balloon and a tracking station with auto tracking – distances over 100Km
Provide landing legs that deploy before landing to protect systems protruding from under the payload system
Drogue chute for stability on the decent.
Black box data to replay the flight

Without much detail (for security), we have provided some images of our test flight construction. Future payloads will not be photographed in this detail, so enjoy: UpLift50 breaks New Ground. Don’t forget that we have to arrange a lot of things with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. (CASA). Remember, this is just one design and our next flight will probably look so different to this payload. In fact I believe that the legs will be on the upper level on future flights.

UpLift50 near Completion – suspended from the roof of our workshop. Multiple Trackers in place, Flight Computer on top. Fins, Batteries and camera still to be installed. Payload Hanging from the roof. Cut Down systems are in place

CEO Jason Brand Prepping UpLift50 for its amazing, ground Breaking Flight

We were pleased to be allowed to use the amazing facilities at the Lake Cowal Conservation Centre. Mal from the centre was amazing and cooked up breakfast as we prepared for the flight. The winds were tough and peaked at 30kph. We have launched with 70kph winds so it was a bit of fun, but certainly not out of our comfort zone. This also means that we were landing in 30kph wind gusts. We tapped 4 x 3.4 cubic metre Helium gas bottles for this flight.

UpLift50 Prepping Payload for the balloon fill — UpLift50 Prepping Payload waiting for the balloon fill

UpLift50 Satellite Tracking from the flight

UpLift50 Landing Site – Confirmed by all three trackers. This is the public Amateur Radio Tracker

We love it when our payload is just over a fence close to a road. it makes the recovery so easy. Even better this is the cleanest payload recovery ever. Our system stability wa found to be amazing.

UpLift50 Landed Payload – after we sort access from the land owner

Toasting a Successful flight and recovery with Bundaberg Ginger Beer – a 10 year old tradition.

We love our toast to a successful flight . Its is a real great way to end the trip. Thanks again to Bland Shire for their assistance.

This flight was an amazing success. It met all the main goals. Solutions for minor issues have been sorted out for future flights and we are pleased that we can now offer balloon flights to very high altitudes for testing a wide range of technology including sensor technology that requires immensely stable platforms. When you Include the Drone Range with our Balloon technology, we are able to provide Defence and other groups access to unheard of testing opportunities.

One of our next flights will be testing loitering. – that is flying quickly to an altitude and then staying at that altitude. Our first flight will be to test the system. We may just slow our ascent or begin to drop. Either way that will prove the system works. We can fine tune it later.