Show HN: We chased a weather balloon across Montana and never found it

Since April, I have been working with Sam Flynn (https://drook.dev) to make this balloon payload, UpLink. We did a similar launch last year with Hack Club but this was our first independent launch.

UpLink was a 491 gram payload testing the insulation properties of 3D printing filaments, while also transmitting 320x240 images over a radio link -- up from the 18x10 images last year!

This is a writeup on our engineering process, mistakes made, and learning experiences. It covers:

- Custom electronics designed in KiCad

- Firmware design

- Results from the data we received on the ground

- Image transmission

- Launch day logistics, and where things went wrong

All hardware, software, firmware, and CAD is available on GitHub: https://github.com/radeeyate/UpLink, licensed + certified as open source hardware: https://certification.oshwa.org/us002826.html

If you just want to see the images received, I put up a gallery here: https://uplink.gallery.radi8.dev/

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know. I'm happy to answer anything!

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49377660

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