Announcing Flying Squirrel #3

The Flying Squirrel #3 Project – FS3 High Altitude Balloon The Flying Squirrels have been restless to take flight again, now that the weather in the Mojave Desert launch locations have returned to non-inferno level temperatures. Our next intrepid explorer, FS3, is working towards a November launch. Exact launch date is still TBD.  The date […]

A Squirrel’s eye view – A Google Earth movie of the FS2 flight.

As a Flying Squirrel takes off, I wonder “where did it go?” and what does the view from up there look like. Absent a camera, the FS2 GPS Data and Google Earth can provide an approximation of what our brave/foolish squirrel saw from “up there”. The video is best viewed in full screen and with […]

Flying Squirrel #2 camps out in the back yard for a battery test.

Our eager squirrel was anxious to try out its new insulated hutch in the back yard and test the battery endurance overnight. Powered by a 3.2V 400 mah LiFePO (Lithium iron phosphate) battery, FS2 remained powered up for just under 16 hours. (15 Hrs 50 mins) This is excellent news because the flight hardware will […]

Adrift – Problem solving FS2 drift issues.

High altitude balloons are expected to drift, in the atmosphere. But Flying Squirrel #2 (FS2) has had some drifting problems of another kind. During construction as the FS2 flight electronics went from a breadboard prototype to final construction, a problem emerged. FS2 was not WSPRing clearly. In fact, it seemed to be more of a […]

Introducing Flying Squirrel #2

  Introducing our next intrepid sky traveler. The burning question of the Flying Squirrel #1 mission is “Where did it go?” and ultimately, “Where/when did it land?”  So far the final resting place of FS1 has not been reported by anyone on the ground. It could be lost in the mountains and deserts of South […]

FS#1 – A word from the accounting department – The cost of FS#1

One of the goals of the Flying Squirrel mission was to keep the project “affordable” so that a STEM education program or individual can afford to conduct similar missions. The arbitrary chosen goal was to keep the cost per flight under $50.00 USD. The spreadsheet below shows what the FS#1 flight costs were. Spoiler alert, […]

FS7 – The Flying Squirrel #1 Flight controller software

The FS#1 flight controller is designed to measure basic weather information (Barometric Altitude, Air Pressure and Temperature) and relay that information periodically to the ground via radio telemetry using the FSQ protocol. Additionally, the flight controller conserves battery power by turning off the radio and weather sensor between transmissions.     In a nutshell the […]