Stratosphere Balloon Payload

A stratospheric balloon payload built with three classmates at Evangelisches Gymnasium Lippstadt. The gondola flew a Raspberry Pi 2B running a full sensor suite: magnetometer, gyroscope, interior and exterior temperature, altitude, and pressure, alongside a GoPro and Raspberry Pi camera. The structure was 3D-printed in a teardrop form for aerodynamic stability during ascent, with an insulation layer to keep the electronics alive at stratospheric temperatures. We got the data back: full temperature, pressure, and altitude curves through the ascent and descent.

Keep a Raspberry Pi and its sensors running through a flight profile that hits near-vacuum pressure and temperatures well below -40°C, then recover the gondola and get usable data off it.

• Electronics must survive stratospheric temperatures without heaters
• Mass budget is constrained by balloon lift. Every gram of insulation costs altitude.
• Gondola needs to survive a parachute landing on whatever terrain happens to be below
• GPS tracking required for recovery: two independent trackers plus an AirTag

• Teardrop gondola form in 3D-printed structure to reduce oscillation on ascent and improve stability
• Insulation layer integrated into the outer shell with embedded nuts for assembly
• Raspberry Pi 2B for processing capability and reasonable power draw from the 10,000 mAh powerbank
• Dual GPS trackers plus AirTag for recovery. If one fails, you can still find it.

1. 01

   Gondola structural design in teardrop form, 3D printed with insulation layer and embedded hardware

2. 02

   Electronics integration: Raspberry Pi 2B, sensor suite (magnetometer, gyroscope, temp, pressure, altitude), GoPro, Pi camera

3. 03

   Power system: 10,000 mAh powerbank for main electronics, 9V battery for backup systems

4. 04

   Recovery: parachute sized to landing zone constraints, 2x GPS trackers plus AirTag

5. 05

   Flight: balloon released, ascent to stratosphere, burst, parachute descent, recovery

6. 06

   Data analysis: temperature, pressure, and altitude curves extracted from logged sensor data

• Temperature swing between launch and apogee is larger than spec values suggest once you account for sensor lag and enclosure thermal mass
• Recovery with dual GPS plus AirTag was worth the extra weight. The balloon drifted further than predicted.