ICSPACE24 was launched at 09:45 UTC on 22/1/2021 from Felixstowe by Steve Randall(many thanks). It was a tracker powered by smaller and lighter solar cells. This brought down the weight of tracker to 4.6 grams. The balloon was changed to a Qualatex 36 inch balloon. Free lift was set to 4 grams and lifting gas was hydrogen.
Day 1
It made it to Northern Germany. However, the float altitude was not the target 12km+ but only 9.8km. Its highly unlikely to survive for long, based on previous flights.
Key information
The key stats for the balloon are as follows:
Tracker weight: 4.6 grams
Free lift: 4.0 grams
Lifting gas: Hydrogen(99.9% pure)
Balloon: 36 inch Qualatex balloon with metalisation removed with NaOH
Radio: LoRa, using the LoRaWAN protocol, registered on The Things Network
Flight Duration: Not available yet
Float Altitude: 9800m
Balloon Preparation(Done by Steve): Pre-stretched the balloon using helium with a slow fill. Reached a peak pressure of a bit over 0.6psi a couple of times. Definitely stretched as it was not a flat sheet any more.
