Does “Pix or it didn’t occur” practice to touring to the brink of area on a balloon-lofted sun observatory? Sure, it completely does.
The breathtaking perspectives in this web page come courtesy of IRIS-2, a compact imaging package deal that creators [Ramón García], [Miguel Angel Gomez], [David Mayo], and [Aitor Conde] just lately determined to unlock as open supply {hardware}. It rode to the brink of area aboard Dawn III, a balloon-borne sun observatory designed to check sun magnetic fields and atmospheric plasma flows.
To do this the observatory wanted a continuing view of the Solar over a longer length, so the platform was once introduced from northern Sweden all over the summer season of 2024. It rose to 37 km (23 miles) and stayed aloft within the stratosphere monitoring the never-setting Solar for 6 and a part days sooner than touchdown safely in Canada.
Strictly talking, IRIS-2 wasn’t a part of the principle undertaking, no less than when it comes to accumulating sun information. Slightly, the 5 kg (11 pound) package deal was once designed to supply engineering information in regards to the platform, in conjunction with hella cool video of the flight. To that finish, it was once fitted with 4 GoPro cameras managed via an MPS340 microcontroller. The cameras level in several instructions to seize all of the essential motion at the platform, like the primary telescope slewing to trace the solar, in addition to main points of the balloon device itself.
The controller was once programmed to file 4K video at 30 frames according to 2nd all over release and touchdown, plus fifteen mins of 120 FPS video all over the balloon unlock. The remainder of the time, the cameras took a unmarried body each two mins, which led to some glorious time-lapse sequences. The entire thing was once powered via 56 AA batteries, and judging via the video under it carried out flawlessly all over the flight, in spite of the penetrating stratospheric chilly and blistering UV publicity.
Hats off to the IRIS-2 group for this accomplishment. Positive, the movies are a satisfaction, however that is extra than simply eye sweet. Seeing how the observatory and balloon platform carried out all over flight supplies precious engineering information that can surely support long run flights.
