The Pressure, Humidity, And Temperature—Tests and Camera Observations (PHAT-TACO) Student-Built Balloon Payload

Abstract

Team Philiosohook is a team of five undergraduate students at Louisiana State University (LSU) who developed the “Pressure, Humidity, and Temperature – Test and Camera Observations (PHAT-TACO)” payload to characterize the atmosphere as a function of altitude, correlate temperature and humidity variations with clouds and relate the measured pressure with balloon diameter. The payload consisted of an external temperature and humidity sensor, an internal temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, an High Definition (HD) camera, plus a controller board with a Parallax BasicStamp CPU, a four channel ADC, a real-time clock and an EEPROM for on-board data storage. The camera pointed upwards to image the balloon and determine when the payload entered and exited clouds. The payload was launched at the Columbia Scientific Balloon facility in Palestine, Texas on May 24, 2011, and here we describe the payload development and present the flight results.