BalloonSAT: A Very Low-Cost ‘Satellite’ Test Platform

The University of North Dakota has, over the last five years, performed work to significantly lower the cost of the development of a small spacecraft. Despite making significant reductions to CubeSat cost levels, providing increased functionality and customization capabilities, orbital missions still require funding levels that may place them outside the financial capabilities of most K-12 schools along with many colleges and universities. For institutions that can afford CubeSat development, a mechanism is required to allow the institution to gain competency on spacecraft development prior to being a successful proposer for many sources of prospective funding. For both of these reasons, a very low cost CubeSat-like high altitude balloon (HAB) or solar balloon (SB) payload and an associated tracking system solution are being developed. This paper presents an overview of the BalloonSAT design. It describes the composition of the HAB/SB payload and the differences between this design approach and many typical HAB payload designs. One area of particular notoriety of the design, the use of 3D printing to produce the payload frame, is covered in detail. A discussion of the ease of construction, based on the use of 3D printed frame and inserted side panels (mirroring the CubeSat design) is presented. The comparative benefits and drawbacks of this design approach versus foam enclosures and other common HAB payloads are considered. In addition, communication technologies for the HAB/SB and the decision-making process between HABs and SBs are also reviewed in detail. The paper concludes with a discussion of previous and ongoing test missions and an overview of planned future work