2024-09-22 · HAST / SkyEdge · Mission archive
From a balloon-borne camera to an image decoded on a smartphone. The flight on 22 September 2024 brought together payload developers, receiving stations and a public radio event.
- Reported altitude
- 39 km
- Image downlink
- COFDMTV
- Balloon supporters
- 35 donors
A public launch and distributed reception
The balloon launched from Celestynów at 13:00 local time. During the flight, the camera captured photographs and the payload transmitted them to the ground using the COFDMTV digital format. Receivers could also decode the signal with a smartphone application.
Flight imagery and reception in one film
The archive edit shows preparations, launch, stratospheric views and an example of decoding. The post-flight report records an altitude of 39 km and reception by participants in Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine. Successfully decoded digital photographs avoided the characteristic analogue interference visible in SSTV images.
A community-built mission
SP5POT and the HAST team, Tomasz SP5LOT and Robert SQ5RB, delivered the project. Thirty-five donors supported the balloon purchase, and acknowledgements were transmitted every fifth image. Adrian SP5AM supplied drone footage, while Krzysztof SQ3DHO contributed the decoding demonstration.
Experience for future projects
This experiment combined imaging, a custom radio downlink and distributed receiving stations. That experience is relevant to radio-system trials and public events built around a real mission. Reception requirements and image quality are defined around each flight's objectives.
Based on the team’s archived post-flight account. The figures describe this mission and are not guarantees for future flights. More missions.
