Lightning from the Edge of Space

Ready to leave your Georgia Tech legacy at the edge of space? We build electronics and software for a high altitude (100,000 ft) balloon platform, which we then launch and recover. We bring together the engineering of circuits, power systems, software, and mechanical structure with physics and data analysis.

We are motivated by sensing of lightning and a few other atmospheric electrical phenomena and to launch these balloons over thunderstorms. We have sensors on board that can be used for this. However, in the process we have built a platform that can accommodate other research instruments, and are transforming into a research service that can be used by others on the GT campus.

We have launched and retrieved several balloons over the years, including one over the top of the 2017 solar eclipse. We tend to launch once per semester, and in between those launches, we have some seriously fun engineering to do, much of it a team effort. We want a platform that is light, cheap, controllable and trackable from the ground with wireless communications. We want increasingly complex instruments and sensors on board. We want hardened launch logistics that will enable us to launch in thunderstorm conditions, at nightime, or even on demand.