Inspired by the work of the UTARC team and their near trans-atlantic crossing with SNOX IV the aim of Atlas is to be a co-operative attempt to break the Amateur Highest GPS Reported Maximum Altitude with a balloon which at present stands at 120,522ft (36744m).

While in the early planning stages the present plan is to put together an exceedingly light payload and use a dual balloon system to lift the payload to up to an altitude of 130,000ft. Launching from EARs it will be necessary to carefully monitor the weather to chose a day when there is little to no wind (similar to the FHALP-2 launch) which will allow a slow ascent rate without the risk of landing in the sea.

The project is open to everyone who is involved in UKHAS, if you want to be involved get in touch either by email jacoxon@googlemail.com or join in discussions on #highaltitude on irc.freenode.net .

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       (   )
     (Balloon)
      (    )
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(Balloon)|
 (    )  |
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      \  |
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         ^
        /|\
       /_|_\
     Parachute
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      _______
     |Payload|
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The plan is to use a Dual Balloon system to get to our targeted altitude, the 2nd stage (primary) balloon will lift the payload all the way to the target altitude while the 1st stage (secondary) balloon will be used to provide a rapid ascent rate allowing us to push through the jetstream without too much horizontal drift and reduce the flight time. The secondary balloon will be cut away allowing the primary balloon to lift the payload to apogee. At burst altitude the primary balloon will be cut and the payload will descend by parachute.

• Balloon
  • 1st Stage 1500g Kaymount
  • 2nd Stage 1000g Kaymount ?
• Parachute
  • Drogue? dual parachute system?
  • 18“ thin mil ripstop nylon chute (24g)
• Payload (150g)
  • Flight Computer (18km+ GPS, GSM and Radio (RTTY 434mHz))
  • Secondary radio beacon (on separate power supply)
  • Camera: Stripped down Premier DS-3080S (used on Peg I) aquired on ebay (requires 2 x AA lithiums and takes SD cards)
  • Cutdown - (pyro cutdown 2g)
  • Powersupply - LiPo 2000mAh-

• Atlas 1 - tbc

• Flight Computer design - edmoore
• Flight software - edmoore
• Camera - rocketboy
• Parachute - rocketboy
• Cutdowns - rocketboy
• Payload construction - everyone
• Administration + Weather - jcoxon
• Ground software - jcoxon

1. Design Mission + Assign Jobs - done

• James Coxon (jcoxon)
• Ed Moore (edmoore)
• Steve Randall (rocketboy)

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