[SpaceProgram] Build your own near-space balloon experiment for stratospheric research! Team FREDE

[Constellation]

Two weeks ago (21st of August), the FREDE (FREon Decay Experiment) team was
invited to give a presentation about their project in front of the
hackerspace Wroclaw community (HS.Wro), Poland. FREDE and HS.Wro do not
just share the same city as the center of activity, but also the goal of
open-source as well as the creative and free development of technology.

Jedrzej Gorski (Ph.D. student at Wroclaw University of Technology [3])
presented the scientific and technical goals of their stratosphere near
space mission and he received enthusiastic reception.

FREDE is an experiment on board an stratospheric altitude balloon that aims
to fly during the European Space Agency’s REXUS/BEXUS campaign in 2014 [4].
The main goal of the experiment is to study disintegration phenomenon of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) – group of refrigerators commonly known as
Freons (name reserved for DuPont). As radiatively active gases present in
Troposphere and Stratosphere, they influence the depletion of the Earth’s
ozone layer (O3) and the increase of the greenhouse effect. This is what
theory says. In practice it is difficult to determine whether the
introduction of such compounds made it possible to avert loss of the ozone
layer in a closest future. FREDE shall develop a new approach for
determination of the CFC and other gases.

Click [5] for SlideShare.net presentation of the project!

It was a very fruitful meeting due to the fact that HS.Wro and FREDE teams
came to agreement about future combined involvement in the Hacker Space
Program (HSP) in the area of hardware and software development. Beyond
FREDE they also discussed synergies within the maker community and an
implementation of the Distributed Ground Station Network (DGSN), which the
FREDE team is about to add in order to extend FREDE’s test bed
infrastructure. This approach will allow FREDE balloon mission to be
tracked during the balloon science mission and also to simulate real time
satellite communication from high altitude (20-35 km). Inspiration for this
important additional functionality was introduced by Andreas Hornig from
the young academics Group at the University of Stuttgart, Germany [6].

Main goal of their future cooperation is based on bidirectional knowledge
transfer and resources exchange. In the beginning, HS.Wro will provide
working space and tools. Team FREDE will bring their hardware and software
prototypes for stratospheric platform.

Of course it’s quite early to reveal more details but future cooperation
will be based on knowledge sharing and open-source approach common for
hackerspace communities.

If you are interested in space and making here is your chance in joining
another Hacker Space Program. Feel free to contact FREDE or just join the
next meeting of HS.Wro. Remember! You can start your own space project in
your local hackerspace. Sent us an email at frede at aerospaceresearch.net

FREDE (FREon Decay Experiment) aims at better understanding how selected
CFC compounds interact with Earth’s Atmosphere at high and low altitude
conditions, especially with the test compound exposed to altitudes that
range up to 25 km above Polar Circle. The results obtained should lead to
conclusions which might bring new scientific facts about ozone depletion
process and greenhouse effect (science). To design and build mobile
installation used for airborne experiments related to air quality research
and measurements (engineering). All info available @ [0] http://www.wsag.pl

DGSN (Distributed Ground Station Network) aims to globally and permanently
track small satellite by means of distributed ground station network. It
shall help to determine the position of the satellite right after the
ejection from the launcher into the orbit. The real orbit can differ from
the specified one due to the fact that the small satellite was delivered in
piggy-back mode and after the main payload was delivered in its orbit with
high precision. This eventually results in less precise orbit injections
for the secondary payloads. With DGSN the community of space enthusiasts
and makers can help tracking on a global scale. More details available @
[1] http://www.aerospaceresearch.net/dgsn

HS.Wro (Hacker Space Wroclaw) is a newborn hackerspace organisation located
in Wroclaw, capital of Lower Silesia, South-West Poland. This community is
driven by curiosity and hunger for intellectual and technological
challenges. Lit of their activities grow fast also in area of hardware and
software development, all in an open-source spirit. Members of this
organisation gathers students and technology enthusiast enlisted at Wroclaw
Universities but not only. More information about their regular meetings
and technology driven activities can be found at their webpage @ [2]
http://www.hswro.org.

[3] http://www.pwr.wroc.pl
[4] http://www.rexusbexus.net
[5]
http://www.slideshare.net/JdrzejGrski/frede-at-hack-space-wroclaw-viii-2013
[6] http://www.irs.uni-stuttgart.de
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