UPDATE 21/8: Thanks to all that helped track this flight, it was a great success! A blog post with more information, including lots of great images, will be up in about a week.
Horus 60 Flight path prediction as of 17th August
As part of the VI25AREG celebrations, AREG’s High-Altitude Ballooning sub-group, Project Horus, is planning their next launch for Sunday the 20th of August, with a planned launch time of 10 AM ACST. Backup dates if we have to slip due to weather are the 27th of August… and that’s it!
This launch is currently planned to be performed from the Mt Barker High School Oval with the launch team arriving on site from around 9:00 AM. Note that access to the oval is via Stephenson street, and parking near the oval is extremely limited.
The payloads for this flight will include:
A FM-SSTV Transmitter on 145.100 MHz
A Wenet Imagery transmitter on 443.500 MHz
Primary Horus Binary telemetry on 434.200 MHz
Experimental Radiation Sensor payload (Horus Binary telemetry) on 434.210 MHz
Details on these payloads are available further below.
Tracking of the flight will be via the SondeHub-Amateur tracker, available by clicking this link.
Details on the payloads flying are available below:
Primary Telemetry – 434.200 MHz – VI25AREG
The primary tracking telemetry will be transmitted on 434.200 MHz using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. Amateurs in the Adelaide and Central SA region are also encouraged to get involved with the flight through receiving and uploading flight telemetry from our 70cm band tracking beacons. Every piece of telemetry data is valuable to the flight tracking and recovery teams so if you can help join the distributed receiver network to collect that data you will be making an important contribution to the project!
Listeners that already have Horus-GUI installed are encouraged to update to the latest version, which is available at this link.
Note that you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.199 MHz for the 4FSK signal to be centred in your receiver passband and hence be decodable.
There will also be an experimental radiation sensor payload (HORUSRADMON) on 434.210 MHz (434.209 MHz USB dial frequency). If you can only receive one, prioritise the 434.200 MHz signal.
FM SSTV Imagery – 145.100 MHz
This launch will most likely be flying a FM SSTV transmitter operating on 145.100 MHz FM. It will run approximately 200mW transmit power. The transmitter will have 1 minute gaps between image transmissions to avoid overheating the transmitter. This payload last flew on Horus 59 with good results.
SSTV image from Horus 59
The payload will be transmitting images using the PD120 SSTV mode throughout the flight, and can be decoded using any SSTV software capable of decoding this mode (pretty much all of them!). This mode is what was commonly broadcast from the International Space Station.
Examples of suitable software you can use to decode the SSTV pictures include:
Any FM receiver (including handhelds) should be capable of receiving this payload, though as with the cross-band repeater, a Yagi antenna may be necessary for reliable reception at the edges of the transmitter footprint.
We’ve also setup a temporary 2m SSTV skimmer up at AREG’s remote HF receive site, which (if it works!) will post received images here: https://botsin.space/@aregsstv/tagged/PD120
We will have some digital certificates available for listeners that submit an image from the highest 1km of the flight (to be determined after the flight has finished). Email your images to vi25areg@areg.org.au !
Wenet Imagery – 443.500 MHz
Imagery on this flight will be transmitted via the Wenet downlink system, which uses 115kbit/s Frequency-Shift-Keying to send HD snapshots. Reception of the Wenet imagery requires a Linux computer, a RTLSDR, and a 70cm antenna with some gain (a 5-element Yagi is usually enough).
This payload will be trialing a PiCamera HQ, with a much larger lens. This will hopefully give us much higher quality imagery than we’ve seen previously, so long as we don’t hit focus drift issues like we have seen on previous flights.
Please note the transmit frequency of 443.5 MHz, which may require listeners to re-configure their Wenet setup. Listeners who are already setup to receive Wenet should consider updating their decoding software to the latest version (Due to be released at the beginning of August 2023), with update instructions available here.
Horus 59 came about as a result of the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program launch, as we still an almost-full cylinder of Helium left over. Launch planning progressed through February, resulting in a launch on Sunday the 25th of February 2023.
The following payloads flew on this launch:
A FM-SSTV transmitter, sending imagery in the PD120 mode on 145.100 MHz;
A Wenet imagery transmitter on 443.500 MHz, with the new Pi Camera v3;
A Geiger-Tube based radiation sensor payload on 434.210 MHz (the same one that flew on Horus 58 and SHSSP 2023);
A LoRaWAN beacon, provided by Liam VK5ALG; and
Our usual Horus Binary telemetry payload on 434.200 MHz.
Iain Crawford VK5ZD captured much of the days events on video:
Launch Planning
This launch aimed to get more AREG club members involved in the launch planning process. Mark VK5QI ran a series of workshops in the lead-up to the launch, working through the regulatory and planing aspects of a high-altitude balloon launch. The day before the launch a smaller group got together to test telemetry reception and go through some of the more practical aspects of a launch. We hope to run more workshops like this for future launches!
Some of the launch planning group working through practicing filling a balloon.
Preparations & Launch
The launch team gathered at the Auburn Community oval at 9AM and started preparing for the flight. This launch saw many spectators, including a few from the mid-north. Iain VK5ZD was also on-site to document the launch activities, with a video to come soon (once he’s back from a holiday!). The launch site weather was perfect, with mostly clear skies and only light winds.
AREG Club Members preparing the balloon for launch, with many onlookers! (Imaged by the Wenet payload waiting to be launched)
All the payload were powered on, tested and sealed up, and the balloon was filled. This was a ‘fast fill’ launch, using up all the leftover gas from the previous SHSSP 2023 launch, and went smoothly.
The balloon and payloads were raised into the air, with the final payload handed over to Jackson (son of AREG member Brett VK5TLE) to perform the launch!
Launch!
Chase & Recovery
After the launch, the chase teams (and there were 7 of them on this launch!) headed north-east to get closer to the predicted landing area, pulling in at a rest stop south of Hanson, SA.
Chase Teams waiting for the balloon to burst near Hanson, SA
Peter VK5KX was set up here with his portable rotator station, receiving telemetry from all payloads:
Peter VK5KX’s portable tracking setup
While waiting at the Hanson rest stop the balloon was spotted flying at 30 km altitude, almost directly above the rest stop location! Appearing as a small white dot, many of the chasers were able to watch the balloon travel across the sky for about 20 minutes, before seeing it disappear when it burst at 32,807 metres altitude.
Iain, Ady, Drew and Mark watching the balloon drift along at 30km altitude.
The chase teams didn’t have far to travel to get to the landing area, only 7km to the North-East of Hanson, just off the Barrier Highway. All the teams were able to get into position to watch the payload descend into an empty paddock, a great experience for the new balloon chasers!
Horus 59 Flight Path
The payloads were quickly recovered, with the mandatory Wenet Payload group photo being taken once the payload were back at the cars:
Horus 59 Chase Team Group Photo, taken by the Wenet Payload camera.
FM-SSTV Payload Results
Apart from an issue with the onboard GPS receiver, the FM-SSTV payload transmitted imagery fine all throughout the flight. So far we’ve received a few reception reports from the Adelaide area, and also Pt Lincoln, though we expect this payload would have been receivable well into Victoria. If you received imagery from this flight, please let us know!
A selection of images received by Mark VK5QI’s home station in Adelaide are shown below:
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Wenet Payload Results
The new camera (A Raspberry Pi Camera v3) under trial on this launch produces images with excellent colour and low distortion, however as it ascended the lens started to de-focus, resulting in all the images above a few km altitude being quite blurry.
This is most likely due the extreme cold the camera was subjected to resulting in physical variation of the lens-to-sensor spacing. Whether this can be compensated for will be determined through some on-ground experiments (dry ice might be involved…), though it’s likely we’ll look at other camera options for future launches.
A selection of photos taken by the Wenet payload camera are shown in the following gallery:
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LoRaWAN Payload Results
On this flight Liam’s LoRaWAN payload featured an upgraded antenna, and even though the maximum altitude of this flight was 500m below when the LoRaWAN payload was previous flown (Horus 58), it was received another 50km further afield, by a TheThingsNetwork station in Ballarat, Victoria. We’ll try out this payload again on future launches, hoping to get even longer reception reports!
LoRaWAN Payload Coverage Map
Receiver Statistics – Horus Binary Telemetry
The Horus Binary payload proved to be as reliable as ever, reporting position and sensor data throughout the flight. A Grafana dashboard summarising the telemetry data from the flight is available here.
We saw a total of 25 unique callsigns receiving on this flight, with reception statistics for each station shown below:
Horus 59 - HORUS-V2 Receiver Statistics
Callsign
Received Packets
Percentage of Flight Received
First-Received Altitude (m)
Last-Received Altitude (m)
BARC-RRR
16
0.9%
11576
3437
N0CALL
1
0.1%
3347
3347
VK3TNU pi3-3
841
45.0%
13424
15292
VK5AJQ
1413
75.7%
9021
1681
VK5AKH
940
50.3%
6888
536
VK5AKK
1763
94.4%
550
1030
VK5ALG
1707
91.4%
726
1427
VK5ALG-9
1812
97.1%
311
536
VK5APR
1
0.1%
1081
1081
VK5ARG
1834
98.2%
309
570
VK5CLD-9
1518
81.3%
310
536
VK5DJ
982
52.6%
10405
12276
VK5DSP-hab
1368
73.3%
7775
4207
VK5EME-5
1814
97.2%
638
1342
VK5FADE
82
4.4%
1936
4044
VK5HI
16
0.9%
14690
14867
VK5IS
1848
99.0%
406
570
VK5KX#2
93
5.0%
11438
13232
VK5KX-9
1649
88.3%
669
570
VK5KX-i5
552
29.6%
13942
570
VK5LN
1551
83.1%
4373
5363
VK5NEX
1786
95.7%
1295
1342
VK5NTM
1777
95.2%
1842
806
VK5QI-9
1645
88.1%
310
606
VK5ST-4
1507
80.7%
726
1797
VK5ZBI
1070
57.3%
6739
3600
VK5ZQV
564
30.2%
14069
30447
Horus 59 - HORUSGEIGER Receiver Statistics
Callsign
Received Packets
Percentage of Flight Received
First-Received Altitude (m)
Last-Received Altitude (m)
BARC-RRR
1554
83.0%
1011
890
VK3TNU pi3-3
900
48.1%
11821
15415
VK5AKH
820
43.8%
6884
562
VK5AKK
1737
92.8%
567
1697
VK5ALG
1737
92.8%
639
1929
VK5ALG-9
1802
96.3%
312
500
VK5ARG
1828
97.6%
312
598
VK5CLD-9
1676
89.5%
312
500
VK5CV
1478
79.0%
987
3986
VK5DSP-hab
1342
71.7%
7779
6660
VK5KX-9
1802
96.3%
733
530
VK5QI-9
1816
97.0%
311
530
VK5ST-4
1789
95.6%
639
1122
VK5SWR
60
3.2%
22239
23376
Receiver Statistics – Wenet Imagery
This flight saw 10 receiver stations contributing packets to the live imagery on https://ssdv.habhub.org/. Thanks to all that helped out with this!
Even with some payload issues, Horus 59 was a successful launch and saw lots of AREG club members get involved in the planning, execution, and chase aspects of the flight. Thanks to all that came out for the day, and also thanks to those that helped receive telemetry throughout the flight!
Project Horus’ next launch will likely not be for a few months, and will hopefully see the return of the DVB-S transmitter payload, and live video from the stratosphere!
The AREG’s High-Altitude Ballooning sub-group, Project Horus, is planning their next launch for Sunday the 26th of February, with a planned launch time of 10 AM ACDT.
This launch will be performed from the Auburn Community Oval, with the launch team arriving on site from around 9:15 AM. Spectators are welcome!
The payloads for this flight will include:
A FM-SSTV Transmitter on 145.100 MHz
A Wenet Imagery transmitter on 443.500 MHz
Horus Binary telemetry on 434.200 MHz
Radiation Sensor Payload on 434.210 MHz
Details on these payloads are available further below.
Tracking of the flight will be via the SondeHub-Amateur tracker, available by clicking this link.
A dashboard showing telemetry from the primary and radiation sensor payloads is available here.
Details on the payloads flying are available below:
Primary Telemetry – 434.200 MHz
The primary tracking telemetry will be transmitted on 434.200 MHz using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. Amateurs in the Adelaide and Central SA region are also encouraged to get involved with the flight through receiving and uploading flight telemetry from our 70cm band tracking beacons. Every piece of telemetry data is valuable to the flight tracking and recovery teams so if you can help join the distributed receiver network to collect that data you will be making an important contribution to the project!
Listeners that already have Horus-GUI installed are encouraged to update to the latest version, which is available at this link.
Note that you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.199 MHz for the 4FSK signal to be centred in your receiver passband and hence be decodable.
FM SSTV Imagery – 145.100 MHz
This launch will most likely be flying a FM SSTV transmitter operating on 145.100 MHz FM. It will run approximately 200mW transmit power. The transmitter will have 1 minute gaps between image transmissions to avoid overheating the transmitter. This payload last flew on Horus 50, and has since been upgraded to support higher resolution imagery.
SSTV Imagery Example
The payload will be transmitting images using the PD120 SSTV mode throughout the flight, and can be decoded using any SSTV software capable of decoding this mode (pretty much all of them!). This mode is what was commonly broadcast from the International Space Station.
Examples of suitable software you can use to decode the SSTV pictures include:
Any FM receiver (including handhelds) should be capable of receiving this payload, though as with the cross-band repeater, a Yagi antenna may be necessary for reliable reception at the edges of the transmitter footprint.
We’ve also setup a temporary 2m SSTV skimmer up at AREG’s remote HF receive site, which (if it works!) will post received images here: https://botsin.space/@aregsstv/tagged/PD120
If you do receive images, please post them to Social Media and on Twitter include the #horus59 hashtag so everyone can see them! Reception reports would also be appreciated, please send these to vk5arg@areg.org.au
Radiation Sensor Payload – 434.210 MHz
A radiation sensor payload, using a Geiger-Muller Tube, will also be launched on this flight. This will be transmitting on 434.210 MHz, also using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. The aim of this payload is to investigate the variation in radiation exposure throughout the flight, and compare it with data from previous launches.
This telemetry can be decoded using the same Horus-GUI software as the primary telemetry. Note that you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.209 MHz for the 4FSK signal to be centred in your receiver passband and hence be decodable.
Wenet Imagery – 443.500 MHz
Imagery on this flight will be transmitted via the Wenet downlink system, which uses 115kbit/s Frequency-Shift-Keying to send HD snapshots. Reception of the Wenet imagery requires a Linux computer, a RTLSDR, and a 70cm antenna with some gain (a 5-element Yagi is usually enough).
This payload will most likely be trialing the new Raspberry Pi Camera v3, which will hopefully bring improved image quality (if it works!).
Please note the transmit frequency of 443.5 MHz, which may require listeners to re-configure their Wenet setup. Listeners who are already setup to receive Wenet should consider updating their decoding software to the latest version (December 2022), with update instructions available here.
In January 2023, the Project Horus High-Altitude Ballooning group performed two launches, Horus 58 on the 15th of January, and the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program 2023 launch, on the 29th of January.
Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program Background
The Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program is a multi-week course conducted by the University of South Australia, in partnership with the International Space University. This is an intensive program designed to provide a multidisciplinary understanding of the key activities and areas of knowledge required in today’s space professions. It covers a wide range of topics including space systems engineering, space science, space law, and much more!
The Amateur Radio Experimenters Group has been involved in this program for many years, assisting with High-Altitude Balloon workshops. Over the course of a week, participants learn about the regulatory, technical, and practical aspects of a high-altitude balloon launch; develop a payload to fly on the launch; and finally perform the launch and analyse the collected data.
The SHSSP 2023 High-Altitude Balloon Cohort
This year’s participants were split into teams focusing on different aspects of the flight:
Launch Planning & Execution, lead by Mark VK5QI
Payloads, lead by Matt VK5ZM
Ground Stations & Telemetry, lead by Bill VK5DSP
Imagery and Data Analysis, lead by David Bruce
This years launch included multiple imaging payloads (horizon and nadir-facing), and a radiation sensor payload, which the participants calibrated against a Cobalt-60 source and a known-good personal dosimeter. The dosimeter was also flown as a backup.
Launch Planning & Delay
Planning for the flight started on Monday the 23rd, where it was realised that a weather front was going to be moving through the state over the launch weekend. This meant that there was significant uncertainty in the weather models, and so both the flight path predictions, and the predictions for launch day weather was changing drastically with every model update.
On Wednesday the call was made based on the current weather models to move the launch from Saturday to Sunday (with a fairly significant effort in rearranging all the launch-day logistics on the part of UniSA!). At this point the cloud forecasts for Sunday looked significantly better (no cloud!), and the predicted flight path resulted in a landing not too far from Auburn.
Unfortunately, as we got closer to the launch day, the weather forecasts got worse and worse. The weather front which was originally predicted to pass over the launch area on Saturday was now ‘running late’, and would still give us grief on the Sunday. While the wind and temperature forecasts looked good, we now had a 100% chance of blanket cloud cover (rending the Nadir-facing imagery useless), and a reasonable chance of showers!
Cloud forecast predictions for the Sunday (as forecast Saturday morning), from Windy.com
Additionally, the predicted flight path was now trending further the south-east, with the landing now predicted somewhere between Truro and Blanchetown.
Unfortunately delaying the launch to the following weekend was not practical due to other schedule conflicts, so planning progressed for a Sunday morning launch, hoping that the forecast rain would be gone by the time of the launch.
Launch, Chase & Recovery
The morning of the launch the SHSSP participants and the AREG launch crew assembled at the launch site to overcast skies. Thankfully most of the heavier showers had fallen overnight, but a light drizzle persisted right throughout the launch.
SHSSP participants preparing the payloads
Preparations for the launch quickly got underway, with each SHSSP team working on their respective areas. Payloads were prepared, balloons filled, ground-stations setup, and by 11:30 AM everything was ready for launch.
SHSSP participants filling the balloon
Just as the count-down began, the wind picked up, resulting in one of the payloads having a bit of a bounce on the ground before the entire payload train rose slowly into the air.
Launch!
After the balloon was released, the SHSSP teams headed back to the ground-station to watch the live telemetry and images, while the chase teams headed off towards the landing site (via the Truro bakery of course!). Unfortunately the SSDV website crashed about 10 minutes before the launch, so those watching from home were unable to see the live imagery.
SHSSP 2023 Flight Path
The balloon rose to a maximum altitude of 35431m (a good performance for the balloon in use) before bursting and descending. The descent was a fair bit faster than expected, later discovered to be due to about 700g of the 1600g balloon getting tangled around the parachute! For a while it looked like the payloads may end up landing a long way from a road, but the high descent rate resulted in them landing in a fairly accessible area, only a short walk from a nearby track.
The recovery teams (lead by Mark VK5QI, Liam VK5LJG, Steve VK5ST, with Don VK5KT joining us near the landing) were able to watch the payloads descend the last few hundred metres, before landing… in a tree.
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Getting the payloads out of the tree took a bit of effort with a long pole and a knife, but eventually the payloads were all cut loose. Thanks again to all those that came out on the chase!
Data Analysis
From the flight came a range of data products, including:
‘Live’ radiation measurements from the Geiger Counter payload
Cumulative radiation dose measurements from the personal dosimeter (3 uSv dose over the flight)
Lots of imagery!
Some examples of imagery from the Horizon-facing camera are shown in the following gallery:
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Unfortunately the Nadir-facing imagery showed nothing but cloud, so the participants made use of the imagery captured on the Horus 58 launch for their analysis. They used the open source QGIS software to geo-reference some of the captured images, and then perform pan-sharpening of imagery of the same area captured by the Sentinel-2A earth observation satellite, essentially increasing the spatial resolution of the Sentinel imagery. The following images show an example the original low resolution (10 m), and pan-sharpened high resolution (1.5 m) imagery.
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The radiation sensor data showed similar levels to the previous Horus 58 launch, with the Pfotzer-Regener maximum observed around 20km altitude.
Radiation levels (top) observed throughout the SHSSP 2023 flight.
The telemetry data for the flight was also shown live on a data dashboard, which can be viewed at this link.
Receiver Statistics – Horus Binary Telemetry
As with the Horus 58 flight, we saw a great response from the local amateur radio community in helping to receive telemetry. This flight saw 37 unique callsigns receiving telemetry, including three stations run by the SHSSP participants. This flight also got high enough for a few stations in Melbourne to join in on the fun!
SHSSP 2023 - SHSSP2023 Receiver Statistics
Callsign
Received Packets
Percentage of Flight Received
First-Received Altitude (m)
Last-Received Altitude (m)
BARC-RRR
427
20.9%
10238
997
SHSSP-RJ
1195
58.5%
312
29111
SHSSP-VM
220
10.8%
12078
29404
VK3BKQ
169
8.3%
33505
31121
VK3BQ
185
9.1%
33531
33632
VK3JUG-5
1649
80.8%
5114
4619
VK3TNU pi3-2
822
40.3%
11935
29111
VK5AKH
1654
81.0%
312
29494
VK5AKK
1911
93.6%
416
2152
VK5ALG
1805
88.4%
609
4504
VK5ALG-9
2011
98.5%
312
78
VK5AMH
1808
88.6%
1969
1092
VK5APR
1587
77.8%
777
2152
VK5ARG
1958
95.9%
310
952
VK5CLD
1880
92.1%
400
1043
VK5CV
1601
78.4%
1916
4581
VK5DJ
1211
59.3%
12436
8653
VK5DMC
1273
62.4%
6967
4504
VK5FD
1919
94.0%
473
2644
VK5GY
1906
93.4%
702
4776
VK5IS
1942
95.1%
505
2152
VK5KX-i5
2001
98.0%
311
78
VK5LO-5
913
44.7%
609
29290
VK5MAS
947
46.4%
13824
29111
VK5NEX
1874
91.8%
846
3025
VK5NTM
1950
95.5%
846
251
VK5OI
10
0.5%
4274
4214
VK5PJ
1829
89.6%
1375
78
VK5QI-9
1887
92.5%
312
79
VK5RK
1924
94.3%
505
2201
VK5RR-VK5FO
75
3.7%
685
2220
VK5ST-4
1924
94.3%
594
1971
VK5ST-9
1106
54.2%
5583
78
VK5ST-991
1199
58.7%
6681
4717
VK5SWR
29
1.4%
2452
4446
VK5TRM
1918
94.0%
1205
858
VK5ZM
1088
53.3%
27628
78
VK5ZQV
1144
56.1%
17661
1187
vk5mad
10
0.5%
6654
6838
SHSSP 2023 - SHSSPGEIGER Receiver Statistics
Callsign
Received Packets
Percentage of Flight Received
First-Received Altitude (m)
Last-Received Altitude (m)
BARC-RRR
1965
96.4%
479
73
SHSSP-TW
1876
92.0%
309
2744
SHSSP-VM
1152
56.5%
309
5681
VK3BQ
21
1.0%
34909
35370
VK3TNU pi3-2
982
48.2%
10105
8851
VK5AKK
1572
77.1%
7898
2051
VK5ALG
1849
90.7%
612
4601
VK5ARG
1955
95.9%
305
746
VK5CV
1
0.0%
676
676
VK5LO-5
1014
49.7%
16383
1998
VK5OI
1567
76.9%
3711
4728
VK5QI-9
1875
92.0%
308
73
VK5RR-VK5FO
1089
53.4%
2346
24932
VK5ST-4
1936
94.9%
495
941
VK5ST-9
1174
57.6%
5505
73
VK5SWR
1289
63.2%
2868
2467
VK5ZM
1085
53.2%
27698
73
Receiver Statistics – Wenet Imagery
Unfortunately due to the failure of the SSDV website just prior to launch, we were unable to obtain statistics of who was uploading telemetry throughout the entire flight. Data was recorded until about 1 hour into the flight, and is presented below. The SSDV webpage will be back up and running for the next launch.
Thanks in particular to the stations that setup portable to try and capture as much telemetry as possible from the flight:
Even with the non-ideal weather, the SHSSP High-Altitude Balloon workshops and launch went well, with the participants certainly enjoying the experience! Thanks again to UniSA and the International Space University for letting us participate in the SHSSP again this year, and we look forward to building on this in next year’s program.
As always, a big thank you to all of our community members who get setup to track out flights, be it with a portable station, at home, or out on the chase. Keep an ear out for our next launch, which should be happening late February 2023!
In January 2023, the Project Horus High-Altitude Ballooning group performed two launches, Horus 58 on the 15th of January, and the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program 2023 launch, on the 29th of January. This is the first of two flight reports, with the SHSSP 2023 report coming soon!
Horus 58 – Test Flight – 15th January 2023
The Horus 58 launch was intended as a flight test of the payloads to be used in the SHSSP 2023 launch, and included:
2x Horus Binary telemetry payloads, one with a radiation sensor.
Outward-Facing Wenet Imagery
Nadir (Downward) Facing Wenet Imagery, with an IR filter
LoRaWAN Telemetry Beacon (not used in the SHSSP launch)
In particular, the radiation sensor payload (using a Geiger-Muller Tube) and the Nadir-Facing imagery payload were newly built and needed to be flight-proven to limit the chances of failure on the upcoming SHSSP 2023 launch. Also flown was a LoRaWAN payload built by Liam VK5ALG, which was received by TheThingsNetwork gateways.
Peter VK5KX’s Ground-Station, setup at the Auburn launch site.
This launch also provided a great opportunity for the local amateur radio community to get setup to receive the many telemetry signals which would be broadcast from both launches. We saw many stations receive both the low-rate Horus Binary telemetry, and the high-speed Wenet Imagery payloads.
Launch, Chase and Recovery
The launch day had excellent weather, with mild temperatures and calm winds at the launch site. Launch preparations took a little bit longer than expected due to less people around, but we were still able to get the launch in the air by 10:30 AM local time.
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With the balloon in the air, two chase teams (lead by Mark VK5QI, and Liam VK5ALG) then departed from the launch site to head off to the landing area. While making a lunch stop at the Eudunda Bakery, they were able to sight the balloon in the air, and even get a picture of the balloon before it burst at 33.359 km altitude.
Horus 58 at 33 km altitude, seen from the ground at Eudunda, SA
After burst, the chase teams headed south of Eudunda, where they met up with Steve VK5ST who was also out chasing. The payloads eventually landed a fair way into a property, but thanks to the landowner (Condor Laucke, of Laucke Mills), they were able to gain access and recover the payloads.
Payload Results
All payloads performed almost perfectly on this flight! The only small issue was seen on the Horizon-facing imagery payload, which was slightly out of focus (an easy fix once back on the ground). The Nadir (downward) facing payload took many high quality images of the ground underneath the launch site, which proved very useful to the SHSSP 2023 participants for reasons to be discussed later!
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The radiation sensor payload data clearly showed an increase in radiation levels as the payloads increased in altitude to ~20 km, and then a decrease in levels above that. This effect is known as the ‘Pfotzer-Regener Maximum’. All the sensor data from this flight can be seen on an interactive dashboard available here.
The LoRaWAN payload also performed well, being received as far away as Portland, Victoria:
Receiver Statistics – Horus Binary Telemetry
We saw a great turnout of receivers on this launch, with 30 unique callsigns receiving the Horus Binary telemetry. Thanks to all that helped receive telemetry from this flight!
Horus 58 - HORUS V2 Receiver Statistics
Callsign
Received Packets
Percentage of Flight Received
First-Received Altitude (m)
Last-Received Altitude (m)
BARC-RRR
1465
76.9%
3441
524
VK3BKQ-PORTARLINGTON
1
0.1%
31860
31860
VK3JUG
7
0.4%
16531
17237
VK3OF
862
45.3%
12681
11840
VK3TNU pi3-2
772
40.5%
20600
10465
VK3TRO
7
0.4%
25023
30667
VK5AKK
1735
91.1%
1213
3056
VK5APR
1620
85.1%
1344
1443
VK5ARG
1855
97.4%
706
1130
VK5CLD
1592
83.6%
926
524
VK5CV
1167
61.3%
3465
1964
VK5DMC
563
29.6%
27366
2466
VK5DSP
1459
76.6%
3761
1934
VK5DSP-2
1441
75.7%
3225
4563
VK5FD
1754
92.1%
3594
888
VK5GA
1596
83.8%
792
1767
VK5GY
1771
93.0%
683
1856
VK5IS
1869
98.2%
664
1180
VK5KX-i5
1890
99.3%
312
915
VK5LJG
1819
95.5%
664
1443
VK5LJG-9
1671
87.8%
313
400
VK5LN
1377
72.3%
4771
6499
VK5LO
264
13.9%
848
8135
VK5LO-5
1533
80.5%
8241
1520
VK5NEX
1776
93.3%
1933
1856
VK5NTM
1868
98.1%
848
407
VK5QI-9
1835
96.4%
313
524
VK5RK
1783
93.6%
2388
972
VK5RR
3
0.2%
2196
2273
VK5RR-VK5FO
1313
69.0%
6597
972
VK5ST-4
1737
91.2%
1168
1103
VK5ST-9
1158
60.8%
500
426
VK5TRM
1850
97.2%
1144
972
VK5ZM
1828
96.0%
312
1180
vk5mhz
1230
64.6%
11597
2438
Horus 58 - HORUSGEIGER Receiver Statistics
Callsign
Received Packets
Percentage of Flight Received
First-Received Altitude (m)
Last-Received Altitude (m)
BARC-RRR
1723
90.3%
1623
938
VK3OF
186
9.7%
14325
18409
VK3TNU pi3-2
676
35.4%
20638
10493
VK3TNU pi3-3
915
47.9%
12650
11374
VK5ARG
1857
97.3%
717
550
VK5DSP-2
1372
71.9%
7423
2113
VK5GY
25
1.3%
5632
6096
VK5LJG
1826
95.7%
692
1596
VK5LJG-9
1838
96.3%
313
397
VK5QI-1
1738
91.0%
806
1859
VK5QI-9
1816
95.1%
313
423
VK5ST-4
1859
97.4%
671
911
VK5ST-9
1172
61.4%
481
397
VK5ZM
1824
95.5%
312
1125
Receiver Statistics – Wenet Imagery
A special thanks goes to the 7 stations that received and uploaded imagery during the flight, with a few stations setting up to receive both imagery payloads at once. Being able to see live imagery from the flight on https://ssdv.habhub.org/ really adds something special to the experience!
Horus 58 was another highly successful flight, and provided valuable testing for the SHSSP 2023 launch. Thanks again to all who participated in the flight, through helping out at the launch site, chasing, or receiving telemetry.
UPDATE: Thanks to all that helped out with this launch, both at the launch site, and receiving telemetry! It was great to see such a large turnout of receivers on the tracker. Unfortunately the live SSDV imagery website failed just before the launch, but we’ll post some photos from the flight in an upcoming blog post.
AREG is pleased to once again be involved with the International Space University’s Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program (SHSSP) hosted by the University of South Australia. This year one balloon is being launched from the Auburn Community Oval as part of the program.
Launch is now planned to occur around 11:00-11:30 AM on Sunday the 29th of January. Launch crews will be on-site from approximately 10:00 AM.
All amateurs across the state are invited to participate in the flight through collecting the 4FSK telemetry. All you need is an SSB receiver on 70cm, and an interface to your computer. The rest is software!
Tracking of the flight will be via the SondeHub-Amateur tracker, available by clicking this link. There will also be live imagery transmitted throughout the flight (refer further below for decoding details), available here.
A live data dashboard showing telemetry from the various payloads will be available during the flight at this link.
Primary Telemetry – 434.200 MHz
The primary tracking telemetry will be transmitted on 434.200 MHz using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. Amateurs in the Adelaide and Central SA region are also encouraged to get involved with the flight through receiving and uploading flight telemetry from our 70cm band tracking beacons. Every piece of telemetry data is valuable to the flight tracking and recovery teams so if you can help join the distributed receiver network to collect that data you will be making an important contribution to the project!
Listeners that already have Horus-GUI installed are encouraged to update to the latest version, which is available at this link.
Note that you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.199 MHz for the 4FSK signal to be centred in your receiver passband and hence be decodable.
Radiation Sensor Payload – 434.210 MHz
A radiation sensor payload, using a Geiger-Muller Tube, will also be launched on this flight. This will be transmitting on 434.210 MHz, also using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. The aim of this payload is to investigate the variation in radiation exposure throughout the flight.
This telemetry can be decoded using the same Horus-GUI software as the primary telemetry. Note that you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.209 MHz for the 4FSK signal to be centred in your receiver passband and hence be decodable.
Imagery on this flight will be transmitted via the Wenet downlink system, which uses 115kbit/s Frequency-Shift-Keying to send HD snapshots. Reception of the Wenet imagery requires a Linux computer, a RTLSDR, and a 70cm antenna with some gain (a 5-element Yagi is usually enough).
This flight will be flying a downward-facing camera. The imagery captured from this payload will be used by SHSSP participants to pan-sharpen lower resolution satellite imagery.
Please note the transmit frequency of 441.2 MHz, which may require listeners to re-configure their Wenet setup. Listeners who are already setup to receive Wenet should consider updating their decoding software to the latest version (December 2022), with update instructions available here.
There will be a second imagery payload running on 443.500 MHz. This is a re-flight of our usual imagery payload, with the cameras pointing towards the horizon.
If you have the capability of running 2 receivers, please consider receiving this payload as well, but please prioritise receiving the payload on 441.200 MHz.
UPDATE: Thanks to all that helped out with this launch! 30 stations helped receive the Horus Binary telemetry, and 7 received the Wenet imagery. A writeup of this flight will be finalised in due course.
The AREG’s High-Altitude Ballooning sub-group, Project Horus, is planning their next launch for Sunday the 15th of January, with a planned launch time of 10 AM ACDT.
This launch will most likely be performed from the Auburn Community Oval, with the launch team arriving on site from around 9:15 AM. Spectators are welcome!
This launch aims to flight-test some experimental payloads which will be utilised in the upcoming Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program. Further information on this program is available at the end of this article.
Tracking of the flight will be via the SondeHub-Amateur tracker, available by clicking this link. There will also be live imagery transmitted throughout the flight (refer further below for decoding details), available here.
A live data dashboard showing telemetry from the various payloads will be available during the flight at this link.
Primary Telemetry – 434.200 MHz
The primary tracking telemetry will be transmitted on 434.200 MHz using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. Amateurs in the Adelaide and Central SA region are also encouraged to get involved with the flight through receiving and uploading flight telemetry from our 70cm band tracking beacons. Every piece of telemetry data is valuable to the flight tracking and recovery teams so if you can help join the distributed receiver network to collect that data you will be making an important contribution to the project!
Listeners that already have Horus-GUI installed are encouraged to update to the latest version, which is available at this link.
Note that you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.199 MHz for the 4FSK signal to be centred in your receiver passband and hence be decodable.
An experimental radiation sensor payload, using a Geiger-Muller Tube, will also be launched on this flight. This will be transmitting on 434.210 MHz, also using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. The aim of this payload is to investigate the variation in radiation exposure throughout the flight.
This telemetry can be decoded using the same Horus-GUI software as the primary telemetry. Note that you will need to use a USB ‘dial’ frequency of 434.209 MHz for the 4FSK signal to be centred in your receiver passband and hence be decodable.
Imagery on this flight will be transmitted via the Wenet downlink system, which uses 115kbit/s Frequency-Shift-Keying to send HD snapshots. Reception of the Wenet imagery requires a Linux computer, a RTLSDR, and a 70cm antenna with some gain (a 5-element Yagi is usually enough).
This flight will be testing a downward-facing camera with a 780nm long-pass Infra-Red filter, which will highlight areas of healthy vegetation.
Infra-Red Filtered Imagery from a previous flight, with white areas indicating vegetation. The parklands surrounding the Adelaide CBD are clearly visible.
Please note the transmit frequency of 441.2 MHz, which may require listeners to re-configure their Wenet setup. Listeners who are already setup to receive Wenet should consider updating their decoding software to the latest version (December 2022), with update instructions available here.
As a late addition, there will be a second imagery payload running on 443.500 MHz. This is a re-flight of our usual imagery payload, with the cameras pointing towards the horizon. Hopefully we can capture some images of the Riverland from this payload.
If you have the capability of running 2 receivers, please consider receiving this payload as well, but please prioritise receiving the payload on 441.200 MHz.
Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program Launch – Late January 2023
AREG is pleased to once again be involved with the International Space University’s Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program hosted by the University of South Australia. AREG members will be running a High-Altitude Balloon project as part of this course, culminating in a High-Altitude Balloon launch, currently planned for the 28th of January 2023 from the Auburn area.
This launch will be flying multiple payloads, including:
2x Horus Binary Telemetry Payloads, most likely on 434.200 MHz and 434.210 MHz (same as Horus 58)
A downward-looking Wenet imagery payload on 441.200 MHz.
A horizon-looking Wenet imagery payload on 443.500 MHz.
Given the many payloads on this flight we would greatly appreciate the assistance of the local amateur radio community in receiving telemetry! In particular, the more Wenet receiver stations we have running the higher the chance of downlinking complete images from the two imagery payloads.
Horus 57 was the first ‘large’ Project Horus high-altitude balloon launch in over a year, and was aimed at getting more stations involved in receiving the common telemetry and imagery systems used on our launches, and at the same time try and get some nice imagery of our state from the air!
The launch was originally scheduled for the 1st of May, but weather conditions resulted in the imagery launch being bumped a week, and a small telemetry launch taking its place. The telemetry-only flight was very well received, with 37 unique stations contributing telemetry, building anticipation for the full-scale launch, which was performed on Saturday the 7th of May at 10AM.
The Payloads: Wenet Imagery
The main payload on this launch was a Wenet imagery payload. Wenet is an imagery downlink system first developed by David VK5DGR and Mark VK5QI in 2016, to enable high resolution imagery to be downlinked from a balloon launch. It uses Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) at 115kbit/s to send specially encoded JPEG images which can be reassembled from packets received by many spatially diverse receivers. It’s also completely open source, so anyone can have a go at using it!
This particular Wenet payload was testing a camera lens made by ArduCam, in the hope of obtaining higher quality imagery. Unfortunately this lens de-focused as the temperature of the payload dropped during flight, resulting in many blurred images. We’ll be switching back to the tried-and-tested Raspberry PiCam v2 for future flights of this payload.
The Payloads: Tracking & Flight Management
The flight also included the usual complement of telemetry and flight management payloads. Primary telemetry was provided by a reprogrammed RS41, transmitting the ‘Horus Binary‘ 4FSK mode on 434.200 MHz. This was received by a large number of amateur stations running the ‘Horus-GUI’ demodulation software. Tracking of the payload was available on the SondeHub-Amateur tracker online, allowing global access to the position of the balloon throughout the flight.
The separate flight management payload was a LoRa-based payload operating in the 70cm amateur band. This payload allows remote termination of the flight if necessary (and it was very nearly used on this flight!).
The Payloads: LoRaWAN Beacon
Also on this flight was an experimental LoRaWAN tracking payload built by Liam VK5LJG. The aim was to transmit position beacons into ‘The Things Network‘ (‘TTN’), which has gateways (receiver stations) in many locations across Australia. This payload previously flew on Horus 55.
The payload operated on the 915-928 MHz LIPD band, with a transmit power of ~50mW. The hardware was a RAK Wireless RAK5205 board, running custom firmware for the flight. Position updates were only sent every ~3 minutes to comply with TTN fair-usage guidelines.
Unfortunately this payload stopped being received approximately 30 minutes into the flight, due to a misconfiguration. We’ll try this again on another flight!
Launch!
The launch crews arrived on-site at the Mt Barker High School oval around 9AM on the Saturday morning, and started preparations for launch. The entire preparation process through to launch was documented by AREG club member Iain VK5ZD:
This flight used a Hwoyee 1600g balloon, one of the largest balloon sizes we regularly use. Since the combined payload mass was relatively light (~600g), a relatively small amount of gas was required, resulting in the balloon being quite under-inflated, and prone to wind drag.
Immediately after launch, it was noted that the ascent rate was lower than the expected 5 m/s, a direct result of the increased drag on the under-inflated balloon.
Thanks to all that helped out at the launch site! It was great to see some new faces, and the many hands made the launch much easier.
Starting the Chase
Original Horus 57 Flight-Path Prediction
The original flight path prediction had the flight landing somewhere off the Stott highway, between Swan Reach and Loxton. However, the slower than expected ascent rate after launch meant the live flight-path predictions began to move further to the east.
The chase teams for the day consisted of Mark VK5QI and Will VK5AHV, and Gerard VK5ZQV.
The chase teams immediately headed off towards Swan Reach, and met up with some members of the Riverland Radio Club who had setup a receiving station for the imagery payload near the locality of Maggea. Peter VK5PE, Colin VK5CBM, Andy VK5LA, and Ivan VK5HS with his grandson Reece had decided to head out to setup near the predicted landing area and have a go at receiving imagery. This was their first time receiving the Wenet imagery payload, and so had brought along a lot of equipment to experiment with!
Riverland Radio Club Portable Receiving Station
There was also many other stations that had gone portable to receive the Wenet imagery. Peter VK5KX was setup near Sanderston with a WiMo X-Quad antenna and tracking rotator system, and Andrew VK5LA setup north of Swan Reach with a 15-element yagi. Andrew VK5CLD was also setup near Mt Barker summit with a homebrew 8-element yagi.
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Burst & Recovery
As the flight progressed, the reported altitude reached the expected 38000 m, and kept on rising! Unfortunately for the chase teams, at this altitude the balloon and payloads were heading east at 150 kph, and the predicted landing location with it, and so they had to get back on the road and continue onwards.
There was a tense period as the predicted landing location moved right across the Murray River, before finally moving further onwards to the east of Loxton. Around this time the flight continued on upwards, passing through 39000 m altitude, then finally 40000 m.
The ascent rate slowed down considerably above 40 km altitude, and there was a short time when the use of the cutdown payload was seriously considered to avoid the payloads ending up across the Victorian border. This ended up not being necessary though, as the balloon burst for a maximum reported altitude (based on the Wenet telemetry) of40246 m! This is most likely the highest altitude ever reached by an amateur balloon launch in Australia!
Wenet Imagery from 40205m altitude!
The payloads then began to plummet back to earth (a peak descent rate of 114 m/s was observed just after burst!) and ended up landing in a newly seeded paddock approximately 15 km to the north-east of Loxton.
Horus 57 Flight Path
After obtaining permission from the landowner, the chase teams were able to carefully drive into the paddocks and recover the payloads.
The Wenet imagery payload was still operating, and captured the recovery and walk back to the car:
Wenet Imagery!
All the way through the flight, the Wenet payload continued to transmit live imagery to many receiving stations around the state. Unfortunately the new ArduCam lens shifted in focus due to the extreme cold temperatures experienced during the flight, resulting in most of the imagery above 3 km altitude being blurred. The lens appeared to recover around the peak of the flight, but then degraded again on descent before recovering after landing:
Wenet Imagery from 40205m altitude!
Wenet Reception Statistics
This flight saw the highest number of Wenet receiver stations ever, with 14 separate receiving stations contributing imagery packets. As a result, we had 100% image reception over the vast majority of the flight! This is a great result, and allows those watching from home to experience our high-altitude balloon launches in near real-time.
The following amount of data was contributed by each station:
VK5LA: 205297 packets (50.12 MB)
VK5KX: 179744 packets (43.88 MB)
VK5QI-1 (Home): 160507 packets (39.19 MB)
VK5CBM: 145899 packets (35.62 MB)
VK5PW: 134465 packets (32.83 MB)
VK3TNU: 134264 packets (32.78 MB)
VK5APR: 157585 packets (38.47 MB)
VK5EME: 146062 packets (35.66 MB)
VK5QI (Mobile): 131933 packets (32.21 MB)
VK5HS: 104472 packets (25.51 MB)
VK5CLD: 47650 packets (11.63 MB)
VK5IS: 21995 packets (5.37 MB)
VK5TRM: 16950 packets (4.14 MB)
VK5FJGM: 5355 packets (1.31 MB)
Horus 57 Wenet Receiver Map
While most of the receiver stations were relatively close to the flight path, we also saw Ian VK5IS receiving from 160km away, and Tim VK3TNU receiving from over 300km distance! Tim was using a 9-element RFI yagi, paired with a RTLSDR and preamplifier, and has set the new record for Wenet reception distance!
The following plots show the percentage of each image that was received by each receiver station:
We also saw a huge number of Horus Binary receiving stations come online for this flight, with stations as far away as Melbourne contributing telemetry. A total of 41 unique callsigns were observed to upload telemetry throughout the flight, which is also a new record for a Project Horus launch!
A huge thanks to everyone that contributed to the flight tracking, and we hope to see you on the map on future launches!
Detailed statistics for each receiver are available in the table below:
Callsign
Received Packets
Percentage of Flight Received
First-Received Altitude (m)
Last-Received Altitude (m)
VK3BQ
346
14.0%
28056
22885
VK3DNS
88
3.6%
34109
38312
VK3EEK
45
1.8%
33822
36313
VK3ER
5
0.2%
34374
34470
VK3GP
156
6.3%
32298
5773
VK3IRV
224
9.1%
38516
35917
VK3KZM
153
6.2%
37802
35134
VK3MD
496
20.1%
30032
25910
VK3MTV
1964
79.5%
5740
1233
VK3TNU
1755
71.1%
7858
5469
VK3TOS
123
5.0%
33418
26680
VK5AKH
136
5.5%
1529
35569
VK5AKK
2327
94.2%
366
2674
VK5APR
1879
76.1%
1062
7080
VK5BRL
552
22.4%
39251
103
VK5CBM
910
36.9%
11305
34184
VK5DJ
1668
67.6%
5920
7698
VK5DMC
1165
47.2%
4678
29733
VK5EI
1627
65.9%
6025
22298
VK5FD
2180
88.3%
1074
7979
VK5FJGM
2075
84.0%
951
10397
VK5GA
2037
82.5%
1268
16657
VK5GY
1981
80.2%
2838
8713
VK5HI
2187
88.6%
978
6851
VK5IS
2084
84.4%
1568
5469
VK5KX
2418
97.9%
645
369
VK5LA
2374
96.2%
790
1011
VK5LJG
2178
88.2%
523
8136
VK5LJG-9
1292
52.3%
854
3455
VK5LN
1770
71.7%
4401
14119
VK5MAD
560
22.7%
854
9830
VK5MAS
388
15.7%
16694
40115
VK5NEX
1972
79.9%
3055
7659
VK5NTM
2360
95.6%
1189
655
VK5PE
1633
66.1%
2685
39540
VK5PE-9
1525
61.8%
7485
747
VK5QI-1
1935
78.4%
1529
10201
VK5QI-9
2071
83.9%
344
58
VK5RK
1576
63.8%
9645
6597
VK5RR/VK5FO
1891
76.6%
2536
369
VK5ST-0
2084
84.4%
2587
5348
VK5ST-991
1306
52.9%
3255
38937
VK5TRM
2354
95.3%
1402
103
VK5TRM-12
32
1.3%
36821
37624
VK5ZAI
1722
69.7%
8895
4908
VK5ZSH
678
27.5%
5549
39972
The SondeHub-Amateur Tracker
Horus 56 and 57 made use of the new SondeHub-Amateur tracker website to enable anyone online to follow the flight’s progress. This is an extension to the SondeHubRadiosonde tracker, which allows tracking of meteorological radiosondes, and is developed by club members Michaela VK3FUR and Mark VK5QI, along with many other contributors.
The SondeHub-Amateur tracker in action during Horus 57.
The next large Horus launch will likely be a re-flight of the DVB-S payload flown on Horus 55, with an improved payload antenna. This will likely need to wait until after winter, for clearer skies.
In the meantime, there are some initial plans for:
A re-flight of the LoRaWAN payload, though not to as high an altitude as on this flight.
Experiments with new sensors attached to our primary tracking payload.
Another Wenet flight, to give some more opportunities for listeners to refine their receiver setups.
The primary tracking telemetry will be transmitted on 434.200 MHz using the Horus Binary 4FSK data mode. Amateurs in the Adelaide and Central SA region are also encouraged to get involved with the flight through receiving and uploading flight telemetry from our 70cm band tracking beacons. Every piece of telemetry data is valuable to the flight tracking and recovery teams so if you can help join the distributed receiver network to collect that data you will be making an important contribution to the project!
The AREG’s High-Altitude Ballooning sub-group, Project Horus, is planning their next launch for Sunday the 26th of February, with a planned launch time of 10 AM ACDT.
