Edge of Space - The SkyPi

Here the team share their headway on learning how to put the probe together. Some awesome stuff here, including an introduction to the Pi in the Sky technology that they will be using as well as some behind the scenes footage of learning how to get into Space.

Google is your friend

It’s been a busy few days on the communication side of things. I’ve had the hardware in my care for a couple of days, and have started setting stuff up. Both SD cards have had operating systems and relevant software installed. I’ve managed to get both the Pi on the ground and a mobile device (my phone) sending data to IBM’s IoT service, as well as sorting out the relevant flows on Bluemix to tweet that the connection is live, store the data, and allow HTTP access to it. On the Pi this is done with a quick Python script, and on the phone with IBM’s provided IOT Starter app.

Our ‘skypi’ has been set up and correctly transmits the GPS data, which after much frustration I managed to decode with SDR# and dl-fldigi (relevant software), so we now have at least one method of getting data back to the ground! The PITS software should be editable to contain more telemetry data. Now the next step is for Alex/Constance to work out how to physically connect the sensors, and then we can start reading and transmitting actual data.

For details of the work I have been doing, see my Member’s page which logs what I have done, or the Tutorials which explain much of the installation process.

Below is a video of my afternoon on Thursday, sped up around x200, which as you can see involves mostly Google searches, reading, and terminal typing!

Jake