CRICKETSAT & BALLOONSAT
SATELLITE PROGRAM

Michael D. Fortney--CricketSat Program

Click Here Actual CricketSAT and BalloonSAT Website by Michael Fortney

Michael D. Fortney is an electrical engineering graduate student at the University of Vermont.  Mike's interest is in remote sensor systems.  Since the summer of 2003, he has been helping introduce CricketSat to high school and university students as an educational tool, as well as making enhancements to expand its sensing abilities. 

Adaptation of a Low-cost Wireless Sensor for Freshman and Outreach Programs

UVM and MIlton High School students performed the design and build work during this past year.  In July, the CricketSat system was flown on a BalloonSat flight provided by the Medgar Evers College of New York.  The system worked well with a few minor flaws.  The design process and flight result are available here:   2004 Cricket Sat Data Presentation
 

What is CricketSat? The CricketSat is a remote temperature sensor circuit developed by the Space Systems Development Laboratory at Stanford University.  It is a simple circuit that converts temperature to a tone and broadcasts it over a radio frequency.  Its simplicity has been useful as an introductory teaching aid for engineering and atmospheric sciences.  A couple of design goals were set at UVM to enhance its capabilities.             ●    Modify the CricketSat to support additional types of sensors                ●    Design a system that would accommodate multiple CricketSat transmitters using the                       same frequency.  This system would provide a low-cost real-time data collection system                       to be flown solo or as a payload on a BalloonSat flight.
BalloonSAT Basics              ●   Sounding balloons 1200-1500 grams filled with helium              ●   Rise to altitudes over 100,000 feet              ●   Parachutes attached to payloads              ●   Modules include:              ●   Communications - flight and ground, radio, TNC and GPS              ●   Science payloads – weather data, Geiger counter, particulate sampling,ozonesondes,              ●   Imaging payloads – digital or analog cameras              ●   Flight Computer – data transmission or storage
HIGHLIGHTS     ●  Developed at Stanford University     ●  Space Systems Development Laboratory     ●  NASA Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly program     ●  Wireless temperature sensor     ●  Flown on a balloon     ●  Simple circuit     ●  Easy to build     ●  Easy to modify
	●  Produces a tone related to changing        temperature   ●  Transmits the tone over a UHF radio         frequency   ●  Received tone frequency measured with        a meter or computer software   ●  Calibration graph used to convert         frequency to temperature

CRICKETSAT AT UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT

CricketSat History at UVM

University collaboration
          ●  Medgar Evers College, City University of New York (CUNY)
                       BalloonSat - Dr. Shermane Austin
                           Vermont Partnership:
                               - Under Vermont Space Grant Consortium, close teamwork with Michael Fortney
                               - Fly modified CricketSATs on MECSAT
                               - Host launches in Northern Vermont – Milton High School
                               - Benefits include gentler hills and Canadian digipeater network
                               - U. Vermont housed NYC students

          ●  University of Alaska
                               CricketSat sensor development - Dr. Neal Brown

National Space Grant Student Satellite Initiative
There are several levels of this student satellite program under NASA.
               ●   CricketSAT
               ●   CanSAT
               ●   CubeSAT
               ●   BalloonSAT (the launch)

05 BaloonSAT Launch      CricketSAT 04      CricketSAT Data       CricketSAT History