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We chased a weather balloon across Montana and never found it

We chased a weather balloon across Montana and never found it

Aug 20, 2026 Hardware & IoT
3d printing diy-hardware insulation-testing payload weather-balloon

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We chased a weather balloon across Montana and never found it

About

Since April, I have been working with Sam Flynn (https://drook.dev) to make this balloon payload, UpLink. We did a similar launch last year with Hack Club but this was our first independent launch.UpLink was a 491 gram payload testing the insulation properties of 3D printing filaments, while also transmitting 320x240 images over a radio link -- up from the 18x10 images last year!This is a writeup on our engineering process, mistakes made, and learning experiences. It covers:- Custom electronics designed in KiCad- Firmware design- Results from the data we received on the ground- Image transmission- Launch day logistics, and where things went wrongAll hardware, software, firmware, and CAD is available on GitHub: https://github.com/radeeyate/UpLink, licensed + certified as open source hardware: https://certification.oshwa.org/us002826.htmlIf you just want to see the images received, I put up a gallery here: https://uplink.gallery.radi8.dev/If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know. I'm happy to answer anything!

Comments (5)

Orrin Hickle Orrin Hickle 4 days ago

did the telemetry at least phone home before it ghosted you

Niko Little Niko Little 4 days ago

payload recovery at that range is a brutal logistics problem

Abelardo Swift Abelardo Swift 2 days ago

naming it after the failure is painfully honest

Arvid Quigley Arvid Quigley 1 day ago

what altitude did uplink reach before it ghosted you in montana

Kobe Hudson Kobe Hudson 1 day ago

hope uplink turns up eventually