ARTOB Projects            GM1SXX March 2006

ARTOB... Amateur Radio Transponder On Balloon.

Flying an amateur payload on a high altitude balloon is a great way to test and develop technology that could be transferred to orbital satellites. Several countries have been involved in these activities but if Internet hits are anything to go by, the US and Germany appear to lead the field. That's not to say that other countries have not participated. The Australians flew some hardware on the early 90's. See 'Rubbersat' in the Observations from Australia section of this website.

Some projects have limited their scope to telemetry collection systems providing data on amateur radio downlonks while others such as Rubbersat and the German ARTOB projects flew transponders (IMHO far more interesting and useful).

Just a few of the sites on the Internet are listed below.

Balloon Launch Announcements (USA)

 

ARTOB Germany

 

 Australian ARTOB Project
German SSTV Weather Balloon project SIMSAT (AMRAD) SIMSAT Pat Kilroy (NASA)
Ralph Wallio W0RPK Near Earth Space Minnesota ARTOB project
Bear Project NSTAR Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballooning Links
America's 'other' space program MABEL-1 Near Space Return Vehicle
The Space Review (article) K4LRG Balloon Pages OBSERVATIONS

Balloon Manufacturers and Distributors
AEROSTAR - Promotional Balloons and Inflatables
http://www.aerostar.com/
KAYMONT - Meteorological Balloons
http://www.kaymont.com/pages/home.html
KAYSAM - Meteorological Balloons
http://www.kaysam.com/
RAVEN INDUSTRIES - Engineered Films Division
http://www.ravenind.com/RavenCorporate/eng_films/high_alt_balloons_index.htm  W0RPK HAB Links