As part of NASA’s National Balloon Program, the Michigan Exploration Laboratory (MXL), in collaboration with students in the AEROSP 495 class, is deploying high-altitude balloons (HABs) in 2025 to measure the Forbush decrease expected during the solar maximum in July 2025. To establish a baseline, we conducted two HAB flights on February 22 and March Continue Reading »
Thanks to Ham operators worldwide, we have completed downlink of the three 1-Hz telemetry runs conducted during early GRIFEX operations (1 Feb 2015 23:29 – 2 Feb 2015 01:56, 3 Feb 2015 00:22 – 05:16, and 9 Feb 2015 02:00 – 04:32). We’ve taken a look at these and some interesting trends emerge.
In all Continue Reading »
We are excited to report that GRIFEX is doing well on orbit! Initial telemetry looks great. We are power positive. Temperatures are in good, safe ranges. GRIFEX has also responded well to commands. We are in the process of checking out the spacecraft and making sure everything is working well.
Thanks to NASA and the Continue Reading »
MXL’s beacon decoding client software is ready for download. This software will let you view the telemetry content of GRIFEX beacons while automatically sending it to MXL’s servers. We are distributing the client through our datasever at mxl-ops.engin.umich.edu. A visual walkthrough of the download/setup process (valid for Windows, Linux, and MacOS) is here: Downloading Continue Reading »
Congratulations to the MCubed-2 team for the first successful image of Earth. Below, there is a fantastic, snow-covered picture of Lake Superior, the upper peninsula of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Canada. The deep freeze of the Midwest is clearly visible.
Prof. Continue Reading »