Let this post be an intermediate update on Project HAL progress.

The Thanksgiving break has led to quite a bit of conceptual work on the design of the rocket. I'm working on CAD models, which I did at first for the hell of it, thinking it was probably overkill, but it's really helped me to determine how I'm going to put the flipcam at the base of the rocket, since space there is really tight. I've also come up with an alternative GPS solution that isn't as full featured as what I had before, but gets the job done and does it for hundreds of dollars less. I've also been throwing around ideas for the parachute system, and coming up requirements for it.

The "official" date on the blog may say November 13, but I wrote the following on November 1st. From this you may infer that it took me nearly two weeks to get around to making a website...

So I finally got started on my high altitude balloon launch that I’ve been meaning to get to for months! You can read about it the "About Project HAL" page, but here's another brief synopsis of the project.

I will be using a weather balloon to launch a payload to a very high altitude (around 30km up, which is 18.6 miles for you English unit lovers out there). That payload will contain a camera (maybe 2), GPS receiver chip, microprocessor, and a radio of some sort to transmit the GPS data back to my laptop on the ground. Also, 4 (approximately, that number could go up or down) G-class amateur rocket motors.

More details and progress report after the break