A new sensor and data acquisition (SDA) system is currently under development. 

The core of this new subsystem is a dedicated RISC microcontroller, running an eight input DAC with 10-bit resolution. The new SDA system can provide rates up to 150 samples per second for each channel, pushing  STRAPLEX's instrumentation capability to a new standard.

The interface of the system is fully differential, which allows reading sensors with negative voltages, such as accelerometers.

Yes, it happened again and it is becoming a STRAPLEX tradition: the kart race. It took place on the 27th December, in the "KART CENTER de Matosinhos".

This time, there were two heats, so we had double fun. Even though there were STRAPLEX team members that could not join the event, the number of participants increased, when compared with previous editions.

Click "read more" for lap times and a group photo!

The year that just finishes brought a lot of success for the STRAPLEX project and its team. It was an incredible year, full of adrenaline.

The coming year of 2009 will already start with several exciting improvements in the platform and with flights in the pipeline. More information will be available during the first months of 2009.

The STRAPLEX team wishes all STRAPLEX friends and colleagues a joyful Christmas and a happy New Year!

On 15 September, students from Spain, Sweden and Belgium watched in eager anticipation as their experiments took to the air on the first ESA STRAtospheric PLatform EXperiment (STRAPLEX) campaign.
 
The launch of the helium balloon and the STRAPLEX capsule from the Évora airfield in Portugal marked the culmination of more than a year of preparation by the student teams. The launch campaign began at the University of Porto on 12 September and continued over the following day as the five experiments were integrated with the capsule.

The stratospheric platform was launched this morning at 7:25 UTC from the Évora Aerodrome and recovered at 12:15 UTC, around 100 Km from the launch site.  The flight enabled the STRAPLEX team to validate the new transponder on board of the platform.

This high technology transponder, specifically designed for UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), sends standardized radio frequency pulses which are received by the National Air Traffic Control Authorities. During the flight this morning, the coordination with Lisbon's controllers went flawlessly as they could see the coordinates and altitude of STRAPLEX and confirming in real time with the telemetry data received by the ground segment team.

The air traffic controllers and airplane pilots are now able to see STRAPLEX in their radars, increasing the security levels in every STRAPLEX flight and allowing STRAPLEX, for instance, to fly heavier payloads.

7th-11th of April - Porto, Portugal

The Spie UP'08 is an international event that has as primary objective to promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the University of Porto. During this week, several workshops and conferences took place showing success cases, difficulties, opportunities and new trends. 

The STRAPLEX project was presented to a large audience by Marinho P. Duarte as one successful project, created by students, for students.