Members of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology research club PWr in Space launched PoliFloater, an atmospheric probe from the Błędowska Desert that will circle the globe in three weeks.
– We developed the PoliFloater to gain new skills and learn from the data sent by the probe to create next devices even better. For now, our probe was made of ready-made elements that we bought and combined, but ultimately, we want to create such devices from scratch ourselves and test our own various technologies – says Konrad Zaprucki from the PWr in Space club.
PoliFloater weighs less than 20 grams. It consists of an on-board computer, a radio module, a voltage meter and a pressure sensor, as well as photovoltaic cells and gas-filled foil balloons allowing it to float in the air. To reduce its weight, the probe has no batteries – its devices are active during the day, and when it gets dark, the PoliFloater “falls asleep”.
