A Study on the Stratospheric Environmental Factors in the Philippines that Affects the Quality of Data Gathered in Launching Near Space Balloon

Near space balloon is a technology that is getting widespread attention in other countries due to its promising benefits in comparison to the limitations of actual space exploration. Not to mention that the cost of launching satellite and the quality of data generated from space requires a lot of investment and technical requirement. Near space balloon which reaches the stratospheric level at a height of 200ft is a joint project of the College of Engineering and the School of Aviation in partnership with Microchip Technology Inc. This aims to provide an alternative solution of acquiring data at the said height which is more efficient in data gathering than satellite data due to its proximity from the ground station antenna. Also, the signal strength is higher at the said level. This project will use the Raspberry Pi TM as a module for the processing of data. The challenges of setting up the near space balloon relies on the accuracy of analyzing the environmental factor in the Philippines especially that we have intermittent strong winds that will be detrimental in the analysis of data.This study aims to present the environmental conditions of the Philippines in near space. This will contribute in the actual launching of the near space balloon.