RIT Space Exploration - CubeSat Team

We have designed and assembled a radio ground station that can receive and decode all sorts of radio signals. The signals we will be receiving at Imagine are being transmitted from a picoballoon, which is a literal balloon - not much bigger than a birthday balloon - carrying some very basic and lightweight equipment around the world at 30,000 feet. We will launch the balloon in the week leading up to Imagine, and visitors can see all sorts of flight data - such as altitude, airspeed, and position - on the screen. Visitors will be able to use the ground station to look at an interactive map, see data over time, and see how changing the way the antenna is set up can affect the signal. We will also have some real picoballoon equipment, including a balloon, to show what it looks like and how it works.

Picoballoon payload

Map of the path taken by a picoballoon launched December 2025

TERRAIN Radio Ground Station

Satellite image received by the radio ground station