Launching a High Altitude Balloon (HAB) requires extensive planning periods, attention to detail, little tolerance for error, and financial backing. Testing ideas, adjusting variables, and learning from mistakes occurs in long and expensive iteration cycles. The pace and cost of HAB projects henders innovation and turns away certain demographics and organizations. The objective of this research is to develop an open-source software toolset for simulating key elements of a HAB launch, ascent, and descent. Simulating HAB processes harbors low-cost, low-risk, and fast-paced experimentation. The objective of the open-source software toolset is to foster innovation and opportunity. Included in this research is a case-study of the open-source toolset in a real HAB project. The study will use a relatively low-cost, consumer-grade, HAB kit. It is expected that the software toolset will provide demonstrable enhancements to the projects timeline, financial feasibility, and performance.
