09/27/2026
Inside the box: what X2Griffon actually flies.
X2Griffon is Aerostratospheric’s flagship ~1.01 lb (about 458 g) stratospheric profiler. It is built in the Midwest, not bought as a kit and restickered.
Hardware on the maiden:
• Rugged waterproof ABS containment — about 5.9 × 3.9 × 2.8 in
• Temperature, humidity, pressure, and GPS winds on the way up
• QRP Labs U4B for real-time APRS + WSPR + GPS
• Parachute recovery plus xFall2 as the independent black-box failsafe
• In-house electronics, lightweight structure, FAA window discipline
Design target was a rapid climb toward ~115,000 ft. On September 19 we burst at 90,356 ft. That is still well into the stratosphere — and it is also a clear engineering note: power at altitude is the next design fight.
The point of the platform is not a photo of Earth from 90k. It is a vertical profile — temperature, pressure, humidity, wind shear, stability layers — published fast. After recovery we aim to put mission products on xDataHub in under 48 hours.
Specs and other platforms (xFall2, X1 Albatross, Data Hub): https://midwestsds.com/platforms.html
X2Griffon, x1Albatross, xFall2, x2 logger, Defense Systems, xStork, xDataHub, xLiveFlights, and xPlorer — Midwest-made platforms and open atmospheric data tools.
