higher in the troposphere. That’s
because the troposphere is
transparent to sunlight and heated
primarily by its contact with the
ground. The stratosphere does the
opposite and becomes warmer with
increasing altitude because it
contains the ozone layer. Ozone is
not transparent to ultraviolet; it
absorbs this radiation and converts it
into thermal energy. Between the
troposphere and the stratosphere is a
pause in the change of temperature
and it’s called the tropopause. Often,
I do not see the tropopause so
prominently displayed in my data.
Figure 2 shows just how humid
Saturday morning was. The clouds
topped out at around 15,000 feet
and as you can see, the air was dry
above them.
Many NearSys missions carry
Geiger counters and GPSL was no
acceptation. Figure 3 illustrates how
the lower atmosphere shields us from
cosmic radiation which consists
mainly of protons from outer space.
The subatomic particles in cosmic
radiation collide with molecules in
the atmosphere to create showers of
lower energy subatomic particles.
The denser air eventually absorbs
most of this shower of secondary
radiation.
As you can also see in Figure 3,
as the balloon climbed higher there
was less shielding atmosphere above
the balloon, so the cosmic ray count
increased. Notice, however, that at
above 60,000 feet the count begins
decreasing.
This occurs because the Geiger
counter is beginning to detect
primary cosmic radiation before it
has a chance to create secondary
cosmic radiation. Looking at this
data, do you see a hint that the
cosmic ray count is trying to increase
above an altitude of 100,000 feet?
The reported speed and altitude
of the onboard GPS receiver created
the chart in Figure 4. The chart
shows there was a mild jet stream
over Pella during GPSL. Even better
(although not shown in this chart),
I always enjoy attending GPSL.
It’s a conference I helped begin in
2001, and I am the only person to
attend each one. Next year, Project:
Traveler will host GPSL (Zack Clobe’s
third time) in Hutchinson, KS. I invite
Nuts & Volts readers to attend this
conference to learn about near space
technology and how balloons are
launched. You can remain current
with Great Plains Super Launch plans
at http://superlaunch.org.
Onwards and Upwards,
Your near space guide NV
NearSys 13E and NSTAR Flight 13-A as they were found on the ground.
A wet spring meant Iowa farmers planted their corn later than usual.
That's why the corn isn't hiding the near spacecraft as it normally does. The
recovery site was 20 feet off the road and we would have missed it
had it not been for the sharp eyes of Mike Moody.
September 2013 15
