insulate from the cold, its
low weight, and its ease of
machining. Students — even
young ones — instinctively
understand how to cut and
glue it together. That ease
allows students to
concentrate on the
BalloonSat design and its
ability to collect data.
After gluing the airframe
together, the teachers
mounted the avionics inside
the airframe. The flight
computer was just glued to
an interior shelf since it was
lightweight. However, the
camera was bolted to the
airframe with 1/4-20 bolts.
Likewise, teachers built a
compartment into the
airframe to contain the
battery. Both the camera and
battery are heavy and dense
enough to pose a hazard,
should they not be
adequately restrained during
descent. That’s because
initial descent is a very
chaotic event and loose
objects get thrown around a
lot.
We ran short of time this
year, so a comprehensive
test of the flight articles was skipped.
Otherwise, the teachers would have
tested their BalloonSat construction
by shaking it to insure nothing was
free to bounce around, chilling it to
make sure it still operated at low
temperatures, and starting it to make
sure crews would be able to start it
up quickly and without errors at the
launch site.
By the end of the day, the class
had tethered their BalloonSats to the
rest of the near spacecraft, checked
out the latest prediction, and made
plans to rendezvous at the launch
site the next morning. It’s pretty
awesome to see three days’ worth of
work come together in a near
spacecraft predicted to reach 90,000
feet and collect data in the near
space environment.
Saturday
Everyone met at Treynor High
School (Iowa) Saturday morning to
begin the balloon filling process. It
only takes about an hour to fill the
balloon and during this time, teachers
prepped their BalloonSats for flight.
This included plugging in batteries
and starting their cameras. It was an
overcast morning and not very
promising in regards to seeing the
balloon during its flight (we’d still be
able to track it over radio).
The flight prediction that
morning showed only a minor
change to the predicted recovery
zone, so most of our driving plan
remained unchanged. The largest
obstacle facing us was that it had
been raining recently and
the back country roads and
fields promised to be muddy
(this is why I carry a pair of
tall rain boots in my car
when I go on a chase).
After an eventful launch,
we made our first stop at
Griswold where we could
get food and drinks while
waiting for the balloon to
burst. Fortunately, the clouds
opened up enough to let us
see the balloon at around
60,000 feet. It was great for
the first-time near space
explorers to see the balloon
as a tiny dot in the sky, and
know it was their balloon
and its current flight
conditions like altitude,
speed, and direction.
After the balloon burst
at 92,704 feet, we updated
our predicted recovery zone
and headed out. Remember
The landing site turned out to be
at one end of the taxiway in Atlanta.
We arrived at this surprisingly large
airport and made a beeline for the
operations office. We were able to
get permission to enter the airfield in
two cars and recover the near
spacecraft. Needless to say, we
stayed off the runway since our cars
were unable to develop sufficient air
speed.
I had a job teaching
Quadcopters in Idaho on Monday, so
I got right back on the road after
having lunch with the teachers and
chase crew in Council Bluffs. I want
to thank Ms. Squires for sending me
paul@nearsys.com
At an altitude of 3,500 feet, one of the teacher’s
BalloonSats took this picture of the airport in
Atlanta, IA. It’s quite a nice airport and the
managers have that midwest friendliness.
Five Nebraska teachers at the recovery of their
BalloonSats. Next up will be downloading the data
and images recorded in their BalloonSats.
48 December 2015