Near-Space Balloon-Cam Project (a.k.a. - Kevin's Adventures in Space!)
Follow Katy and Lauren's High Altitude Balloon Camera Project!
by Scott Saffer
Press Release: Tri- Point High Altitude Balloon Flight
Two 7th grade students at Tri-Point Jr. High are preparing to launch a weather balloon and capsule to almost 100,000 feet to take pictures of the curvature of the earth and the upper atmosphere. Katy Haag and Lauren Mohler, students in Mr. Saffer’s Enrichment Science class, have been working on this project for several months, and have gotten all the grades in their school involved in planning this project. They will literally take their project to the stratosphere! They were inspired by a group of students at MIT who designed a similar project, and also by Disney Pixar’s movie UP. They have a planned launch date of Friday, May 14th at 9 a.m., if the winds and weather permit.
With support from the Enrichment Program at Tri-Point, some fund raising, and donations from local businesses like Jamie’s grocery store in Forrest and Radio Shack in Fairbury, they have been able to put together a capsule in a Styrofoam cooler that will carry a digital camera and a GPS tracking device. It will be carried aloft by a helium filled weather balloon and has a parachute attached to slow its fall. The girls were able to purchase a camera on Ebay, and using special software, programmed it to take pictures every ten seconds for several hours. This will be built into a modified Styrofoam cooler, which will also carry insulation and hand warmer pads to keep everything from freezing at high altitude. The balloon will slowly expand as it rises into the thin atmosphere, until it finally ruptures and parachutes down. The SPOT GPS device will transmit its location, so the recovery crew can pick it up and finally see the pictures it has captured.
Students from pre-school to 8th grade have been involved in the development of this project. Katy and Lauren have presented their project to all the grades and worked with the other students to prepare for the launch. Students from the elementary grades have written notes which will be packed in the capsule, that will also act as cushioning and insulation. 4th grade students in Mrs. Walter’s and Mrs. Lanes classes have studied the chemistry of the hand warmers and investigated whether they will work in the thin air at high altitude. 5th graders in Mrs. Zimmerman’s and Avery’s class helped drop test the capsule from the 3rd floor window, and 6th graders in Mrs. Porth’s Science class are helping with the weather forecast. 7th grade Social Studies students in Mr. Keever’s class have studied GPS and mapping software, and will be tracking the device to guide the search crew towards its recovery. 8th graders in Mrs. Mogged’s Math class worked on calculating the volume of helium needed for the balloon, and its lifting capacity. They’re all anxious for the launch date to arrive, when they will get to see the balloon and its capsule finally take flight.
Prior to the launch, Mr. Saffer will contact the FAA to notify them of our plans so they can keep the airspace around balloon clear and to alert airplanes. Katy and Lauren have included a metallic reflector to allow the balloon to be picked up by radar. The girls will enter their data into a flight program that will calculate an approximate landing site. Once it’s launched, Mr. Saffer, Katy, Lauren, , and chaperones will then drive out to recover the capsule. Mr. Keever’s class will be tracking it on GoogleMaps and will report its location to the recovery crew and the students at school. The recovery crew will use GPS units to pinpoint its location. The girls are hopeful that it will be easy to recover! Once the capsule is recovered, the Katy and Lauren will post their pictures to the school’s website. You can track the capsule live using SPOT GPS on the day of the launch at http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0XHhKDrGs5Ilh69qsepAlav2EciqxekqA
The weather forecast can be found at http://wxweb.meteostar.com/sample/sample.shtml?text=KBMI
Contact Info:
Scott Saffer
Enrichment Coordinator
Tri-Point CUSD 6J
Piper City, IL 60959
safferr@tripoint.k12.il.us
815-686-2247, ext. 208
