Page last updated:
Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010 -- 6 a.m.
Contact information:
James
Flaten
flaten@aem.umn.edu
651-399-2423
(cell) Activity synopsis:
On
Saturday,
November
6,
2010 we will launch 4 large helium-filled
latex weather balloons from 3 different locations to lift "stacks"
of experimental payloads and GPS tracking boxes to about 90,000
feet, also known as "Near Space." At a launch site you can
observe ground operations,
examine the payloads and talk to the students who built them, watch
inflation of the balloon, and see the ground GPS
tracking systems. The balloons will be about 8-9 feet in diameter
when released and grow to more than 30 feet in diameter by the time
they
burst. The balloons are expected to be in the air about 2 hours
each. The MN Space Grant ballooning team from the U of
MN -- Twin Cities plus people from Concordia College, U of MN --
Morris, Saint Catherine University, and Augsburg College will track
the flight using GPS and radio communications and "chase" them to
recover the payloads once they return to the ground by
parachute.
Weather update:
Weather
predictions
for
Saturday
morning
are good, though the flights will go mostly south
(which is a bit unusual).
Launch #1: 8:30
a.m. planned release from 20 to 30 miles east of Sandstone, MN
(possibly just short of the border with Wisconsin). Expected to
fly about 60 miles mostly south,
landing near Barron, WI about 10:30 a.m. Contact: Erick
Agrimson, Saint Catherine University, 651-245-1755 (cell)
Launch #2: 9:00
a.m. planned
release from Morris, MN. Expected to fly about 50 miles south by
southeast, landing 10 miles east of Montevideo, MN about 11:00
a.m. Contact: Gordon McIntosh, U of MN -- Morris,
320-287-1828 (cell)
Launch #3: 9:00
a.m. planned
release from about 30 miles west of Fargo, NM. Expected to fly
about 50 miles south by
southeast, landing 10 miles north of Wahpeton, ND about 11:00
a.m.
Contact: Paul Seifert, Concordia College, 701-261-0626 (cell)
Launch #4: Same
location as launch #1 except 9:30 a.m. planned
release, so landing near
Barron, WI about 11:30 a.m. Contact: James Flaten, U of MN
-- Twin
Cities, 651-399-2423 (cell)
Internet tracking:
It
is
possible
to
use
the
internet to monitor the flight of balloons
which transmit their GPS location using APRS (ham radio) format, as
long as you know the ham radio call sign of the radio(s) on
board. One web site where this can be done is http://aprs.fi/ The call signs will
be WØJH-11
for balloon #1, WØJH-12
for
balloon
#4 (both registered to
the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association (SARA ham radio club)), KDØMVU
for balloon #2, and KCØNSR-3
for balloon #3..
We may be able to stream video of the launch and/or some of the
telemetry data during
the flight to
http:///www.justin.tv/mn_space_grant
and/or to http://www.justin.tv/mn_space_grant2
.
Note:
APRS
tracking
data
on
aprs.fi will be close to "live"
whereas there is often a delay (sometimes up to an hour!) between when
we stream information to justin.tv and when it actually appears on
their web site.