Overview
Our marquee project this summer is a high altitude weather balloon. Our goal is to design, build, test, launch, and recover an integrated high altitude weather balloon experiment. We have filed our flights plans with the FAA and have received clearance to proceed. Our target launch date is Wednesday, July 25th! Our first back up day is July 26th, and our second back up day is July 27th. We will be launching our student designed and built balloon and payload from the grounds of Delaware Township School.
Project Structure
Our project includes several components with many tasks and assignments to reach completion. Young scientists have been assigned onto the following teams:
Flight Directors – serve as the the conductor of the overall project. Managing the Master Launch Checklist and overseeing all preparations and coordination required.
Tracking Specialists – serve to understand, design, and deploy a redundant set of tracking technologies to monitor our balloon from the ground.
Media Specialists – manage and oversee all documentation, photos, videos, and artifacts produced throughout the project, launch day, and post-recovery.
Payload Specialists – our largest team include specialists designing the payload structure and electronics specialists focused on assembling all electronics, batteries, and operating constraints.
Balloon Specialists – understand and calculate launch mass, balloon bursting target values, altitude targets, inflation procedures and related.
Weather and Trajectory Specialists – responsible for plotting planned trajectory, weather forecasts, and likely recovery zones.
Project Facts and Figures
Target altitude: 110,000 ft
Launch location: Delaware Township School
Target launch date: Wednesday, July 25th 12:30pm
Balloon mass: 1200 grams (uninflated)
Helium volume planned: 110 cubic foot
Payload components: 2x HD cameras, 2x temperature, humidity, pressure sensors, 2x GPS trackers, 1x Geiger Radiation Meter, 1 Delaware Township School Mascot
Videos of Similar Projects
Delaware Township Summer Recreation and STEAM Program 