2005 BalloonSAT Launch      June 18

BalloonSAT Launch at Milton High School, Milton Vermont
This event is a collaboration with CUNY and Milton HS
Starts at: 9:00 am

Photos coming soon!!!

CHASE & RECOVERY OF THE BALLOONSAT

Hi Mike,
I have a great video and pictures of the launch in Milton. Where did it
come down and at what attitude did the balloon burst? Please tell me all
about the chase and recovery. What time did you get it and when did
Shermane and the crew leave for New York City? Was the data good?
I was very pleased to have had an opportunity to be there and my husband
and my grandson Tyler McRae, really loved helping to launch. We would have
loved to go on the chase, if it had not been on Father's Day and we were
going to church. Another time perhaps. It was unfortunate the other
students could not be there. Thanks for all your efforts.  Best of wishes
for your work toward your degree.
Laurel
_______________
Laurel C. Zeno
Grant Administrator/
Program Coordinator
VT Space Grant Consortium/NASA EPSCoR
Votey Bldg, UVM (mail)
Burlington, VT 05405
802-656-1429
802-656-1102 (fax)
http://www.cem.uvm.edu/VSGC/
 

Hi Laurel,

Thanks for taking video and pictures of the BalloonSat launch event.
I'm glad that you were able to attend the launch and you all enjoyed it.  We
did recover it about 1/2 mile north of Elizabethtown, NY on route 9.  We were
fortunate that it landed only a few hundred feet from the road, up a
hillside.
There was an old logging road going up the hill and it was a hundred feet
or so off it, requiring a little bushwhacking.  With a little encouragement,
everyone hiked in to see the payload.

The hillside was heavily wooded, with many tall trees; a mix of hard and
softwoods.  We were fortunate that the payload was hanging at chest level,
from a smaller tree.  We posed for pictures and then Leon easily pulled it from
the tree.

On the way back, we stopped in Wadhams, a very small town in NY, for a
strawberry festival, where we all had strawberries and ice cream.  It was delicious
and fun hanging out with the town folks.  The return trip across the Essexx Ferry was
really beautiful, as the sun had come out by then.  Part of the NYC group left
before this point to head back to the city via I87.  Shermane and Leon stayed
the evening and we returned the helium tanks and went out to dinner downtown.

The data was collected on a HOBO.  We examined it and it looked good.  Minimum
temperature was -71F.  Humidity had a lot of variance, expected while punching
through the clouds.  On that particular day, the bottom of the stratosphere was
pushed a little higher and we may have just reached it.  This flight didn't
travel as high, since a smaller balloon was used.  Our data compared well with
the data from the NWS for a sounding balloon flight from the nearest station in
Albany, NY.

Here are more stats: Maximum recorded altitude ~62,000 feet.  Maximum speed:
~100 mph.  Balloon recovery: 1pm.  Strawberry festival: 1:12pm - 2pm.  First
group home to NYC: 2pm.  Flight distance: 37.5 miles, bearing 219 degrees
(SoutWest).

Mike Fortney

05 BaloonSAT Launch      CricketSAT 04      CricketSAT Data       CricketSAT History