Near Space Balloon

The third and fourth graders in Chris Swinko’s class at Summers-Knoll School aren’t just studying space, they are going there. Well, sort of. They are sending a balloon to near space - hopefully over 100,000 ft. up into the air to take video of the earth and the stars. Their science teacher, George Albercook Ph.D. (A.K.A. Dr. G), is a former faculty member of the college of Engineering and used to work with Scientists and Engineers at the Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan. With the support of several local businesses, Huron Scuba, Orino Auto and Rocks and Robots Summer camp, the class is not only sending their payload 25 miles high, they will track it by GPS in real time and attempt to recover it.

This is not all the student are looking forward to. Recent studies have reported several new bacteria were discovered in the Earth’s stratosphere. Amazingly, they survive in a vacuum, 40 degrees below zero while being bombarded with Ultraviolet (sterilizing) radiation. Once the students are confident that they can launch and recover a payload, Dr. G. plans to collect a few samples in hopes that they will discover more unidentified bacteria.

The balloon the Summers-Knoll students are using is a giant weather balloon 14 feet high and 12 feet across. Attached to the balloon is a parachute and two independent telemetry systems. One uses an amateur radio transmitter connected to a GPS that sends the current coordinates to a worldwide network of repeater stations and on to the internet. The other use a low power wireless internet style transmitter to send GPS coordinate directly to a receiver on the ground tracking the balloon. Dr. G. says that the two systems are redundant the use independent batteries, GPS receivers, and radio transmitters. In addition to the telemetry systems, the payload has four video cameras. Two are HD high end cameras. The other two are amazingly capable keychain video cameras that cost as little as $14. Dr. G. hopes to promote amateur space science as a hobby and bring the cost down to allow more people to participate.

The launch is planned (weather permitting) for June 3rd, the day after the Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire. Dr. G. and some of his students will be at the Fair on June 2nd. with the balloon payload explaining how it will all work. You can follow their results in real time. Details at the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/AlbercookScientific