Josh's Senior Project- 2011 DIY Space Balloon

I've always dreamed of going to space... but the odds of that actually happening are slim to none. So, instead, I decided I'll send a collage of pictures of my friends and myself to space, via a weather balloon.

The weather balloon was attached to a parachute, which held a carbon fiber frame in place, and on that frame was a GoPro camera, my collage, a Spot Tracker gps, and contact info etc.

We rented out a helium tank, drove to Cle Elum, Washington, and found a park with plenty of clear space to be a launch site.

We launched the balloon at 10:34 PST on December 29th, 2011. After 50,000 ft, the gps stops sending us signals. We're estimating it hit the 50,000ft mark at approximately 11:13am.

After that, we drove 100 miles east to Ritzville, Washington. We had run weather balloon test calculations and expected our balloon to land about 50 miles east from that point, but we were unclear whether it'd be north or south.

We legitimately waited in a Starbucks a whole 2.5 hrs and had just about given up. Just before we were about to leave, my friend and my dad simultaneously checked the GPS tracker and realized the balloon had landed!

We plugged in the coordinates and realized the craft was not 10 miles from where we were. We were stunned. After following a road down the middle of nowhere, we met a kind cattle-herder who owned the land in which our craft had landed. After getting permission, we parked the car on the side of the road and searched for our beacon.

We spent a good half hour searching until one of us saw the bright orange parachute. Everything was intact! It was so cool to find everything functioning and in one piece. After prying the camera case open, we took out the memory card and watched the entire trip at dinner. It was spectacular. (I will be uploading the entire trip as another YouTube video, if you wish to watch it)

Finally, we drove home and split up. Everybody was happy. All in all, this was a fantastic experience.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Josh
• Senior
• Project
• Balloon

[purplerocks23]

such a pretty veiw!! A++ ^_^

[samsclubmember]

Josh, what equipment did you use for gps?

[issaquahdoghouse]

Josh - fantastic all the way around! Trust me, this is MUCH better than the 4 cardinal rules of finance. Bryan

[GizmoBitz]

Nice song choice! I approve.

[Blupurrs]

Absolutely amazing!

[Layback75]

Rad!



[zapsaurus]

siiiiickest!

[dinosaurchaser]

this is awesome.