Brambletye Space Program Test 1

Yesterday our budding astronauts and cosmonauts set off a couple of helium balloons as test flights for our Brambletye Space Program.

First the balloon needs to be partially filled with helium.

The balloon will get bigger as it gains altitude because atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude.

Then the tracking equipment and a small parachute need to be attached.

The parachute will control the descent rate to about 5m/s.

The tracking equipment needs to be ready and receiving signals from the balloon.

We needed to launch from a site well away from trees

 The balloon is ready

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

 

And off it goes

Up, up and away

The trackers give us vital information:

First line is all about signal strength and frequency

Second line shows the time and the N coordinates

Third line shows battery life and the W coordinates

fourth line shows speed in knots, Altitude in m and temperature in degrees C

We used the coordinates in google maps to track where the balloon was.

This is near its last message.

 We had two receivers for each balloon just in case one failed. The picture shows the last message each received. The balloons were still going the highest one was at 8.5km altitude, doing 66 knots (that's about 120kph) and the temperature was -54 degrees C. In all likelihood the batteries failed at this very cold temperature. It was 175km away from school and still going strong!
I would like to say a very big thank you to the enthusiastic Dads who have helped with their expertise and equipment. Without them this project would not have been inspired yet alone realised.