One of the projects that I’m worked on with my high school’s makerspace is a high altitude balloon sensor package. NASA added us to the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, meaning that we get to fly a four pound payload on a high altitude balloon. I’ve been working with one of the project leaders, and we’re strapping a Gear 360 onto the payload to record 4K 360 panoramic video of the flight, as well as some other atmospheric sensors.
Here’s some footage from the launch:
And from the recovery:
And here’s the flight as recorded from one of the payloads onboard:
Data and its analysis is coming soon from the teams, but it seems like all should be well. There was a couple hours worth of data left on our SD cards and nothing crashed, although some last-minute battery configuration changes might have shortened the run-time and eaten into the 20% safety factor.
We almost set an altitude record, reaching 107,830 feet exactly an hour and a half after launch. In total, it covered 128 miles in its 2 hour and 39 minute flight, with a top speed of 116mph.
Thanks to both teams and EOSS for a great flight!