Assignment 11: High Altitude Balloon Launch (HABL)

HABL Launch conducted on April 26^th, 2013.

Introduction

After two months of waiting for the proper weather, it was finally time to conduct our high altitude balloon launch (HABL). This year, winter weather decided to stick around a little longer than usual, and Friday, April 26^th was the first nice, warm day, with temperature reaching 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite having classes only on Mondays for three hours, our professor forewarned us to keep an eye on our email because he would email us the night before the launch, but he was expecting it to be Friday.

Method

The HABL consisted of three main parts. First was the large helium balloon, which allowed the camera to reach high altitude and take the video. Using 550 cord, the balloon was attached to both the parachute and the camera rig. Below the balloon was the parachute, which would be deployed when the atmospheric pressure reduced enough to allow the balloon to expand and eventually burst, thereby releasing the vertical tension on the parachute. The final part was the camera rig, which was just a styrofoam bait box, with a hole cut for the Flip Cam lens to be placed in for video recording. Also in the camera rig was a GPS locator, insulation, and several hand warmers to keep the box warm enough for the camera to continue operating. The FAA also requires that a strobe light be attached, so we attached one to the outside of the rig.

Figure 1: Our class heading to the campus mall area to release the balloon.
You can see the parachute connected to balloon.

We launched the balloon from the center of the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire campus mall, shortly after 10:00 AM. Our professor was suppose to be able to see where the rig was via the GPS locator with either his iPhone or computer, however, for some reason he didn't receive the first update until almost 30min after the balloon was launched. Fortunately, about an hour and a half after the launch our professor finally received a signal from it, 78 miles to the east (Figure 2). When he asked for volunteers to go on the recovery mission with him, I volunteered along with fellow classmate Beatriz Viseau.

Figure 2: The is a map where the balloon was released (green) and where it landed (red).
Due to the some strong winds, it was pushed about 78 miles to the East/Southeast.

After stopping at the professors house to pick up some gear, we drove for about 1.5 hours to the expected owners house. The occupants turned out to be the owners of the land where the GPS signal was emanating from and were kind enough to give us permission to retrieve it. After about a one mile walk and navigating an extremely muddy field, our professor spotted the rig and parachute about 25 feet up in a tree (Figure 2). We had left the climbing gear in the truck, so our professor went back to retrieve it. When he returned, he began climbing the tree. Since the rig was stuck on the outer edge of a branch, we sent up a saw to our professor so he could cut the branch down (Figure 3). After about thirty minutes of sawing, our professor was exhausted, and the branch finally snapped, lowering our rig to the ground (Figure 4). There was much rejoicing (Figure 5).

Figure 2: Photo taken from the ground, looking up.  The rig was at least 25 feet up.

Figure 3: Professor Hupy grabbing the saw that we hoisted up to him.

Figure 4: The tree limb that was sawed off.  I attempted throw the rope into a higher
limb so we could hoist up a hatchet which would have made our professors effort a little easier,
but unfortunately he had it cut before I was able to get the rope high enough.

Figure 5: Professor Hupy holding the retrieved rig after cutting the branch and climbing back down.

With the rig successfully retrieved, we packed our things and made our way back to Eau Claire.

Discussion/Conclusion

The following images are single frames from the video. Unfortunately, the Flip Cam had a 1 hour limit on video recording time, resulting in only part of the descent being filmed. The Go Pro was the most desirable, and will likely be the camera used in the future, but it was not obtainable for this event.

The following stillshots extracted from the video show some of the amazing footage that was obtained.  Unfortunately, as the rig gained altitude, condensation began forming on the camera.  In future launches, the condensation buildup may be able to be reduced by placing rice in the rig as well.  Even with the condensation, the footage was still amazing.

Figure 5: Stillshot of the video as it follows the Chippewa River.

Figure 6: Stillshot as the balloon continues to gain altitude.

Figure 7: Some intense upper atmospheric winds allowed the camera to catch
glimpses of the curvature of the Earth.

Figure 8: Another glimpse of Earth's curvature.

Figure 9: The tops of some clouds were caught as well.

Despite having seen many images similar to these, most of them being higher quality and not having a giant circular blur in the center, it was still extremely satisfying and inspiring to be a part of this exercise.  I look forward to doing this sort of project on my own in the future.