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Zephyrus Kappa
Zephyrus Kappa
Zephyrus Kappa was launched on February 1st, 2026 and consisted of one balloon. The purpose of this mission was to collect preliminary data for the 3 scintillator Cosmic Watch, conduct wire testing for the METEOR project, and send two student science experiments into the upper atmosphere.
Preparations
Preparations
The tables on the left show the payload for Zephyrus Kappa. In all, the balloon consisted of a valve, parachute, spot trace, 3-scintillator Cosmic Watches, science fair projects, METEOR, and an antenna payload. The payload mass of the balloon was 1320 grams. Path predictions as well as burst calculations were also conducted in advance in order to prepare for Zephyrus Kappa's retrieval and to give a rough estimate of the neck lift, which was adjusted later.
Launch Information
Launch Information
Initially, Zephyrus Kappa was supposed to be launched out of Nottingham, PA, at around 10:30 am EST (15:30 UTC); however, the helium tank that was brought turned out to be empty. Because of that, we had to return to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy to get the tank that had gas, causing the launch to be delayed. Zephyrus Kappa was launched at approximately 12:30 pm EST (17:30 UTC). It took roughly 11 minutes to fill up the balloon. Zephyrus Kappa had a payload weight of around 1320 g with a neck lift of 43.5 N.
kappalaunch.MOVFlight Information
Flight Information
The balloon had an estimated flight duration of 1 hour and 28 min with an estimated maximum altitude of 75,459 feet (23,000 meters). It landed at approximately 1:58 pm EST (18:58 UTC) in Monroe Township, New Jersey. The data collected during this launch is still being analyzed and will be updated later.
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