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Team Members:
Students: Josh Cannon (Gr.11) - Project manager
Jesse Erb (Gr. 11) - Communications
Curtis Funk (Gr. 9) - Assistant to the project manager
Alyssa Peterson (Gr. 9) - Key Grip
Teachers: Mr. Gunstenson - Organizer
Mr. Falk - "Get it Done'r"
Mr. Forsythe - Construction specialist
Mr. McCulloch - Photographer
Mr. Kohlman - Public relations
Last spring Herbert School was chosen as a launch site for a stratospheric balloon. Since 2013, a team of students at the University of Regina have been launching helium-filled stratospheric balloons, gathering data and taking photographs from the edge of space using easy-to-program do-it-yourself electronics. To date, launching a space balloon (and retrieving the payload afterward) has been difficult and expensive, but this team of students is developing a kit of equipment and instructions to make it easy for anyone to perform this experiment. As an avenue for science promotion, participating in launching and retrieving a space balloon and collecting and analyzing the data has enormous potential. The National High Altitude Balloon Experiment (HABEX) program will enable schools, science centres, and other organizations across Canada to explore the stratosphere and share their findings with each other and the world.
Wednesday October 5th @ 3:30 - First team meeting. During this time, the team constructed the payload box, ensured all electronics were received and functioning properly, and designated tasks for future completion.
General construction:
Our payload consisted of:
- 2 GoPro type cameras (Why 2? keep reading...)
- Gas and temperature sensors
- Battery packs
- Heating pad due to the payload experiencing temperatures below -40 degrees celsius
- Light and sound beacon
Morning of Wednesday October 12th - Camera was dropped in its protective case and was no longer functioning! 24 hours to launch time and we were without our most valuable tool! Due to having limited access to electronics, the decision was made to crack open the camera and get it working. By lunch time, the camera was quasi-operational but we believed we needed a backup plan at this point as well. Mr. Falk was made aware that his parents were able to make a trip to an electronics store on their way home from Medicine Hat. New camera! Mr. Falk to the rescue! Now we had two cameras, we thought we may as well send them both up!
Wednesday October 12th @ noon - 24 Hour team checklist meeting. We went over general procedures and routines for launch time. Filling, sealing, and attaching... who was supposed to do what.
Thursday October 13th @ 7:30 am - Team arrived at school on a beautifully calm, clear morning.
Temperature: 4 degrees Celsius
Wind: From the east at 7 kph
Sky: Clear
Jesse Erb did an amazing job ensuring that all proper paperwork was filed and that all authorities were notified prior to launching. This was not an easy task!
The team assembled the payload box and transported everything to the launch site on the field behind the school.
Thursday October 13th @ 8:40 am - A thick fog rolled into town! Well... so much for good pictures/videos!
Thursday October 13th @ 8:45 am - Team arrived at launch site and began filling and sealing the balloon and sealing and attaching the payload.
Jesse Erb kept our whole-school crowd interested!
Our quasi-operational camera stopped functioning! With cold fingertips and quick thinking we got it back to its somewhat working state after about 15 minutes of tinkering.
Josh noticed that the fully inflated balloon did not have enough lift for our payload box!
Answer? We used our other balloon too! Luckily at this time the fog started to disappear!
Official launch time 9:19 am
Predicted Flight Path - Right click on map and "open image in new tab" to zoom in...
The table below is the actual tracking information from the GPS within the payload. It is normal to lose GPS signal when the GPS goes out of range for about 20 minutes. We experienced GPS loss at 10:53 am until 11:11 am, we believe this is when the first balloon popped. We were excited to know that our balloon was descending as scheduled and landing approximately where we predicted. However, we then lost GPS signal again at 11:20 am until 11:52 am. This worried us during this time because we were not sure if the balloon was actually descending or if the other balloon was still inflated. We were certainly relieved to see the signal come back and we thought maybe the second balloon had popped and our payload was now descending. That was until 12:21 pm when we lost the signal again! We were quite concerned that we may not be retrieving the balloon at all when this happened. Almost two hours had gone by, but at 2:05 pm the signal was back and the GPS indicated that the payload was on the ground! However, the balloon had drifted almost double the distance that we had anticipated from our predictions. We attributed this to the second balloon not ever popping... we are still uncertain whether the second balloon actually popped!
Flight Path - Right click on map and "open image in new tab" to zoom in...
We were excited to see that the payload had come down and that we would have a chance to retrieve it, but we were concerned about the rate of descent and how many pieces the payload would be in. It wasn't five minutes later that Mr. Gunstenson received a phone call from Robert Lyons who resides just outside of Kipling. He explained that he was driving on a grid road when he spotted what he could not explain. "I thought, 'what the heck'? I wasn't sure if it was a person or what. I had to follow it and track it down". Mr Lyons explained that he figured the payload box had been dragged across a small body of water before getting caught up in some grass on the other side.
After getting off the phone with Mr. Lyons, Tabitha Vellacott, a grade 12 student in Mr. Gunstenson's class informed Mr. Gunstenson that her mother, Marilyn Vellacott, was currently in Kipling visiting family and would be coming back to Herbert the next day. After a quick exchange of phone numbers (Mrs. Vellacott and Mr. Lyons we already acquaintances!), Mrs. Vellacott met up with Mr. Lyons for the paylad exchange. Our payload was on its way home!
Photos sent from Mr. Lyons:
Friday October 14 @ 3:30 pm - Mrs. Vellacott arrives with Payload at school!
After a quick check of the payload, all data was retrieved! Here is the raw data file for your interest:
HABEX Fall 2016 Videos
HABEX Fall 2016 Ground Footage
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