Sixth graders send weather balloon into space, collect amazing photos

Sixth graders send weather balloon into space, collect amazing photos

Summer science / technology project received a lot of support from family, was funded via Kickstarter.com

BY JEFFREY BAUSCH

A group of sixth graders from Bowling Green, KY, with support from family and funding taken care of by backers on Kickstarter.com, have successfully sent a payload to the edge of space and taken a series of jaw-dropping pictures.

Still shot of HD video taken of Project Terra Incognita.

The mission, referred to as “Project Terra Incognita,” was created with the following goals in mind:

• Place an object into the Earth’s stratosphere via weather balloon and return it safely without incurring any damage.
• Take HD video and high-resolution still photographs of the curvature of the earth and black of space from near orbit.
• Collect data measurements about the speed of ascent / descent and air temperature of near orbit.
• Exhibit the final photographic and video imagery of team’s work.
• Inspire others to challenge the idea that some things are impossible.

Equipment

To actually do this project, the team needed the following equipment, which they were able to gather courtesy of the generous folks at kickstarter.com:

• Sony Alpha NEX-5n, 16-mm wide-angle lens, time-lapse triggers
• Two GoPro Hero2 video cameras and extended battery pack
• Three 32-GB SD cards
• iTrack GPS tracker, service, and SIM card
• Spot Satellite GPS Messenger
• Weather balloon, payload package, rader reflector, rope, parachute, beacon light, helium, and hand warmer
• Other miscellaneous supplies

The ballooned payload was launched this past week.

Team filling up weather balloon prior to launch.

During its ascent, it reached an approximate height of 118,000 feet before it burst and fell back to Earth.

Some minor issues

Naturally, as with all science / technology projects, there was a battery of issues, including:

• Weather problems — wind issues

Projected flight pattern; actual landing spot.

• No cell power for the GPS unit to help them find the balloon — power cut out 30 minutes from landing site, so they only had a rough idea as to where it had landed. Luckily, the team only had to go about 100 yards into some backwoods behind a church before one of the girls was able to spot it hanging 20 to 30 feet in the air.

Payload hanging from trees.

• A forgotten-about SD card — father took the blame for this mistake, saying that while prepping the device, he cleaned the SD cards of all the cameras and forgot to put the last one in.

SD card was accidentally forgotten about until after the payload returned to Earth.

Amazing photos and video

Despite all the headaches, Project Terra Incognita was a rousing success. In addition to the image at the top, here are two more amazing still frames that the team was able to pull from the payload’s HD footage (they’ve already collected 100+ shots):

Additional photos plus video of the balloon’s journey will all be on their site soon. Check it out for updates and to learn more about the team at edgeandback.com ■