Stratospheric Spud

Grandpa Chadwick came down for a visit this weekend. Claire and I took full advantage, abandoning Spud with Grandpa for extended periods of time so we could do chores, go to the bathroom for the first time in several weeks, etc. Grandpa didn't seem to mind.



Basic Facial Anatomy 101 class with Grandpa.



Grandpa was here to help launch SkyMiner-3, a weather balloon with "near-space" capsules built by some of my students, with instruments that recorded temperature, humidity, and ozone, and took pictures. We got a little delayed, and ended up launching in the middle of a massive rainstorm.

3-2-1 launch! (Yes, we contacted the FAA and followed all proper procedures so as not to bring down any transcontinental flights).



Claire and Spud were there for the launch. They brought yummy subs for us to eat while we drove after the balloon. Claire said that during the launch, Spud was mostly watching me instead of the balloon, because I was yelling and gesturing wildly. That doesn't sound like me at all.

Launching in the rain was somewhat unavoidable, but it wasn't such a great idea. Some of our cameras and instruments got a little waterlogged on the ascent. But we were able to track it successfully as it flew up 74,600 feet. We followed along and retrieved the capsules about 45 miles away and a couple of hours later.

You never know where you're going to land. Last time we did this, the capsules landed 60 feet up in a tree and we had to call the fire department to get them down! This time, they landed on the farm of a nice, bearded guy named Phil. Turns out he had done some work with weather satellites back in the 1960's, and was interested in our project and very happy that we had all descended on his property. His wife said that she had just bush hogged (city folk may need to look that one up) the field that the balloon landed in the day before. Thanks!



Candy bars from the stratosphere. Still cold!



The landing site.



Next time, we're sending Spud up.