Can i launch a weather balloon

Typical ascent times are one to two hours. A larger parachute will also increase your flight time by reducing your descent rate. Typical descent times are 30 minutes to one hour.

To calculate your ascent time for a given size balloon and payload, use our balloon performance calculator. The biggest factor on how far your payload will travel is the jet stream.

The helium gas used to launch weather balloons is an inert gas naturally found in our atmosphere and has no impact on our environment. Another concern is the balloon. Our weather balloons are manufactured from latex, a natural material which is made from tree sap and collected in a manner similar to maple syrup. Although your chance of not being able to recover one of our kits is small, just to be safe we use predominantly natural materials as the main structural members of our kit.

High Altitude Science is serious about being a steward of our environment. We use natural materials whenever possible. Twenty-four hours before you launch, look up the weather forecast on ground winds and the jet stream on your favorite weather website.

Some people like to use online weather balloon flight prediction software. We have found some of these sites to be unreliable and prefer our simple pencil and paper approach. If your payload is predicted to land near a lake, mountain, populated area, etc. This is why our Eagle has a flat profile. If you use a cooler box to house your gear, it could flip on its side when it lands preventing the SPOT from connecting with the satellite network.

Styrofoam boxes are cheap but they have a major flaw. Unfortunately, our test flight payloads were disappearing without cause. Our Styrofoam boxes would bounce and land on their side when they hit the ground. This would prevent the GPS tracker from being able to reliably receive and transmit signals to the satellite network overhead.

Get your community involved. Talk to friends, family, teachers, co-worke rs, people at church, clubs, and businesses. If everyone contributes a few dollars, you will b e able t o afford one of our Eagle Kits in no time.

Be creative in your advertising campaign and do not get discouraged if contributions start out small. The more excited you are about starting your own space program and the more your campaign grows, the more people will be willing to contribute.

Just insert the micro SD card and add batteries. Once you recover your payload, remove the micro SD card and slide it into your SD card adapter. Most party supply stores such as Party City or iParty carry helium bottles.

To learn more read our Helium Tutorial. Our tutorials are a great place to start. If you decide to purchase our Eagle Kit , it will come with our full-color flight manual that will turn you into a near-space pro. The safest thing to do in this situation is to have a certified tree climber retrieve your payload. Once on site, they can have your payload on the ground in less than 20 minutes. To find the local tree climber, call the nearest fire department.

Weather balloons, which are made of latex or synthetic rubber neoprene , are filled with either hydrogen or helium.

The sides are about 0. The balloons, which start out measuring about 6 ft. An instrument called a radiosonde is attached to the balloon to measure pressure, temperature and relative humidity as it ascends up into the atmosphere.

A transmitter on the radiosonde sends the data back to tracking equipment on the ground every one to two seconds. By tracking the position of the radiosonde, we can also calculate wind speed and wind direction. The radiosonde is powered by a small battery. A parachute, attached to the end of the balloon, allows the radiosonde to fall slowly to the ground at speeds less than 22 mph after the balloon bursts. Each radiosonde contains a mailing bag and instructions on what to do if you find one.

These instruments are fixed and reused, saving the government money. Weather balloons are the primary source of data above the ground. We got some amazing images of the Earth and its atmosphere. Weather balloon : These are very easy to come by, as a quick internet search will show. The bigger the balloon, the heavier the payload you can put on it ours was a g balloon for use with a payload that weighed g.

The more gas you put in the balloon, the faster it will rise but the lower it will be when it bursts. You can calculate how much, once you know the size of balloon, weight of payload and how high you want it to go, on a website such as habhub.

Digital camera : The lighter the better. The camera will need to withstand temperatures around C for about an hour. Even though the camera generates heat, you will need to insulate it — for example in a polystyrene box with holes for the lens. Test it in the freezer! We used a camera with a fisheye lens to maximise what we saw. GPS tracker : To help you find the payload once it has come back to Earth, this sends signals to a mobile phone.

You will need to include the cost of buying credits — these let you contact the tracker and find out where it is. CAA permission : You must have CAA permission before launching a weather balloon, as the balloon will almost certainly go into controlled air space — just think of the damage it could do to an aircraft. This should be obtained at least 28 days before the launch but, as the weather forecast will not be known that far in advance, you can specify a window of a few days.

We also included a radiosonde. This is the bit of kit weather observers use to measure temperature, humidity, pressure and velocity as the balloon travels through the atmosphere. However, it can only be used in conjunction with a receiving station — only people like the Met Office and some Universities will have one of these. Simpler instruments could be used instead. Our parachute also had a circle of wire beneath it to keep the parachute open, which we strapped the payload to.

Also, it can be hard to launch a balloon in windy conditions. To have a look at a trajectory forecast, go to habhub. Your CAA permission may well specify which way the wind should be blowing for the launch to go ahead, to avoid major flight paths. There are some times of year — when the jet stream is usually over the UK — when the balloon is likely to travel further than others. If your school is in a location where you are very unlikely to be able to get CAA permission e.