The curvature of the Earth is discernable in this image captured by the balloon at high altitude. Submitted photo

ScienceWorks and SOU launch balloon satellite

Slide show images from the adventure to be shown Saturday

Three vehicles race up the highway searching for a small dirt road leading into the woods. A voice comes over a walkie talkie, “I think we just passed it.” Another voice crackles, “What is our current latitude?” “43 degrees, 13 minutes and 59.17 seconds…we passed it,” a third voice echoes. The vehicles pull off the highway and spin around heading south. “When was our last update from the satellite?” “The last altitude we received was 400 feet above our current location.” “It’s probably hit the ground by now…”

While it may sound like dialogue from a movie, these vehicles equipped with scientists and equipment were not part of a summer blockbuster, but rather an actual balloon satellite launch and retrieval here in southern Oregon.

These voices are the members of the Balloon Satellite team from Southern Oregon University and ScienceWorks chasing down the parachute from a study of the edge of space conducted on May 21 in the Klamath basin.

ScienceWorks and SOU worked together to launch this balloon satellite.

Team members that day included Elib Crist-Dwyer, program coordinator at ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum, Cris Kelly and Jennifer Tillman also of ScienceWorks, Dr. Peter Wu, Professor of Physics at Southern Oregon University, Dr. Andy Kuzmitz, an Ashland family physician, Jim Mau, microbiologist, Mike Quilty, Central Point City Councilor and member of Southern Oregon Skywatchers and son Mark.

The team launched a weather balloon carrying a GPS unit, a HAM radio, and two cameras that traveled over 100,000 feet into the atmosphere. The purpose is to explore the edge of space with simple and affordable technology. Dr. Peter Wu participated in a similar launch last summer in Colorado as part of a workshop through NASA’s Space Grant Consortium, and thought that it was something he needed to try here in Southern Oregon. Wu approached Crist-Dwyer about participating in the project and soon a team of volunteers was assembled and working towards the first launch on May 21.

The idea was simple. Attach a weather balloon to a radio that transmits data from a global positioning unit, let the balloon go and when it pops go and find where it lands based on the information you receive from the radio.

Along with the balloon a variety of tools may be sent along to record what happened along the way; a camera to take pictures, or a small computer to collect data like temperature or atmospheric pressure. Wu was not so concerned with what information the team gathered from this first launch, “I just wanted to see if we could get this thing up there, and then get it back.”

And get it back they did. After launching from the campus of Oregon Institute of Technology, the balloon traveled to an altitude of 101,620 feet before a parachute carried it back to Earth in the Winema National Forest north of Chemult on Highway 97. A short hike into the woods revealed the bright orange and blue parachute and the team’s precious cargo. On board were magnificent pictures of the balloon’s accent showing cloud formations, the curvature of the Earth and even the darkness of space above our planet’s glowing atmosphere. It was an initial success in what hopefully will be a series of many triumphs to come.

Wu, Crist-Dwyer and the rest of the team now know what it takes to carry a vehicle to the edge of space and the next step to the help students in the region design, build, and launch their own experiments.

The Southern Oregon Balloon Satellite team did not conduct this launch strictly to satisfy their own scientific curiosity. All of the team members are committed to science education and increased scientific involvement of the community as a whole, and view the balloon satellite program as an inexpensive, easily accessed means to achieve those ends. The ultimate goal of this program is for the team to enable interested students within the region to create their own experiments and instrument packages to be sent up to the edge of space, and then assist them with the launch and recovery.

“This kind of project is usually reserved for scientists at NASA, and was not possible even five years ago. But now a group of amateurs like us can explore the edge of space. High school students are going to love this!” Crist-Dwyer said.

This fall the team will invite local Middle and High School students to join the project and begin to explore the wonders of space, taking measurements from their flights and learning how to interpret the results the recover. “We want students to decide what it is that they want to learn about what is up there, and we will help them launch and recover their experiments,” continues Crist-Dwyer.

For a chance to see more images taken during the launch and hear a first-hand account of the experience, ScienceWorks will be offering two Balloon Satellite Slideshows on Saturday, June 10 at noon and 3 p.m. in the Sci Theater at ScienceWorks. People can learn more about the information collected on the voyage, talk to members of the team, look at the balloon satellite equipment and find out how you might participate in upcoming launches. The presentations are free with museum admission.

For more information about The Southern Oregon Balloon Satellite Program contact Elib Crist-Dwyer, Program Coordinator, ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum at elib@scienceworksmuseum.org or 482-6767 ext. 27.

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