High-altitude balloon takes flight
Clemson undergraduate physics and engineering students had their heads
way above the clouds with the successful April launch of TigerCUB,
a large, high-altitude balloon and payload. The project, two years
in the making, focused on mechanical and electrical design of space
hardware, amateur radio and GPS, balloon tracking and recovery and
atmospheric science.
Propelled by 14 pounds of helium, the high-altitude balloon rose to
97,000 feet. On board was a digital camera that snapped photos of
Lake Hartwell before the balloon burst, as planned, and tumbled into
a Laurens County horse pasture. Three small radios transmitted GPS
and Morse code signals to track its path and hunt it down. Onboard
data loggers recorded pressure and temperatures while a student-built
programmable timer controlled the camera and other functions.
The NASA South Carolina Space Grant Consortium and Clemson University
supported the project, with assistance from Clemson Apparel Research
and the Clemson University Amateur Radio Club. For high resolution
images and more information go to: http://www.clemson.edu/~glehmac/balloon/.
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Project adviser, Gerald Lehmacher,
physics and astronomy assistant professor, called the launch a great
success. “Despite all of the ground testing, there is a risk
in a mission that goes to the ‘edge of space’. The position
data were also posted in real time on the Internet, so people from
many states followed the balloon’s flight. For our students,
it was a team learning experience,” said Lehmacher. |
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