[karc] Re: Fw: Queen's Balloon Meeting
- From: Phil Somers <pwsomers@xxxxxxxx>
- To: karc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 15:21:47 -0700 (PDT)
I was quite impressed with the presentation and with the whole balloon project.
Due to weight limitations, they were not able to carry all the instrumentation
they planned. But their camera worked beautifully. I'm sure we will get a copy
of their many photos (something like 850 MB worth). They got photos all the way
up. An early one shows the launch site and the launchers. They have photos all
the way up to an estimated 28 km altitude. Very good quality photos. A 4-engine
aircraft passed well below them and they got a great photo of the contrail and
a reasonable photo of the aircraft. All the photos are downward. They had
planned to move the camera to the horizon, to the balloon and to the sky but
that was cut from the project. If I understood correctly, they have good photos
of the St Lawrence and Hill Island from a very high altitude. They believe the
maximum altitude was 32 km, but the camera apparently froze up before that in
the estimated -50C
temperature.
The recovery was achieved after a 6 hour drive to the other side of Adirondack
Park, NY, and a 2 km trek in cold rain and 5 ft of snow. They used snow shoes
until the mountainous climb became too steep. Eventually their GPS brought them
directly to the balloon GPS position. The balloon was wrapped around a tree and
the instrument package was completely intact with no damage. They reached it
just before dark. Total ground distance covered by the balloon was about 400 km.
I expect they have, or will have, a written report. We should try to get a copy.
... Phil VE3HST
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