John Griffith, Bennet Cowdin - Harder Than It Looks: Trial & Error In A Stratospheric Balloon Project

John Griffith, Bennet Cowdin - Harder Than It Looks: Trial & Error In A Stratospheric Balloon Project

John and Bennet are fifteen-year-old engineer enthusiasts.

They wanted to design and fly a weather balloon payload up to at least 20 km.  It would carry a GPS and have a parachute.  Some of the initial challenges: payload had to withstand high G-force on impact.  They encased it in styroform.  There were extreme environment concerns: -60 C.

They had three flights.  The first and second flights they had accuracy, but the camera failed.  On the third flight it worked.  They ran out of money.  They ran a kickstarter campaign and raised $3100.  They were able to bug the needed hardware.

Flight 4, the balloon popped early.  It landed in the Tehachapi Mountains.  They got 5200 photos.  They were happy with the flight.

Flight 5 - they got video also.  The photos on the way up were good.  After the balloon popped the change pressurization and low temperatures caused condensation so the pictures had some milkiness.

They are now looking at flight 6.  And some other ideas.

It has been fun and given them a lot of experience.


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