The Great Balloon Chase: Part II

Submitted article

West Hartford’s Smith STEM Elementary School and Conard High School have received clearance from the FAA to launch two weather balloons simultaneously on Tuesday, June 2 into the earth’s stratosphere from the rooftop and blacktop of Smith STEM Elementary School.

This is the second balloon launch for Smith, which released a helium-filled balloon back in October.

The balloons will be carrying a payload that includes carbon square road, goPro cameras, a GPS unit and a parachute.

During this launch, each grade level will be sending up small experiments. The students will “wonder” and “inquire” about what will happen to the items as they reach a high altitude and changing temperature.

Some of the items include a small bag of potato chips, a grape and a marshmallow.

During the first launch, the Smith STEM balloon reached an altitude of roughly 23,000 Meters (80,000 feet) high above the clouds and the images captured by the cameras proved to be nothing short of spectacular.

After exploding and descending back to earth the balloon landed in Spencer, Massachusetts traveling just shy of 60 miles. It is expected the Smith STEM balloon will ascend over 30,000 Meters this time, roughly 20 miles high, deep into the earth’s stratosphere, where it will explode after 1 ½ hours.

The Conard High School balloon, which will be almost twice as big, is expected to go even higher.

The instrumentation aboard the balloon will capture barometric pressure, temperature, and altitude. Since the Conard balloon will ascend faster, they will launch from the Smith STEM School blacktop while Smith will launch theirs from the rooftop.

Students will be able to track the balloons progress with the GPS unit sending signals every 10 minutes. A team consisting of teachers Kathy Hardesty, Courtney Jacklin and Tony Truss will be in a car following the balloons and tweeting its progress.

“Every child dreams of what it is like near space,” says Quest teacher Kathy Hardesty. “With our second weather balloon launch, we will hope to capture the entire trip, including the descent. Engaging in hands-on endeavors like these can spark interest in these fields and reinforce concepts learned in the classroom.”

The balloon’s progress may be viewed at the following link:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0AFnEpKfoCEbZR9HzhhM3ibrJOcaESqxY

You will have to refresh this site every so often to get up to date information. You can also switch it to satellite mode for a different view. This will also be posted on the front of the school website.

The Balloon Recovery Team (Kathy Hardesty and Courtney Jacklin) will also send Tweets during the “Great Balloon Chase” mission updating us on the progress. Follow @HardestyQuest and @adaywithmissj to receive this information.

This is truly a special opportunity for our children to Notice, Wonder and Explore!

The Foundation for West Hartford Schools is credited with funding this grant and the Smith STEM PTO also contributed to the cost of the equipment.

IMAGES CAPTURED by goPro Camera during first balloon launch October 2014