Nov 21 2011
Sunday Nov. 20, 2011, was launch day. We arrived at 7am to make preparations. We checked the weather conditions, re-ran the trajectory prediction calculator, and assembled materials, checking them off of the list as we put them in the car. The hydrogen tank fit snugly in the trunk of the car, and though we looked, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.apollo67.com/2011/11/21/launch-day/
Nov 21 2011
On Friday the 18th we met to work on the project. Saturday night we continued our preparations, working late into the night and early into the morning on the design, the software, and the logistics. Unfortunately, the foam we had originally ordered never showed up. To compound matters, the backup foam we ordered didn’t arrive …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.apollo67.com/2011/11/21/pre-launch-preparations/
Nov 20 2011
Final preparations are underway. Hopefully we will launch in just a few hours. The team is assembling right now to drive West to Ridgeway, which was selected because of an ideal launch site, just on the edge of reception, and far enough that the predictions don’t have the balloon landing in Lake Michigan. If all …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.apollo67.com/2011/11/20/launch-time-set/
Nov 20 2011
We almost had a NASA moment. The programmer recorded all the altitudes for the different stages of the flight in meters, but thought it was feet. Instead of an altitude of 50000 feet, he was setting it to be 50000 meters, which would have been higher than a balloon can go. Thankfully we caught the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.apollo67.com/2011/11/20/communicate-your-units/
Nov 12 2011
Friday the 11th we performed an experiment with hydrogen to verify that it is possible to handle safely, and that even if it does explode there is relatively little danger. In this experiment we took small latex balloons and filled them outside with hydrogen. We had a short pipe extending from the regulator attached to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.apollo67.com/2011/11/12/hydrogen-balloon-test-complete/
Nov 02 2011
We performed a cold test to see if the foam cage with a window could protect a phone in -60C weather for 2 hours. This was to make sure that everything would work at altitude. Things got a little frosty, but still worked. See the full writeup on the cold test here.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.apollo67.com/2011/11/02/cold-test-complete/
Oct 19 2011
The group has started. We’ve had an initial and planning meeting, we know who’s working on what, and we have a plan. This is going to be the best balloon launch ever!
Permanent link to this article: https://www.apollo67.com/2011/10/19/official-start/
