7 June 2001. This was the maiden flight for the BOREALIS project. The balloon
was launched from the east side of the Big Timber Airport, in Big
Timber, MT.
30 June 2001. This was the second BOREALIS flight. The balloon was launched from the
south side of the Big Timber Airport, in Big Timber, MT. Participating
in this launch were the cadets of the Montana Space Odyssey, a summer
space camp sponsored for 16 Montana kids by the Montana Space Grant
Consortium.
29 September 2001. Third flight. This flight utilized
both capsules. The experiment payload carried aloft a new geiger tube system.
The data collection went splendidly! We successfully saw the cosmic ray shower
production maximum at approximately 65,000 ft. Third time's a charm! Original
attempts to fly on August 28 and Sept. 15 were scrubbed either due to local
forest fires or bad wind directions, but this one went off with very little
trouble. Projected launch time was 7:15, and we delayed a few minutes to clear
up a communications problem between the radio and GPS unit. It also helped to
wait a few minutes to get a little more open sky!
27 October 2001.BOREALIS
Altitude Record!After
several weeks of marginal weather, we weren't sure if this flight would get
the clear skies necessary to fly the bigger balloon. It was!! The primary goal
for this flight was to break the 100,000-foot mark and get the best pictures
possible of the area around south central Montana and northern Wyoming, seeing
out to a horizon nearly 400 miles away. The skies were so clear in fact that
the communications crew and recovery team could watch the balloon ascend to
its maximum altitude with the naked eye.
We did succeed in breaking the 100k altitude mark, but an orientation
problem caused the camera to tilt slightly upward so the number of clear
landscape images were extremely low.
July 2002. This flight ran the geiger tube system developed
and flown for flight BOR0109A.
Interestingly, the point of turnover of cosmic ray shower formation maximum
appears to be at a different altitude than for our previous flight. A number
of explanations for this have been proposed, but our only conclusion is that
more data is needed. As such, future flights of the geiger system are
planned. The flight was conducted in concert with the Montana Space
Odyssey Summer Camp, with the 16 middle-school students actively
participating in the launch, recovery, and data analysis operations.
05 August 2002. This flight's primary mission was to measure
levels of ozone over Helena, Montana. Results strongly indicate that
Helena suffers pollution ozone at lower altitudes. The ozone had a
natural increase at higher altitudes, although we cannot compare our numbers
to nationwide averages without flying our own apparatus in a few other states.
The following flight, BOR0210A,
flown over Harlowton, Montana, clearly shows that Helena has a higher than
normal ozone at lower altitudes.
27 October 2002. We
tested a new smaller box design for the camera and GPS unit, a new
parachute design without shroud ring, and an assortment of other weight
saving measures. We also flew an ozone-sonde to compare data taken over
Helena to Harlowton. Results strongly indicate that Helena suffers
pollution ozone and Harlowton is nearly ozone-pollution free.
4 June 2003. This flight was done with one of our Workforce
Development Program partners, Carroll College. Their science mission
was to measure UV levels in the atmosphere as it varies with altitude.
Their UV-photometer was designed over the course of one school year and was
successfully able to gather data. The team was headed and organized by
Mary Keeffe. The geiger tube system developed for flight BOR0109A was
also flown. Its results show continued support for the hypothesis that
the point of maximum shower formation varies between 60,000 and 70,000
feet. Additionally, this flight tested an improved command
module of less size and weight. Finally, the flight tested the new IBIS
II camera system, all with great success.
Launch Images on the way!
Coming soon!
FLIGHT: BOR0306B
14 June 2003.
This was our second flight with the 2003 ballooning conference held in
Boulder, Colorado, called
Starting Student
Space Hardware Programs II: A How-to Workshop. We
performed the flight in conjunction with other balloon teams as an
educational experience. The conference is designed to help other
groups start their own ballooning program. We also flew the
geiger system developed for flight
BOR0109A. We towed four balloonsats prepared by conference
attendees. This flight was part of the Great Plains Super-Launch,
2003.
Launch Images on the way!
FLIGHT: BOR0306C
21 June 2003. Third flight in one
month, wow it's getting busy around here! The payload that flew
on this flight was an Ir Thermopile constructed by one of our
Workforce Development Program partners; University of Montana under
the direction of the Payload Czar himself (John Belz). A video
camera was flown with the thermopile so the UM team could begin
calibration of their instrument. This flight set a new record
for longest time in the air (more than four hours) for the BOREALIS
team!
19 July 2003. A very special BOREALIS Launch. Students from
the Montana Space Odyssey Camp joined us for this launch. The usual
crew supervised them and they did most of the fun work. Two
experiments were actually flown in the payload: an ozone sonde, and a
UV photometer. Unfortunately, a critical error was made during the
preflight setup. The weight of the command module was mismeasured and
the balloon was inflated with two pounds too little lift. It actually
had negative buoyancy. The wind dragged the balloon off of the
airport mesa and it snagged on a tree below. It was recovered from the
tree by BOREALIS' resident monkey, Ryan Belohlavek and his faithful
Tevas. After recovery from the tree, the balloon was inflated further
and launched from a nearby field. No further problems were
encountered.
19 July 2003. The second part of this mission. After
failing to inflate the balloon enough the first time, it was recovered
from a tree and re-launched. This second launch is known as flight #
BOR0307A-2. This flight, unlike the previous, was a total success. The
balloon broke 100k, the experiments proceeded perfectly, and the
recovery would have been a breeze but the air was too still and hot.
Also of note is the fact that IBIS II managed to capture images of
wildfire in the local area, as well as our van waiting for it to come
down. Cool stuff.
02 August 2003. This mission was a test flight for MSU-
Billings. They are working on a method of detecting ozone using a
laser. The mission tested the MSU-Billings capsule construction
techniques and durability.
11 October 2003. In this mission, we flew a small
BalloonSat for Montana Tech. Due to its small mass, we were able to
break our old altitude record. Also, due to the fast high-altitude
winds, the balloon went farther downrange than ever before. To make
things even more interesting, we had this year's new members along for
their first launch and recovery. It was a great launch, and another
success for the BOREALIS Team.
25 October 2003. This was one of our most amazing flights
yet. Strong high altitude winds sped the balloon to a new record of
182 miles per hour. These winds were blowing south, sending the
payload into Wyoming. It went much further south than anticipated, and
it went directly south. Our weather checks and flight path modeling
had the balloon landing safely to the east of the mountains it fell
into. A small team composed of Sean Kirn, Dave Klumpar, Ryan Belohavek,
and Dan Colson ventured into the mountains after it. Twenty miles and
a day later, they had recovered the payload, and much of the balloon.
In conjunction with the low burst altitude, this lead us to believe
that we had a defective balloon for this launch. What an adventure!
08 November 2003. In this mission, we flew a UVA/UVB
photometer and a 3-axis accelerometer for MSU Billings. The flight got
off the ground without a hitch, and landed right in the Billings
team's backyard. A quick phone call let the airport know that we were
coming into their airspace, and everything went alright.
15 November 2003. The last mission of the season was quite
a doozy. We flew four BalloonSats for Montana Tech and Bill Earhardt's
simplex repeater. The balloon went nearly due north, which is very
atypical. It landed in the foothills north of Lewistown. The recovery
was about a seven mile hike. It seemed much longer because of muddy
conditions and it was uphill getting there. Upon recovery, we found
that two of the BalloonSats and the repeater were missing. It was a
long day, but a good one.
