Electrical Engineering student Michael Seitz hangs a prototype payload.
Scientific Ballooning at USM
Maiden Launch
Date: TBD
Time: TBD
Place: Telstar High School, Bethel, Maine
Objectives: Test all systems - logistics, launch, communications, abort, payload capsule recovery
Target: Altitude 5000 feet
About Ballooning at USM
Suppose you wanted a weather balloon to carry a scientific payload to an altitude above 99 percent of the atmosphere and you wanted to communicate with the balloon and do aerial photography from the balloon, and then recover the payload fifty miles away. A group of USM students, the Scientific Ballooning Club is working to do all those things. Formed in September, the group has established the Space Science Operations Laboratory in the John Mitchell Center on the USM Gorham campus. Funding from the Maine Space Grant Consortium is being used to set up the laboratory, to purchase communications equipment and to launch the group.
Colorado Aerial Photo. What does Maine look like from 100,000 feet?
The Student Branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has adopted this project as one of their activities for the year. But this is not just an engineering activity. A flight operations team will deal with everything needed to get the aircraft into the air and keep it there, and to staff the Mission Control Center during launch, flight and recovery. The payload team will ensure that all parts of the aircraft are designed, built and tested. The recovery team is responsible for telecommunications and the physical recovery of the payload after it parachutes to the earth, possibly in a remote area. Training the teams and managing the overall project falls to the mission management team.
Students and faculty in all majors are invited to participate. There is something for everyone to do, a role for everyone to play. Teamwork, solving problems, meeting and overcoming challenges, and having fun are all part of this intriguing and challenging project. Scientific payloads are sought across the campus. For more information, contact the coach, Mark Ford (marcus@feathermark.org) or faculty advisor Brian Hodgkin (hodgkin@usm.maine.edu), 780-5582.
