We had planned to have a flight for MCC physics and UNL Society of Physics (SPS) students last weekend (4/14/18), but the weather had other ideas. With severe winds and rain turning to snow, for the first time in 70 HAB flights, we canceled due to weather. Hopefully, we have seen the last of winter and spring is here to stay. Even though it was overcast today, the weather was decent – not much wind and the temperature was around 50 degrees F at 8 am.

We had four experiments from MCC physics teams and one from the UNL SPS group. We had no problems starting the experiments and getting the string ready. It did not seem like we were getting as much lift in the balloon as we wanted. We were close to our maximum weight of 12 pounds as specified by the FAA. We usually like to get 1.5 times the amount of lift for the weight that we have. So, Michael Sibbernsen (UNL) and Derrick Nero (UNO) spent a little extra time making sure we had as much helium as we could get in the balloon.

Our flight prediction two days prior to the flight had our landing site a few miles east of Loveland, IA, so that’s where we stopped to watch the path of the balloon until burst.

We were using one of the remaining 2000 g balloons left over from the Great American Eclipse practice flights. The burst was a little earlier than we were expecting, around 76,000 ft., so the actual landing was a bit southeast of where we were.

The recovery turned out to be pretty easy as the payloads landed next to a road in someone’s backyard.

(Photo credit: Derrick Nero)

All of our tracking systems worked perfectly, all of our cameras worked well, and all of the experiments produced meaningful data. MCC students will be presenting their findings at the MCC Showcase poster session on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 from 3-4 pm in the atrium of the MCC South Omaha Campus. The SPS students will be reporting their findings back to the company that donated the use of their radiation monitor.

The rest of the photos were taken from cameras on the balloon. Enjoy!

 

MCC South Omaha CampusSeeing the city through the clouds. An interesting line between the cloud layers.More interesting clouds.Balloon mirrors clouds.Rippling clouds in the distance. Upward-facing camera. Balloon burst sequence. The most artistic photo of a burst balloon I have ever seen. ParachuteShadow camera selfie.