Wish Me Luck - High Altitude Weather Balloon Flight

[11Bravo]

Bet there are some here that would get a kick out of this-
Tomorrow morning some friends of mine and I are planning to launch a high altitude weather balloon; I say wish "me" luck because this is the first mission I have run and it is my electronics package that'll be floating away.
For an idea what I am talking about, see-
www.nixhab.com
Specifically, see http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d94/bigheadpete/NIXHAB-3/?albumview=slideshow
We are hoping for between 105-110K feet and good pics.
Launch time is planned for 10:00am central and duration is expected to be 115-125 minutes, up and down.
Launch point is just east of Rockford, IA.
If you would like to track along on a map, go to-
www.aprs.fi and track callsign W0GRB-11.
That is the number zero, not the letter O.
If you have access to a radio that can tune in 144.390MHz and are within about 350-400 miles you should be able to hear the packet directly.
It will sound similar to a very short modem handshake for those that remember dial-up days.

Have a good one-

Greg

[dhrith]

Those are some pretty awesome pictures. How do you go about getting permission from FAA to release something like that? I've always been curious for those guys that let off those big ass model rockets. What's the usual failure mode that brings it back down? Just eventual leakage of the gas?

[11Bravo]

Balloon basically if it is under a total weight and mostly clear skies, don't need to get permission.
Certain other things to watch out for.
You mean like this kind of rocket?
http://grburnett.us/rockets/videos/Posthole.wmv
One of mine.
4 inch diameter about 5 feet long and 6-ish pounds.
Ripped off the pad hard enough it knocked the 75-80# pad over.
6,500' or so.
Lost it.
$150 or so lost but if you aren't willing to lose it, shouldn't be flying it.

eidt: With the balloons, when you let it go it is about 7 feet in diameter.
As it climbs and the atmospheric pressure drops the balloon expands.
It'll get to about 45-50 feet diameter in the 100,000-110,000 feet level and burst.
Parachute recovery.

[11Bravo]

Just over two hours flight time and topped out at 97,553 feet.
We stopped by the side of the road for awhile and were actually able to see the thing at altitude.
While we were stopped we kept seeing data showing that it was going up and then couldn't see it anymore and noticed that data was showing it coming down.

I did screw things up a bit preflight and got the callsign changed from W0GRB-11 to X0GRB-11.
To see the entire track at aprs.fi, enter the x0grb-11 and in the drop down window just above that set it to either the last 12 hours or last 24 hours.

Link to pic from about 97000 feet over north-east Iowa. (http://grburnett.us/hab/NIXHAB/nixhab4/top.jpg)

Will get more pics somewhere online, possible at photobucket.

[orionz06]

seems pretty awesome (plus SRV in the background on the rocket vid).

Is there any video of the flight up?

[RadioActivity]

Very cool! Thanks for posting!

[Erik 1]

That is very, very cool.

[Gatorhunt]

Some really cool pictures .. looks like something you might see on NASA's web site.
I have shot off some "Walmart" rockets with my son but nothing like that post hole digger .. that thing was really moving!!:eek:

[11Bravo]

Pics From Balloon at PhotoBucket (http://s866.photobucket.com/albums/ab225/grburnett/NIXHAB4/)

[Bantee]

Very cool photos and vid! That rocket sounded phenomenal! I guess there are good times to be had in this state during winter.:D

[justin_247]

This is excellent! Thank you!

The pictures were beautiful, especially the ones showing the curvature of the earth.