Student BallonSats

During 2006 WSGC and the Wyoming Civil Air Patrol teamed up to began a student balloon satellite launch program.

Representatives from WSGC and WCAP attended a July workshop in Boulder, CO -- Starting Student Space Hardware Programs: A How To Workshop.

The first balloon launch in Wyoming took place on the morning of October 14, 2006. This launch took place just north of highway 130 at the Big Hollow road which is about 12 miles West of the intersection of highways 130 and 230. The balloon was a large "party" balloon with a single payload comprised of a small package containing a simple transmitter, camera, and temperature/pressure sensor. Unfortunately, the balloon did not follow the expected flight pattern and due to the simple, low-power transmitter, the tracking was lost. However, the balloon was serendipitously found just Southwest of Albin, WY (about 88 miles from the launch site) and was returned to us in late November (thanks to contact information attached to the payload).

Below are the pictures obtained by the camera during the flight (click on the picture to see a larger version). There was no heater in the payload box, so the camera batteries "froze" at some point during the flight. Consequently this pictures are only from the assent portion of the flight.