The students in the Grade 11 University Physics Class at West Ferris Intermediate Secondary School in North Bay, will be launching a weather balloon into Earth’s Stratosphere.
It will carry a payload of camera-toting minicomputers and radio tracking equipment.
The launch procedure is weather dependent, and so the exact launch date has not been confirmed. However, it is anticipated that the launch will take place between October 9 and October 31 from the football field.
"The purpose of the mission is to observe and record the journey to near space using in-flight radio transmissions of GPS location, data, video, and images," says spokesperson Kelly Shulman. "The balloon is expected to explode at an altitude of just over 30 km, at which point a parachute will deploy and the payload will descend back to Earth. The flight is expected to take a total of about three hours."
Data from the flight will provide experimental results and serve as an anchor activity providing authentic context to course materials.
The Grade 11 students will track the balloon’s flight path in chase cars, with reception assistance provided by the North Bay Amateur Radio Club. The goal is to retrieve the payload post-flight, along with its cache of data, video, and images.
