Up, up and away: Danbury students send weather balloons into the clouds

Two weather balloons launched this weekend by students from Westside Middle School Academy made their descents in Oxford and Seymour and will be retrieved this week.

Late Saturday, the balloons were detected in trees according to tracking devices after being launched that morning from Danbury High School despite cloud cover and a few rain drops. Two earlier dates for launch were cancelled due to inclement weather conditions.

WSMSA teacher, Jon Neuhausel, said the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students designed and built two payloads for each of the balloons. The payloads carried sensors that took atmospheric pressure and temperature readings recorded on computer chips that may be removed for download and data analysis after retrieval. Meteorology students from Western Connecticut State University provided mentoring and technical support for the STEM program at WSMSA.

The launches served as a lesson in the tools used to track upper-atmospheric temperature and pressure on a daily basis worldwide. The payloads carried sensors that took atmospheric pressure and temperature readings recorded on computer chips that may be removed for download and data analysis after retrieval. The balloons were equipped with GoPro cameras, GPS tracking devices and sensors to measure temperature, humidity and elevation. The GPS unit enables the students to track the payloads’ flight, descent and landing sites.

The Westside students were organized into teams that addressed the basic project areas including payloads, parachute rigging, atmospheric pressure and temperature sensors, and community outreach. The students also undertook the challenge of organizing fundraising efforts to cover a portion of the cost of purchasing the equipment required for the balloons and tracking equipment.