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Saranac Lake students present stratospheric balloon project, report 26,157-meter flight and data
Summary
High school students and teacher Chris Gosling presented a high-altitude balloon launched in April that reached a reported 26,157 meters and returned temperature, pressure and humidity data; a tangled parachute and less helium than purchased reduced redundancy but the team recovered usable telemetry and images.
Chris Gosling, a science teacher at Saranac Lake Central School District, and students from his conceptual physics class presented a high-altitude balloon project at the board’s June 17 meeting.
Gosling told the board the team launched a helium-filled balloon in April to collect telemetry and environmental data. Students used a Raspberry Pi, APRS and radio telemetry for location and data transmission and recorded temperature, barometric pressure, humidity and images from the payload. "We launched a high-altitude balloon in April," Gosling said when introducing the pre-recorded presentation.
Students reported the flight’s maximum altitude as 26,157 meters (about 85,794 feet) and provided graphs showing ascent and descent profiles. The team reported an average ascent rate near 1.79 meters per second and an average descent rate near 4.01 meters per second. They said a partially tangled parachute caused minor damage to the payload during recovery but that the tracking systems continued to broadcast.
The presenters described a launch-day challenge that required removing equipment to reduce payload weight: the group said it paid for 75 cubic feet of helium but received about 43 cubic feet, which reduced lift and slowed ascent. The students also said they filed a Notice to Airmen with the Federal Aviation Administration because the flight occurred in restricted Adirondack airspace.
Gosling and the students showed images captured by the payload, including higher-altitude photos of the curvature of the Earth, and credited a volunteer, Bill Church of New Hampshire, for setting up the website used to visualize the flight track and sensor data.
Board members praised the students’ work and suggested sharing the project with broader New York State education communities as an example of project-based learning. The presentation was followed by questions from board members about frequency of launches and safety/FAA coordination.
