Another High Altitude Balloon Launch

  Tom and I arrived at Brubaker Field behind Valley View  Junior High early enough to watch many of the preparations for a second balloon launch in a month (see 04/27/21). The launch was set for 10:30 AM and we arrived about 20 minutes early.

 The wind was more from the west today. But when I did my laps earlier I paid attention to the clouds moving generally north. It turns out that by the time the balloon launched it was being pushed slightly north of east.

 You can watch the balloon inflating with helium in this sequence of shots.

 Two professional photographers seemed to be covering the event. I didn't know the man on the right but the lady on the left is Carly Smith, a meteorologist with WDTN in Dayton.

 Carly moved her camera around the field getting various views of the preparations.

 About 10:20 AM a number of classes at VVJH came out of the building to watch the launch.

 The balloon is pretty much at maximum fill at this point. There will have to be plenty of room left for the gas to expand as the balloon rises into the stratosphere. It carries a parachute along with the instrument package to bring everything safely back to the ground.

 Besides the electronic instrumentation carried along, students placed scientific experiments aboard. These include, according to science teacher Jill Weaver "Martian soil simulant, seeds, UV sunscreen experiments, Orbeez [a toy], fortune telling fish [ditto] and more!"

 By 10:40 AM the countdown was made and it was off ...

 The balloon exited towards the east dangling the instrument package and parachute below. Even at great height, the stacked items could be seen moving ever higher.

 Science teacher Jill Weaver is the one we all wish we had.

 Weaver is interviewed by Smith.

 When I got home I quickly looked up the tracking website but no data was being shown. Weaver said (at 11:53 AM), "I am only picking up my SPIT tracker. We are at 47,000 feet near New Carlisle."

Credit: VVJH

Results:

 It is estimated the balloon reached an altitude of 17 to 19 miles and traveled a straight-line distance of 55 miles. It was recovered in Mingo, Ohio (just NE of Urbana).

For video from the balloon click here.

For a GoPro launch video  click here.

For a local TV story click here.

For Unreal Aerial Productions LLC video click here.

For a Wright State University story click here.

Brood X Cicadas Emerging

  It's been 17 long years but now the Brood X cicadas are emerging. I saw the first a couple of days ago and yesterday I heard the first tentative songs. When we left the house yesterday we saw a nymph working to remove himself (herself?) from his exoskeleton. It appears to be a slow and laborious process.

 This one was on our bell post and he was pulling himself out the top back of the exoskeleton. Looking into those red eyes, he seems to almost be straining. I stood there and watched him for several minutes. His movements were minute but purposeful. There was no jerking, just a slow, steady "ooze" up and away. For seconds there was no movement at all.

 A view from atop and at  an angle shows him mostly free. I wonder how his legs (those ivory-colored stringy things) can be pulled f rom the chitin legs that are so much smaller? In fact his whole body was expanding quite quickly. As he pulled out, there was no way he'd even fit back in. The case he exited was much smaller than his body now.

 A view from directly above and the cicada takes on the appearance of a small flower getting ready to open. The process is perhaps similar. I was under the impression that it was a bit of a wet, sticky process but I'm wondering now whether the threads of stickiness I seemed to observe were not just long white body parts?

 This picture was taken today (a day later) of another cicada, already free of his exoskeleton and drying himself on the back of one of our rockers. The body quickly darkens and the wings change from milky white to transparent. We found the drying time of the cicada in the first three pictures to be something less than three hours. When we returned from an excursion, he was gone. Only the case remained.

 So how do cicadas know when their 17 years are up? I have not read anything to that effect but I'll take a guess. It is not timekeeping at all but rather a series of stages that finally, after 17 years, result in "birth". There may be 17 stages or there may be many more but when they're completed, 17 years have passed and it's time to sing. The seasons are surely the background  clock.

 In 2004 both Dad and Mom were still living. In 2038 will I be? I'd be 88 (going on 89 that July). I have my doubts so I suppose, as raucous and annoying as they are I should enjoy the rare party of these noisemakers.

 It's going to be a noisy few weeks ahead.

Mound Cold War Discovery Center

  Being a ham, I was invited to attend a tour of the Mound Cold War Discovery Center with members of the Germantown Amateur Radio Society. While my friend Mike Kilroy was unable to attend, he suggested the tour would be something both Tom and I would enjoy.

 I have been an inactive amateur radio operator (WB8VQD) for many years. I think I was licensed in about 1976 and got an Advanced license at that time. I've always renewed it. Back in 1987, a month after we moved to P:inehaven, the place was burglarized and all my ham equipment was stolen. I replaced some of it for a while. But my main interest was 2 meter autopatch and that was, in my mind, superseded by cell phone.

 So all these years later, I'm still a ham but only in name.

 We got to the MCWDC before 10 AM, just as others were gathering in the parking lot.

 It's right across the road from the Miamisburg Mound. That makes it impossible to miss.

 The place has fluorescent "black lights" (UV-A) on the ceiling throughout the tour  area. It makes some of the displays a bit hard to read (though my vision isn't great) and it makes the unusual carpet literally glow like a starfield. It doesn't show well in this photo but my socks glowed an otherworldly blue.

 When I sat for a rest at one point, I tried to determine if the pattern repeats (it does).

 "Uranium ware" used uranium for coloration and the resultant glassware literally glows when the lights are turned off. This case shows a number of items with a radioactive history.

 I lived in Miamisburg from 1949 - 1980 and the Mound was always a focal point high on a ridge to the south. I wondered then what all the buildings held and what went on there. Now I know. The Mound played a major role in the development of the United States nuclear arsenal. Afterwards it developed technology for NASA.

 This is a model of an RTG (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) that generated many hundreds of watts through radioactive decay and the resultant heat. Similar units were used on various interplanetary craft.

 This brochure offers details on the location of the Discovery Center, hours of operation, phone number and online link.

Old-Fashioned (Soft) Gingerbread

  I have another gingerbread recipe posted on the blog (use the search tool above and to the left) but I thought I'd try an old Mennonite recipe (1950). I've modified it slightly.

 This recipe makes a fairly liquid batter but it bakes perfectly in  40 minutes.

Old-Fashioned Gingerbread

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup light molasses
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup boiling water

 I didn't follow the directions and it works fine doing this: Melt the margarine in a microwave and add everything except the flour. This liquid is then easily mixed with a spoon. Then add the flour last.

 The recipe calls for 35 to 40 minutes baking time at 350° but I found the full 40 minutes necessary. The batter rises beautifully. I like the cracked top. I used an 8x8" square glass pan which I greased lightly.

 Just let it cool a bit before cutting. It  can be served warm. I'll add a nice spoonful of whipped cream to the top. And strong, black coffee is almost a necessity.

 It is a deep flavor and came out darker than my usual gingerbread owing to the brown sugar instead of the called-for granulated sugar. We each had a slice last evening and it is a wonderful dessert.

I Do Not Think I Know ... [quote]

 

Balloon Launch

  At our Valley View Junior High School, science teacher Jill Weaver offers more to her students than dry text from a book. She offers hands-on projects. And what kid of that age group wouldn't love launching a technology-laden balloon into the stratosphere?

 Yesterday (04/26/21) was launch day and Tom and I parked at his house on Center Street and walked to the practice field behind VVJH. It's no more than a quarter mile away. This is the second year she's had a balloon launch.

 So at 10:30 AM we were on  the field and watched as the balloon and payload were readied for the flight.

 Perfect weather. Gentle wind from the northwest. Temperature near 70°.

I don't know the technicalities of what was placed in the instrument package [see the end of this blog] but I know the device communicated via amateur radio (W8WGR) and reported its position (GPS) and altitude (altimeter or perhaps the GPS). There were several cameras on board, too, but I assume they recorded locally. One had a 360° view so they could create a VR view of the stratosphere.

 As the helium flowed into the balloon, various students helped hold it down and also held up a tarp to prevent the wind from moving it around.

 This is the windbreak that was being held aloft for a short while.

 It's about ready to go ...

 Here's a close-up of the instrument package. The electronics were placed in a green plastic box and I believe they taped it shut before it flew.

 And now it's ready to go.

 Here's my video of the final seconds of the countdown and liftoff. VVJH's video can be found here.

 And soon it's just a white dot far overhead. As Tom and I walked back to his house I glanced up a few times and could see it for a short while. The payload reflected sunlight now and then and gave off a flash. I understand why people think they see UFO's; I suppose many are weather balloons.

 Here's the path the balloon took:

 Late in the day it was reported that the balloon had crossed into West Virginia but recently Jill reported it to be somewhere in southeast Ohio. For the last three hours there were no reports from the balloon so it may be lost, somewhere in a treetop. The chase team started back at 3 AM without the balloon.

 She's hoping someone finds it. The value of the contents is around $1500. It's known that the balloon achieved an altitude of 13.2 miles,

 Jill posted a map of the final reported position:

 This looks like a wooded area without many roads. It's going to be a challenge finding it. Maybe someone who lives in the area will stumble across it?

 More information as it comes in ...

[Follow-up: The balloon was found by a forestry worker "near Athens". It was returned the following day. A video was released that showed the launch and much of the travel but did not include the eventual balloon burst. Here's a frame taken from that video [Credit: Jill Weaver, VVJH]:

All of the following photos are courtesy of Jill Weaver.

"There is nothing like knowing you have successfully launched a weather balloon carrying experiments that you designed. For my students this was the most exciting part," Weaver said. Students self-selected their experiments and worked on teams to set up every part of the process from selection to testing to payload design."

 What did they include? Orbeez [a toy], fortune telling fish [ditto], thermoplastic beads, UV beads, seeds and soil samples.

 This was their second launch. The first in the Fall of 2020 reached an altitude of 15.2 miles. "[It] gave students data to make comparisons," Weaver said.

 The project was part of a Martha Holden Jennings/Dayton Regional STEM Center Aspire Grant. "We sought out and made connections with an amazing team of college engineering students from Wright State University," Weaver added. They worked with students throughout the entire process and also served as the chase team once the balloon was launched.

 "Launching and recovering payloads and equipment is very risky," she said, "with a high probability of loss and students understood we were taking a risk to do this exploration into the atmosphere of our planet."

 

Scientific instruments onboard included a flight computer, an APRS tracking device [Automatic Packet Reporting System, an amateur radio device transmitting on 144.390 MHz], a back-up SPOT tracker, GoPro cameras, a 360° camera and temperature and humidity sensors.

 Students kept an engineering logbook.

 

 Weaver said a Bayer Grant that supports rural schools will allow for another launch later this month (May 2021). It'll be a 1200g balloon. "That's twice as big as what we have launched so far. We plan to launch multiple payload packages," she said.

They're also planning ahead for Pico launch that might "circumnavigate the globe".

 "Some of these have circumnavigated three times," Weaver said. "It is called a low ball. It stays right around 14,000 to 30,000 feet. It only weighs 12g and it is solar powered. It also requires a call sign and can be tracked,"

Yet another balloon is planned for the next school year.