As part of Flight Day for Minnesota Aerospace & Aviation Week 2012 (see airspacemn.org for additional events), students from the University of Minnesota and from St. Catherine University as part of the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium (MnSGC -- a NASA Higher Education program) will launch a weather balloon on Saturday, Sept. 22, carrying several student-built miniature spacecraft into the upper atmosphere for training purposes.
The public is invited to observe this launch at the Northfield Middle School. We expect to start setting up about 9 a.m. and release the balloon, which will be about 8 feet in diameter, around 10 a.m. after which we will track it as it flies south and slightly east using GPS-enabled ham radios. The balloon is expected to ascend to 60,000 to 80,000 feet at which point it will burst and the payloads will descend by parachute, landing perhaps just across the border into Iowa. Questions? Contact Professor James Flaten, U of MN / MnSGC, flaten@aem.umn.edu.
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