MECSAT

Medgar Evers College, City University of New York

Condor 1—June 26, 2004

Description

This was our first flight a week after the Colorado workshop. It was launched in the foothills of the Adirondacks and sped away fairly quickly and got to an altitude of 29,000 feet in just 21 minutes. The winds in the jetstream were fairly strong- reaching a maximum of 137mph at 40,000 feet. We were able to track it to about 62,000 feet before communication was lost. The payload was recovered in the woods by a hunter and returned about six months later. We were able to determine that the balloon had too much helium and burst at the 62,000-foot altitude.  Because we were in a mountainous area and did not immediately chase, we lost line-of-sight on the descent.

Launch Information

          Launch Date: 6/26/2004

          Launch site location: Adirondacks Community

                College/SUNY, Queensbury, NY

          Coordinates: 43.35161,-73.65633

          Elevation: 300 feet

          Balloon: Kaysam 1200 gram

          Ascent rate: > 1,000 feet/min

          Burst Altitude:  62,000 feet

          Callsign: KC2NAZ-11

 

Payloads

          Communications:

          Alinco HT 196, TinyTrak3 and Garmin GPS

          Etrex Lengend receiver Frequency: 144.39Mhz

          Secondary:

           35mm camera, Hobo internal and external

                   temperature loggers

 

Ayana Moses, the student in the foreground with Michael Fortney, is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Material Science in the NSF CUNY LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Program.

Jimmy Etienne with Physics Lab Tech, Kevin Brathwaite. Etienne is on the way to an MS in Computer Science.

Communications gear in our flying lunchbox.