As a team we are excited about the opportunities that Project HALO presents to explore the world, grow through the process of scientific exploration, and through it all, learn about ourselves. This is reflected in the things we want our balloon to do. Although to a certain extent our supplies limit what we can accomplish (ruling out, for example, some initial ideas about quantifying Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity), we still have a wonderful opportunity to explore the upper atmosphere. Therefore, we decided on several objectives  for our balloon payload. 

First and foremost, it will take pictures and video, allowing us to explore a place that we will likely never visit in person. In the true scientific spirit, we also seek to learn as much as possible, including measurements such as temperature, pressure, and CO2 concentration. Just for fun, we also want to measure the acceleration of our balloon (I, for one, want to know just how fast our balloon moves!). 

During the second meeting of Project HALO, we reached several important decisions about what our payload. The Instrumentation team decided on the scientific components of the payload, which will include a barometer, thermometer, accelerometer, and CO2 sensor, as well as a horizontally-oriented camera for photographs and a vertically-oriented camera for video (hopefully live!). The Flight Computer team has decided that these instruments will be run by a Raspberry Pi 3, which will record and transmit the data. The programming will be done in Python. Our Tracking and Data team has decided on APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) for monitoring the balloon’s position in flight. We will also need a back-up system, since we want to be able to locate our payload even if the tracking system fails. 

The Structures team laid out a rough idea of what the payload box will look like, which right now includes a light wooden core surrounded by foam insulation. The goal of this is to maintain a decent temperature and support and protect the instruments during their journey to the edge of our atmosphere! 

The Systems Integration team, in charge of flight projections, is looking at a target height of 100,000 feet, with a payload weight that will likely not exceed 1 kilogram. The trajectory simulations as of now have the balloon landing around Kokomo, which is just about an hour away by car. 

We are not the first team to perform an experiment like this, so our results may be nothing new, but that does not change anything. We are exploring a region of our world we will never visit by testing and learning about it - that is amazing. We still have a long way to go, but we have taken the first step.