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The Charleroi Area High School STEM Club members launched an atmosphere balloon on Saturday, May 28, 2016.

CHS STEM Club Members Launch Baloon

The club formally planning about two months ago. Everything was purchased via Amazon.com for under $200. The balloon was a 20-foot-diameter professional weather balloon filled with roughly 80 cubic feet of helium. The payload consisted of a two-gallon Styrofoam cooler with two water proof cameras, a GPS tracking device and USB back up battery. The club used hand warmers to prevent the electronics from malfunctioning at the cold temperatures they would encounter. The cooler included a letter explaining our project and was supported by a 3 foot nylon parachute.

The students had to consider the weight of the payload, the amount of helium needed for a positive lift and balance that with the size of the balloon so that it could reach the highest possible altitude. Based on the time a trajectory, the balloon reached a height of at least 80,000 feet. The club used an online tracking tool to predict the approximate trajectory and received a text message from our GPS device once it actually landed in a neighborhood in McKees Rocks. The students had to search through the woods a bit, but the payload was recovered after a 30-minute search.

CharSTEM1.jpg - Pictured are (l-r): Alex Short, David Kuenzel, Ryan Perumal, Jared Miller, Julia Boyer, Sam Marchewka, Anna Kuenzel, Joe Weber, Devin Wozniak-Franks, and Mr. Nick Arico (teacher). Front row: Anna Iacovino and Sienna Petuschak-Vanicky.

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