Near Space Balloon 2012 TEDx Asheville
376 views · Published 6 November 2012 · 13:31 · Indexed 30 September 2026
Channel: Tom Heck · 2012 · Education
This was a collaborative project between TEDx Asheville 2012 and Francine Delany New School For Children (public charter school). www.tedxasheville.com www.fdnsc.net - 1200 gram latex weather balloon was filled with 150 cubic feet of helium -- weather balloon was approximately 6 feet in diameter at lift off - Payload was an off-the-shelf styrofoam cooler that was modified for this project - Payload weighed 4 pounds - Payload contents included: GoPRO Hero 2 HD video camera with a 32 GB memory card and extra battery pack, SPOT gps unit (operating off of satellites), PocketFinder gps unit (operating off of cell towers), personal items from each student - Launched on Sat Oct 27, 2012 at 9:20 am EST - Launching location: Francine Delany New School for Children (www.fdnsc.net) in Asheville, NC Teacher's Name: Tom Robertson (7th & 8th grade math teacher) Student Names: Colt Jeremiah Elliot Ashlee Dexter Allison Caleb Soape Nicolai Julian - Altitude achieved = 100,000 feet (19 miles) - - this is referred to as "near space", the edge of Earth's atmosphere - Burst diameter of weather balloon = 30 feet in diameter - Temperature at 100,000 feet is - 50 degrees F - Landing location: Vilas, NC on a ridge near the NC and TN border -- This is approximately 100 miles from Asheville (as the crow flies) - Payload landed at 12:46 pm EST - Search Day # 1 -- Held on the same day as the launch day (Sat Oct 27) - Search Day # 2 -- Held on Sunday Oct 28 -- This is the day we found the payload in Vilas, NC. - At one point the GPS measured the payload traveling at 94 mph. A professionally edited video of this same project can be found here: https://vimeo.com/52689258 This 3-minute video was shown at the actual TEDx Asheville event held on November 4, 2012. Tom Heck is a volunteer with TEDx Asheville and was the liaison to the school for this project. Tom Heck www.tomheck.com
