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Olin College and Boston College’s High Altitude Balloon Flights During the 2023 Annular and 2024 Total Solar Eclipses

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Abstract

A combined team of students and faculty from Olin College and Boston College launched high-altitude balloons during the 2023 annular and 2024 total solar eclipses as part of the NASA-sponsored Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (engineering track). This was the first ballooning experience for the team. For the October 2023 annular eclipse, a balloon was launched near Junction, TX with the NEBP payload (Iridium tracking and control, RFD900, PTERADACTYL, and Raspberry Pi video steaming systems with the UMD vent/cut-down) and a custom payload (Geiger counter and system of four disposable cameras with an automated film-advance mechanism). The balloon reached a maximum altitude of 76,223 ft. After a flight of 2 hrs. 55 min., it landed 108 miles away with the balloon still attached to the parachute and payload. The cut-down circuit on the vent melted through the line but the vent sections did not separate. For the April 2024 total eclipse, the balloon was launched from Rocksprings, TX. The payload was the NEBP systems and a custom tracking package with four Raspberry Pi video cameras. Using a second, non-NEBP-design ground station, video from the custom package was livestreamed. This balloon was brought down after reaching 54,380 ft. After traveling 162 miles in 2 hrs. and 16 min., it landed on a U.S. Army base. Again, the balloon did not separate from the rest of the payload. This paper presents representative flight data, video images, and reflections of team members’ experiences and takeaways from their work on the project.

Keywords: NEBP, high-altitude, eclipse

How to Cite:

Belanger, M., Cheung, A., Bhatnagar, V., Lamoreux, K., Liu, J., Pietraski, M., Rivas, A., Salih, O., Smilg, J., Vidaurrazaga, C., Vemuri, M., Lynch, C., Govindasamy, S. & Lee, C., (2024) “Olin College and Boston College’s High Altitude Balloon Flights During the 2023 Annular and 2024 Total Solar Eclipses”, Academic High Altitude Conference 2024(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/ahac.17979