Javier is now attending SUNY at Buffalo studying mechanical engineering with a focus in aerospace engineering. Throughout this 8-month-long project, he designed the thermal optimization system, operated the Geiger Counter software, and ensured that we were in compliance with FAA regulations.
Thank you to the Keene Sentinel for supporting our project by posting three articles about us and encouraging the people of New Hampshire to help us find our lost balloon.
They also wrote about our disappointing trip to New Hampshire to recover a false alarm that was in fact a radiosonde belonging to the National Weather Service.
It took 8 months, but we finally recovered the data we were looking for. Though it isn't the prettiest data, it showed the trend we hypothesized a long year ago. As the balloon's altitude increased, the radiation levels generally increased, until approximately 20000m, the point at which the balloon had crossed the majority of Earth's ozone layer.
Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank the following people:
Tom and Kate Messner for allowing us to borrow their van and for funding 30% of this project
SPOT LLC. For offering us a science project discount on GPS softare
Ms. Patel-Dame for enduring our countless questions about conditions in the upper atmosphere
MIT and NASA for inspiring us to embark on this project
Ms. Patel-Dame and Mr. Mousseau for serving on our safety review committee
Eugene Sokolovsky for recovering our balloon and payload from 60 ft high in a Massachusetts tree
The people of Hubbardston, MA for supplying us with equipment to recover our payload
Burns family for generously allowing us to stay at their house when we were unable to recover our payload before dark
