Stratospheric Ballooning

Faculty Lead: Christopher Lee

Student Researchers

Jojo Liu '27, Alex Qazilbash '27, Minu Rajasinghe '27, William Skelly '25, Christopher Vidaurrazaga '27, Mark Belanger '26, Vaani Bhatnagar '25, Anthony Cheung '27, Karina Lamoreux '25, Miranda Pietraski '25, Omar Salih '25, Jacob Smilg '24, Mihir Vemuri '26

External Collaborators

Siddhartan Govindasamy, Boston College 

Research Objectives

1) Develop and test improved mechanical, electrical, and software systems for high altitude (~100,000 ft) balloon flights (payload < 12 lbs)

1) Measure the effects of heightened solar activity (e.g., coronal mass ejection) on background cosmic rays  

3) Observe and take atmospheric measurements during the annular (Oct 2023) and total (April 2024) solar eclipses 

Impact

New balloon payload and recovery systems can be used by atmospheric/space researchers and ballooning teams for their own scientific missions and flights.