HAB at VT

First launch of the semester!!!

This past Sunday the team had its first launch!! Everyone worked together in lovely weather, and successfully flew a few payloads. New members got hands on experience, and returning members shared stories and ballooning knowledge! Unfortunately our flight string landed in 50 ft pine trees, recovery tbd! 🎈🌲

Photos: Ginny Smith

HAB is at AGU!!

Kevin Sterne is currently at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, presenting a poster in a Union Session with other NEBP teams! This meeting is being held in Washington D.C., and features other researchers that were collecting data during the eclipse!🌎🎈

One year ago!!

On this day in 2023, part of our team traveled to Roswell, NM! While there they launched during the partial solar eclipse, explored the unique landscape, and participated in community outreach. 🌅🎈👽

Reminiscing 🤩🤩🤩

NEBP has created a magazine that gives you a glimpse into all of the incredible teams that participated!!! VT HAB is included!!🥳🥳

Check out the link below ⬇️⬇️⬇️

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lOrZhRD2av-UOtl2TchMzF4aUm_ha7bZ/view

WELCOME BACK HOKIES!!!

We’re recruiting!! Lots of incredible projects, launches, and people this semester at HAB, and we want YOU to join!

INFO SESSION:
September 6th, 2:30-3:15pm
Williams Hall 134

OUR FAVORITE GRADUATES❕❕

This year, three of our beloved engineers have graduated and are on to some out of this world opportunities.

Meet the grads:

Jivitesh hails from the other side of the world, and earned a degree in Electrical Engineering with a focus on RF and Microwave. At HAB, he mostly worked on a payload called the Mechanical Altitude Propagation to experiment with the speed of sound. He said he should mention that he’s an audiophile. Jiv also worked on the Video Payload aiming to livestream the total solar eclipse, which sadly did not work since the radios were out of reach 🥲. After graduation, he’s on the way to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in electromagnetic acoustic MEMS. His favorite memory at HAB is trekking through the desert in Roswell to retrieve the flight string along with a wild herd of deer.

Holly just graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering!! She was a flight director for our eclipse launch, but also worked on a payload and as a systems engineer during her time on HAB. She also worked with our Eclipse Soundscapes recorder that gathered sound data during the eclipse (MIKE). After graduation she will be heading to work at MITRE Corporation in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Hollys favorite experience was watching the total eclipse with everyone (and the entertaining car ride to Missouri in Brad the van🚗💨)!

Corrie just graduated with a degree in Aerospace engineering, with a specialization in Space engineering🪐! At HAB, she worked on numerous jobs including organization, planning, and the NEBP Video Payload (our professional debugger). After graduation she will be heading to an internship at NASA Goddard!! Corrie isn’t sure what her plan is after, but is excited for her future! Her favorite memory at HAB was having a two hour debate with Brian about the nature of consciousness during a car ride!

We are extremely proud of our graduates. You all have, and will continue to achieve incredible things. The HAB team wishes you the best of luck 🫶

Interested in joining a new team?!

High Altitude Ballooning at VT is recruiting! Calling any and all majors who have an interest in any of the amazing opportunities this team has to offer! Check out our previous posts for eclipse content, payload design, travel, teamwork, and some awesome people 🥳

We will be holding a NEBP Result Presentation on Wednesday, 5/1, 2:30-3:30pm in Whittemore 654. This is open to all students and faculty! Come meet the team, ask questions, and learn about HAB!

See you there!🌎🎈

Photos: John Riris, Jivitesh Kukreja

📸📸📸

These photos were taken by three of our payloads (Video payload, Cherries, and Grapes)!! If you look closely on the bottom left corner of photo one you can see the solar eclipse’s reflection in the water below! The sunset is the eclipse’s 360 sunset during totality. Cherries and video payload were also able to catch the moons shadow from high altitude. The circular disks attached to the balloons are the stabilizers, and allow the payload to remain still-ish during the flight.

Awesome job to the Cherries, Grapes, and Video Payload Teams!! 🌎

2024 Total Solar Eclipse

After the team launched the balloons we sat back, put on our glasses, and watched the show.

Due to our location we were able to observe numerous eclipse phenomenons. Venus and Jupiter appeared as the partial eclipse took over. The 360 sunset was colorful around us, but as we stood there it felt like a filter had fallen over us. Looking at the ground we could see the moons shadow bands moving across the field. As the eclipse reached totality, the clouds parted, the wind picked up, and chills were felt by everyone there. The four minutes flew by…then diamond formed (seen in photo 4 + 5) and the world slowly came back to life. 🌘

It was truly a once and lifetime experience.

Photos: John Riris, Jivitesh Kukreja

The final countdown.

After long days in the lab, countless practice launches, and a LOT of meetings, the day finally arrived.

Our team arrived in Thayer, Missouri at 9 am, after an hour-ish drive from our home base. We had a quick flight debrief and got to work. The team had spent hours and hours perfecting the timeline and practicing for this moment.

Start time: 10:00 am
VT balloon launch: 12:35 pm
NEBP balloon launch: 12:50 pm
Eclipse totality: 1:56 pm
Begin chase: 2:15 pm

Our schedule was tight, with little room for error. But, even with wind gusts, a last-minute horizontal launch, and running out of gloves... the VT HAB team successfully launched both flight strings on time! The cheering and overall feeling of relief came across everyone when the final balloon was released. The team began to clean up, ate some well-deserved sandwiches, and found a seat for the real show...

Follow along for jaw-dropping eclipse photos!!

These photos were taken on launch day (April 8th, 2024).
Photos: Jivitesh Kukreja, John Riris

Row row row your …canoe? 🚣‍♀️

The VT flight string landed in the middle of a wildlife refuge pond, on a large patch of floating vegetation ~0.5 miles from land. Our first attempt of recovery didn’t go as planned due to approaching nightfall and wildlife. The group headed back to home base, and got in contact with the wildlife management.

That night the area had heavy rainfall, and all payloads were soaked. The following day, Ginny and Kevin were able to canoe out in waders and rescue the payloads!

Launches and flight track don’t always go as planned…but thanks to pre planning, and a calm approach to the situation our team successfully collected both flight strings.

Shout out to the local community and the Wildlife Conservation Team for assisting Ginny and Kevin with retrieval!!

NEBP Flight string recovery!

This flight string landed half in water, and half on a small strip of road weaving through a wildlife reserve🦆. All payloads were recovered safely by our team, and was only a 30 minute drive from our home base!
This string burst at 99,367ft, and was able to catch totality.

Stay tuned to see data from the payloads!