January 2023 Flights

We plan to fly at least 3 balloons in January 2023. Here's some details. Anyone can comment here, and we'll consider input before finalizing launch plans!

Where/When: 
Southern Baja, Mexico. We'll plan exact location based on weather conditions, utilizing SondeHub Predictor to decide exactly where and when. Target will be near a road but away from any population center.

Balloons:
These flights will be latex weather balloons rated at 1200g. 

Lift Gas:
These flights will utilize helium.

Clouds:
We will utilize sulfur dioxide generated by burning sulfur in the presence of oxygen. Each launch will include between 10g and 500g of clouds (target 100g+).

Target altitude:
We will use a balloon performance calculator to inflate such that we're likely to achieve a burst altitude of ~33km. 

Flight Body: 
We're running this body, and we'll likely add pool noodles for floatation (in case of a water landing).

Telemetry: 
We're including this flight computer as well as a Spot tracker. Note that the Spot tracker cuts out at 18km and the flight computer isn't transmitting data, so we'll only get full detail if we recover the balloon. Additionally, we'll be flying a camera. 

Publication: 
Within a week of each flight, we will publish all data obtained on our website.

Next Round (after January flights), priorities to add include:
- Swarm for data transmission during flight 
-waterproof + buoyant flight body
-separate "cloud" chamber that vents at target altitude
-partial balloon venting at target altitude
-lighter camera and/or flights without
-switch to hydrogen (if we can safely flare at altitude or otherwise deal with GHG implications)