Posts

UK Engineering Eclipse Ballooning Team

Image
The 2017 Total Solar Eclipse will cross the nation from Oregon to South Carolina on August 21, 2017, with the point of maximum totality in western Kentucky.  Kentucky students will fly payloads to the edge of space and livestream video of the eclipse as it happens from above. UK Engineering students will participate in the NASA Space Grant Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project to fly scientific payloads and livestream video at 100,000 ft during the eclipse.  Launch is planned from western Kentucky.  The project will be coordinated with launches all along the eclipse path to provide live video of this unique event. NASA Kentucky provides support for the UK Engineering Eclipse Ballooning Team, Hopkinsville Community College Balloonsat Team, and the Bluegrass Community College Ballooning Team. UK Eclipse Balloon Team on Youtube Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project: eclipse.montana.edu NASA Eclipse website: eclipse2017.nasa.gov Donate to the Kentucky projects: solarecli
Read more

Shedding Some Light on the KY Eclipse Team

Image
Shedding Some Light on the KY Eclipse Team You probably know about the amazing solar eclipse happening on August 21 st , but did you know that UK College of Engineering is partnering with NASA to livestream the event from space? The Kentucky Eclipse Team is one of about 60 groups across the nation bringing one-of-a-kind 360 ° footage of the eclipse to the public - and even performing research for NASA’s upcoming mission to Mars. Here’s how it works: We launch high-altitude helium balloons carrying GoPros and more cameras. Photos and videos of the eclipse get recorded and broadcast to our Ground Station and livestreamed along with all the other teams on NASA’s website. At the edge of space, the balloons burst, and we track them to their landing site to recover them. Our team has been preparing for the eclipse for 3 years, designing payloads, programming equipment, and running test launches. During the eclipse launch, we’ll also being helping NASA with biological researc
Post a Comment
Read more

Practice For Eclipse Day

Image
At T-62 days until the eclipse our team completed our second successful double balloon launch. With our small team of only nine students we were able to fill and launch two balloons from Russelville Airport in Russelville, Kentucky. This launch was a national practice for all Eclipse Ballooning Project teams, meant to simulate the number of balloons in flight on eclipse day. We were able to stream the first 15 minutes of flight on both balloons. Special thanks to the staff at Russelville airport for allowing us to use their facilities, and for the excellent aerial photos of the launch!
Post a Comment
Read more

Hot Air Balloon Livestream Test

Image
View video of the June 10 hot air balloon test over Lexington, KY: Youtube
Post a Comment
Read more