23 S3D University of North FL Jacksonville Annular Solar Eclipse
Channel: Stratospheric Ballooning Association
Date: 06/02/2024

High-Altitude Balloons Flights on an Annular Solar Eclipse
Abstract:
Students from the University of North Florida (UNF) participated in NASA’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Program (NEBP). The UNF team visited Pearsall, Texas during October 12-15, 2023. A high-altitude balloon, Osprey, was successfully launched, and after 10 min, another balloon, Disney, was launched before beginning an annular solar eclipse from Pearsall, TX, USA. The main aims of the flights were to evaluate the performance of the vent and cutdown system, connectivity with a satellite iridium modem, RFD900, Raspberry Pi camera, 360-degree Insta camera, antenna, ground station, spot tracking, and ozone sensor payload. 

The variation in the altitude of the Osprey and Disney balloons with flight time was measured. Osprey balloon reached the highest altitude at about 29886 m, while Disney balloon reached the highest altitude at about 32503 m. The maximum speed over ground for Osprey was 145.4 km/h while for Disney was 159.9 km/h. Both flights covered the entire annular eclipse. Our 3-D printed vent system worked well without helium gas leakage. We found that the Iridium satellite remained busy and kept us in queue to execute the cutdown command, and hence underwent a burst. We will discuss the failure of the iridium-related vent system. The variations in the temperatures inside and outside the payload with time were measured. The ozone concentration was measured using nanocrystalline composite oxide semiconductor thin films. Eight sensors were used to monitor the ozone concentration. The concentration of ozone in the stratosphere decreased throughout the annular solar eclipse. This may be because the amount of available UV light from sunlight decreased; hence, ozone formation also decreased. The variation in the UV light during the flight supported the results of the ozone sensors.