The Aerospace Club, advised by Kevin Harris, is preparing to launch a weather balloon. The planning began after Sean Bush suggested it to the rest of the club. “Sean is our guy. He’s the one who got this in motion — he’s the expert,” said sophomore Liam Ferry.

They broke the project into parts and assigned members roles. “It’s actually rather expensive — it’s the balloon itself that costs the most,” Bush said.

Eddie Lyon was responsible for the fundraising. He organized a sandwich sale to fund the project. Bush is responsible for the engineering of the device. The balloon will carry a small Styrofoam box with it and inside will be instruments that measure temperature, air pressure and humidity.

In order to retrieve the device, which eventually will fall back to Earth when the balloon pops, Bush will include a GPS tracker in the box.

Unlike most weather balloons, the group also is interested in studying how living organisms fair in this environment. Noah Eck is responsible for preparing bacteria to travel with the balloon. “The balloon should reach altitudes where the temperature is 50 degrees or more below zero and where there is virtually no oxygen, and we are curious about the impact on the bacteria,” Bush said.

Liam Ferry is responsible for getting the balloon safely in the air. The balloon will be partially filled with helium, and as the balloon rises and air pressure drops, the balloon will continue to inflate. Ferry is responsible for determining how much helium is needed to launch the balloon. “I can calculate how to get it in air, but we won’t know how far or how fast it will travel,” Ferry said. “Variables such as wind speed and air pressure are changing all the time, so we can’t really calculate those in advance. That’s why we use the GPS tracker.”

The group has yet to set a date for the launch. “We have to consider where jet stream is,” Bush said. “We want it up near Canada, otherwise it will catch the balloon and carry it off to sea.”