BASE 36 Flight: 2009 June 2   Cloverdale High School students participated through the support of the Lilly Foundation                                                   

Launch:  Eminence, IN 18:40 UTC

Burst Altitude:  never burst, but maximum altitude of 18,000 feet

Landing: east of New Castle, IN 21:40 UTC Google Earth file (.kmz)

Experiments:

Cosmic Ray Detector

Digital Movie Cameras

Earth Sensor for Optical Energies Technologies

Dual axis tilt sensor

Launch was accomplished with gusty winds that led to an underfilled balloon. Ascent rate of 200 feet/minute until 18000 feet, reached at 2000 UTC. The balloon suddenly dropped almost 2000 feet and never climbed significantly again. The balloon descended at an increasing rate, but landed with a partially filled balloon. (Altitude versus Time plot)

At the time of the rapid descent there were scattered thunderstorms throughout the area and reports of hail were common. It appears that heavy rain saturated the parachute and eliminated the lift. The balloon encountered two intense rain storms during the flight.