Engineering students launch balloon payloads

Submitted by Denise Thorsen
Phone: (907) 474-7052
03/29/04

Electrical engineering freshman this semester have been given the opportunity to design, build, and fly atmospheric measurement payloads on a tethered balloon. Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Denise Thorsen, partnered with Neal Brown, director of the Alaska Space Grant Program, to bring engineering design to her freshman Introduction to Electrical Engineering course.

The students, working in teams, built a temperature and pressure sensor payload and, with the help of Neal Brown, will fly their payloads on a tethered balloon. The flight will occur April 2 in the Taku parking lot, around 3 p.m. All are invited to witness the flights.

Last semester, students did a paper design based on requirements provided by Cathy Cahill, of the Geophysical Institute. Cahill is interested in atmospheric temperature distributions for pollution studies.