Day 7: Training Part 2
After a couple of days for tourism, we returned to the lab to practice for the next day's balloon launch. The experiment would involve letting a weather balloon with sensors freely rise to measure wind direction, and then use a tether to bring it down, pausing at designated altitudes for 5 minutes to collect pollution measurements. We practiced raising and lowering the balloon and got comfortable collecting data from the sensors.
Learning how to fill the weather balloon with helium from a tank. We had to get comfortable with this process, because we'd be doing it before dawn the next day!
The balloon's payload: a black carbon sensor and a temperature/humidity sensor. The sensors were attached to a parachute below the balloon, so if the balloon popped, they would be safe.