Engineering Students Launch Record-breaking Balloon

The 19 graduate students are part of Lockheed Martin's Engineering Leadership Development Program. The balloon launch was the capstone effort of Project Blue Horizon (PBH), an educational component of the three-year program. The students are employed at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, N.Y., while completing their systems engineering master's degrees at Cornell.

The students' flight beat the previous amateur altitude record by nearly 5,000 feet, according to the company. A national database of Amateur Radio High-Altitude Balloon flight records reports more than 40 teams currently competing in such categories as highest altitude, highest ascent rate, longest distance and longest flight time.

PBH is a space-flight program that incorporates amateur radio (also known as ham radio) technologies, explained Michael Baldwin, PBH chief engineer. Onboard Global Positioning Systems and amateur radio technology allow for monitoring of launch, ascent, descent and recovery, with high-resolution images 20 miles above the earth's surface recorded.

The balloon is made of latex -- not unlike those at birthday parties -- and stretches up to 40 feet in diameter, according to Baldwin. Many agencies and companies are examining high-altitude balloon flight for exploration and surveying, as well as for detecting radio frequencies.

In two previous flights, the PBH team had discovered that optimizing the amount of helium in the balloon was a key component to a successful mission, Baldwin said. In the latest flight, the students also placed a blanket over the balloon's payload to reduce radiation exposure.

"We were all really enthused and wanted to do this, but there was no way one of us could have done this by ourselves," Baldwin said. "We really had to work together as a team efficiently."

Future teams will launch missions that include long-duration flights, trans-Atlantic flights, multi-balloon missions and the release of unmanned vehicles from near-space altitudes, according to the company.