The 42nd flight of the Project: Traveler group will again be launched from the Hutchinson Municipal Airport's in conjunction with the Hutchinson Regional's 2025 Open House.
The payloads will consist of two of the newest ptSolar lightweight trackers, and optionally backed up by a legacy ArduinoTrack tracker, depending on the availability of a chase team.
The ptSolar is the next generation of Project: Traveler tracker, designed for light-weight pico balloon operation. It is largely based on technologies used in the prior generation trackers, but this will be a maiden voyage for this tracker design and firmware.
Flight Parameters
Launch Date/Time | Saturday May 3, 2025 at 10:30am (15:30Z) |
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Alternative Date | n/a |
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Launch Site | Hutchinson Municipal Airport (38.07N, 97.87W) |
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Capsule 1 (Track) | Tracker: Solar-powered ptSolar Tracker transmitter signing W0ZC-1
Sensors: n/a Beaconing: Delay
Cameras:
| 0.02kg |
Capsule 2 (Track) | Tracker: Battery-powered ptSolar Tracker transmitter signing W0ZC-2
Sensors: n/a Beaconing: Delay
Cameras: n/a | 0.07kg |
Capsule 3 (Track) | Tracker: ArduinoTrack Tracker signing W0ZC-11
Sensors: n/a Beaconing: Delay
Cameras:
| 0.15kg |
Recovery / Misc | The recovery systems are weighing in at approximately the same as the payloads themselves, so we will be switching to a streamer-style recovery. | 0.16kg |
Flight Weight | Total neck weight on balloon. | 0.31kg |
Balloon / Gas | 1200g Kaymont with 2.67cu meters of Hydrogen.
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Estimated Burst Altitude | 35,000m MSL (114,830') |
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Estimated Ascent Rate | 5.6m/s (1,115'/min) |
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Estimated Descent Rate | 4.0m/s (780'/min) velocity at touch-down. |
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Chase Frequencies | 446.100MHz |
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NOTAM Filed | High Altitude Balloon from KHUT airport, South-Southeast bound reaching Flight Level 600 from May 3 at 1530Z to May 3 at 2000Z. NOTAM # HUT05/003 |
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Flight Results
Launch Date/Time | Saturday May 3, 2025 at 10:30pm (15:30Z) |
Launch Site | Hutchinson Regional Aiport (38.07N, -97.87W) |
Burst Altitude | 56,408ft |
Average Ascent Rate | 1670ft/min |
Measured Descent Rate | 1884ft/min |
Touchdown Site | 37.54N, -97.69W |
Touchdown Time | 11:30am (16:30Z) |
Recovery Time | n/a |
Distance Traveled | 60km |
Total Flight Time | 1 hour 0 mintues |
Downloads |
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The launch this morning went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, that's about as far as the good news goes.
The solar tracker never woke up and I'm not sure why that happened, although it took some pretty good whiplash during launch.
The second tracker of the new design worked during part of the flight, but the GPS failed to lock during the middle part of the flight.
The balloon also ruptured very early, at only 56k feet, which is very unusual. The ballon was a Kaymont 1200g, and was only a few years old. It had been stored in a dry, cool location so it's not readliy apparent what the cause was.
We had good position from the legacy tracker down to about 1000' AGL, but we were never able to pick up a signal again once we were on site. At this point, we have not recovered and it seems unlikely that we'll get it back.
Flight Predictions
May 3, 2025
It's stabilized in a south-southeast direction, and pushing farther south. In the interest in recovery time, we'll be fully inflating the balloon this morning which should result in an ascent rate in excess of 1500'/min, lowering the ascent portion of the flight both with rate, as well as a reduced burst point.
I'm struggling to get a good estimate on descent rate due to the extremely light nature of this payload string. Either way, I'd anticipate a landing south of Cheney Lake, around US-54.
May 2, 2025
It's remaining consistent with yesterday's track, landing near Wellington, KS. The surface weather continues to look very favorable for the mid-morning launch.
We will likely over-inflate the balloon Saturday which will shorted up the chase a little bit, putting it closer to Clearwater.
May 1, 2025
We've moved comfortably far away from the Wichita metro, but we are looking at a decently long chase.
The surface weather is predicted to be mostly sunny, with fairly light winds out of the north.
April 30, 2025
Today's forecast continues to push further south. The current outlook is to drop down in the southwest corner of Wichita, near the airport.
We have a couple options if this forecast continues, including over-filling the balloon, or adjusting the descent rate.
April 29, 2025
April 28, 2025
Still a relatively short chase, but the direction has shifted east-southeast, instead of northeast.
April 26, 2025
The initial prediction shows a flight path to the northeast, landing near Marion Reservoir.