WVU Tech’s College of Engineering students participate in the maiden flight of their High-Altitude Research Platform (HARP) near-space experiment.

When Dr Jim Cercone, Chair of WVU Tech’s Computer Science Department, suggested that students exploring experiments for their Senior Research Design Project consider a balloon launch, initial reactions were not inflating – to say the least! However, as Dr Cercone pumped up the idea with more specifics, the balloon launch took off with more than 14 students taking on various roles.

The concept for WVU Tech’s High-Altitude Research Platform (HARP) near-space experiment got off the ground after Dr Cercone and Dr Kimberlyn Gray, College of Engineering Freshman Advisor and Outreach Coordinator, participated in a summer 2009 workshop funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.

The workshop was designed to train and equip undergraduate faculty in all areas (not just Aerospace) in implementing high-altitude balloon launches as a practical learning experience in courses they teach, and focused on the mechanics and theory of using high-altitude balloon launches in undergraduate science and engineering courses with teaching students how to build high-altitude balloon payloads.

Designing & Building the HARP Experiment

During the fall 2009 semester, a HARP Experiment team was brought together to begin work. College of Engineering students that contributed to the effort and their roles included:

Bradlee Wolfe, Mission Control at WVU Tech in Montgomery & Retrieval Team

Kyle Hickernel, Senior Project Team One: ATLAS Tracking System

Josh Peal, Senior Project Team One: ATLAS Tracking System & Tracking Team Two

Jeff Whaling, Senior Project Team Two: Modular Tracking System & Mission Control at Tech in Montgomery

Alex Paz, Senior Project Team Two: Modular Tracking System & Tracking Team Two

Matthew Conley, Senior Project Team Two: Modular Tracking System

Carl Simpkins, Tracking Team One & Retrieval Team

Garret Wilson, Tracking Team One & Retrieval Team

Zack Long, Tracking Team One & Retrieval Team

Anthony Woody, Retrieval Team

John Coleman, Retrieval Team

Rosie Whitmoyer, Retrieval Team

Danielle Morris, Retrieval Team

Kris Adame, Retrieval Team

It was decided that Tech’s initial launch would be a “proof of concept experiment” designed to test the effectiveness of amateur radio tracking capabilities across West Virginia’s mountainous terrain. The tracking team designed and built a 900 MHz downlink transmitter. Linked to Google Maps, the telemetry wirelessly downloaded from this unit in real time, and was field tested in the Montgomery area. It proved to be accurate within a matter of feet! A video camera was also included as a payload component.

The Launch

Prior to launch day on Friday, December 4, 2009, the team assessed meteorological and atmospheric conditions and projected the flight path of the HARP experiment. This data was critical information for the chase teams that would monitor and trail the transmitted signal as the flight progressed. After leaving the launch site, Barboursville Middle School in Cabell County, the flight was expected to last approximately 2 hours, reach an altitude of about 80,000 feet (15 miles) and land somewhere near Morgantown, WV.

Tech students calculated that as the helium expanded, and, due to the drop in atmospheric pressure as it rose, the 7 foot diameter balloon would expand to about 40 feet in diameter before the balloon fabric would fail and the payload modules would parachute safely back to earth.

During the balloon flight the payload components were subjected to violent shaking and temperatures that fell to approximately -40° Fahrenheit.

The Chase

As the balloon launched, two chase teams, armed with tracking receivers, were standing by on I-79. All went well during the initial phase of the flight and the signal came in loud and clear. However, as the flight continued, it became evident that the mountainous terrain was an issue. With I-79 flowing through the rugged hills and valleys of central West Virginia, the line-of-sight transmission was lost.

By the time the student teams made it to the vicinity of the landing site, dusk was setting in. Even though their GPS receivers showed them to be within 1,000 yards of the landing site, the teams decided that they needed to return another day to retrieve the experiment.

The Retrieval

Dr. Cercone picks up the narrative:

We returned to our projected landing site on Thursday (6 days after launch). It was seventeen degrees with high winds and snow, following a 3 hour drive to a heavily wooded area, with four determined students and one “what am I doing here?” professor. In short, it was a perfect day for an adventure.

I was able to arrive an hour and a half ahead of my students and quickly found the land owner, Mr. Rod Shamo, as I crossed a power line right- of- way. Mr. Shamo turned out to be a real nice guy, volunteering his time and four-wheeler. As I hung on the back of his four-wheeler, watching both the skyline and GPS receiver, we explored the obvious places where the balloon wasn’t located in order to save the student’s time when they arrived.

The students located the balloon and pods after about an hour of searching. The team then began serious negotiations with the completely intact set of pods, trying to convince them that they needed to return to civilization and the warm, nurturing environment of the Computer Science Department back in Montgomery. Unfortunately, the pods had grown attached to the tall tree they were nestled in and had decided to reside in Katy, West Virginia.

After a few hours of rope tossing, partial tree climbing, and trying several verbal incantations, we decided to regroup and obtain proper climbing equipment for a return trip after Christmas Break. We knew the modules were quite secure from theft until our return.

On January 18th we ventured back to the balloon landing site. Our retrieval team had grown from two to a crew of eight.

I received the first call about 3:00 p.m. from Carl Simpkins. Zack Long had climbed the tree (with tree spikes) and finally managed to snag the balloon with a twenty foot pole – wrapping it spaghetti style. The ground crew was able to pull down the HARP GPS and command module. Both were intact and seemed in good working order. The remaining packages were more than 20 feet out of reach.

My next call from Carl was around 5 p.m. He reported they had successfully retrieved the balloon and the rest of the pods and we all headed back to Tech with a satisfying feeling of “mission accomplished.”

The Future

According to Dr. Cercone, the students decided (insisted) that this project must be continued. The College of Engineering and Science is teaching a multidisciplinary special topics research class during the spring 2010 Semester. Course objectives include designing a package that can be tracked in mountainous terrain during flight and is “tree-recovery friendly”.

Three students from last semester’s HARP flight are taking the research class and several more have joined the team. An engineering technology class and a senior electrical engineering design project team are working on a modified tracking pod.

So, if you are interested in learning by doing, come join us here at Tech, where the Sky is the Limit!

Story by Sid Cooper

WVU Tech