Special Projects Lab launches balloon

On September 28th at Olivet high school, Stockbridge Special Projects Lab, formerly known as InvenTeam, launched a high-altitude balloon 91,000 feet into the atmosphere. This balloon was equipped with high-quality cameras to take pictures of the Earth’s curvature and sensors to collect data such as temperature and air pressure. 

Eliana Johnson

“The goal was to potentially capture images of the Earth’s curvature with not only the cameras that the balloon kit came with but also our QB satellite that Jack Hammerberg configured,” junior Jason Gruber said. 

The cubes that were launched were five inches by five inches, which are small and lightweight. This standardized way of making satellites makes them cheaper to launch because they’re much smaller and lighter than conventional satellites. 

“It was a lot of fun. I mean, at the age of 16 being able to capture pictures of the earth is kind of a big deal,” Gruber said. “I haven’t heard of anybody else doing it.”