Last night at the Christmas dinner during the chairman’s speech it was announced that he was starting a new tradition for the club called the “Chairman’s Challenge” which will be announced during every Christmas dinner. The challenge is designed to encourage activity between members and focus on a goal for the coming year. Lets hope the tradition continues when the chairman role changes hands.
The challenge James, M1DST set for 2012 is: “Launch a high altitude meteorological balloon, reach inner space (approx 100,000ft), track it and then recover it. The payload must contain at least one camera but can contain as many cameras, experiments as it is deemed reasonable.”
A typical flight uses a standard latex weather balloon, lasts around 2-3 hours, and reaches 25 to 35 km in altitude.
There will be a talk by M1DST during the early part of 2012 to explain the project further. There are many world records in this area to be broken too!