Setup for balloon filling, showing the groundsheet used to protect the fragile latex balloon from anything potentially sharp (like grass!)
Our launch location - the earth berm on the left conceals a large canal, a fact of which we were entirely unaware until we viewed the launch video from the downwards facing camera hours later.
Payload assembly, showing the fisheye lens preinstalled in the side of the container, the second camera which would be installed facing downwards for video, and the G1 Android phone that would report position via SMS and log sensor data.
The CHDK script on the camera has been activated and the camera itself has now been installed and attached to its fisheye lens. Pictures from this point on are taken at 30 second intervals.
Payload being attached to parachute and balloon.
Double-checking APRS radio configuration.
Launch!
A fragment of the balloon is visible at about the 7 o'clock position in this picture, at bottom left. By blind luck, the camera was pointed in the right direction and snapped a picture seconds after the balloon burst. Height at this point is approximately 70,000 feet.
Ice starts forming on the lens as the glass and metal chilled to below -20C falls into the humid air above the clouds.
Having fallen through the clouds, the payload has now warmed up enough that the ice starts melting. Sadly, it seems there was also ice that formed inside the camera's electronics, as this is the last picture recorded by the camera.
