Our Path to Space

“Our Path to Space” was the motto of our project seminar. The main goal was to independently develop and build a measurement probe that could ascend over 30 km into the stratosphere with a weather balloon, allowing us to collect and analyze various data.
To achieve this, our 12-member team split into smaller groups, each responsible for specific tasks.
Our two electronics teams developed and programmed two redundant measurement systems. One system was designed to transmit the collected data in real-time to our project website.

Through simulations and various tests, we prepared the probe for the extreme conditions at 30 km altitude to ensure everything would go smoothly.
After 1.5 years of work, we successfully launched the stratosphere probe. Neither poor weather nor the coronavirus pandemic could stop our mission.
Recovering the probe was complicated because an unexpectedly strong jet stream caused the balloon to land in Austria. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we had to stop tracking at the Burghausen border. Fortunately, the GPS systems on the probe reliably transmitted its position during and after the flight, allowing us to contact a local family near the landing site. The Hager family kindly retrieved the balloon and sent the probe back to us. This enabled us to analyze the data that hadn’t been transmitted during the flight and complete the project successfully.

Klaus Muthsam, Welfen-Gymnasium