Ms. Pancake’s Weather Class launched their weather balloon on March 12 from William Clark Field.

LiLincoln Thursday, March 12, neighbors of Lincoln Academy might have seen a six-foot wide white balloon with a long yellow tail take off from the LA campus and fly in a northeasterly direction.

No–it was not a UFO.

It was a weather balloon launched by an LA science class. 

“Our weather balloon was used to get images of the near stratosphere and to test their personal experiments,” said LA science teacher Madison Pancake, who teaches LA’s trimester class on weather. “This offers students an opportunity to work together and problem solve.”

Launching the weather balloon was not a one-day project. Students started by choosing their teams, media, data, launch, or payload design. Once they chose their teams they got to work by outlining their objective and the tasks necessary to get this project off the ground. They also worked together to determine what experiments they wanted to send up 30,000 ft. They landed on looking at how the magnetic field would affect a compass from that height, and whether or not they could make ice cream at the low temperatures in the atmosphere. The data team was tasked with determining the launch day, which was decided 48 hours before. 

Waiting for optimal conditions also proved challenging. “We needed a day that was mostly clear with winds that would send the balloon north, and not into the ocean” said Pancake. “And by the time that day came along, it was raining.”

The rain complicated the process because the balloon and helium nozzle were both wet and slippery, adding a degree of difficulty to filling it with helium.

“The launch took longer than we intended due to the rain,” said Pancake. “The students worked diligently to ensure we had proper lift of the balloon and made sure the tracker was still transmitting.”

At the moment of launch, hundreds of LA students and teachers had taken a break from their classes to watch, and witnessed the balloon take off from the turf field. Senior Canon Smith followed the balloon’s progress with his drone for a short distance to capture video footage.

“Right after launch when we were following it with the drone, I noticed that it was heading due south instead of north as intended,” said senior Jackson LeCaptain, a student in the weather class. “I was concerned because if it was to continue south then it would end up in the ocean, but I believed in our predictions and trusted it would correct itself, which it did.”

The balloon eventually disappeared from view, heading towards Belfast. A GPS tracker in the kit allowed the class to track it north of Ellsworth. Eventually the balloon was popped by a detonator programmed to keep it from traveling too far, but unfortunately for the experiments–especially the ice cream–the apparatus landed deep in the woods near the Machias Lakes and has yet to be recovered. The tracking device attached to the payload has enough battery to last several more months, giving the team a window to find it before they lose contact. Other schools in Maine are helping locate the device, a process that will get easier with the spring thaw. 

“This experience really showed students that undertaking real-world science is different than reading about experiments in a textbook,” said Pancake. “They got to see that you can’t control for every contingency, and some problems have to be solved in the moment. Each team that was part of this project worked hard to get it off the ground, and that hard work showed the moment we were able to let go and watch the balloon take off.”

“When Madison approached me about the Weather Balloon project, I was immediately enthusiastic,” said Kelley Duffy, LA’s Director of Curriculum and Instruction. “Building a weather balloon and collecting real data brings abstract classroom concepts to life and helps students see how what they are learning can be applied to real life and potential careers. Additionally, the students are genuinely invested in the outcome of the weather balloon flight and curious to see the data. This is a fantastic project and we hope to see student involvement in this kind of hands-on science projects grow.”

Pancake and her class are hopeful that they will recover the device in the coming weeks, and be able to check on their experiments.

“This project has been a very exciting experience that brought a lot of kids together,” said senior Piper Warfield, who is in the weather class. “I am looking forward to seeing the footage we receive from the two cameras we had on the outside of the payload.”

Below: Students prepare their weather balloon for launch. Photos by the Weather Class Media Team.