USC Viterbi School of Engineering, K12 STEM Center has a program called Project Payload. The focus of the program is for girls to experience engineering first hand. On January 25th 2020, we were brought in to facilitate the launch and recovery of their experimental payload aboard a High Altitude Balloon. Magnitude.io creates extraordinary experiences for learning both in the stratosphere as well as in earth orbit aboard the International Space Station to schools across the country as well as Europe and Africa. Magnitude.io CanSat is the device they used to capture data in the upper atmosphere.

If you are curious about the actual flight of the HAB from its launch at Rice Elementary in Rosemead to the ocean, the KML file shows the entire flight path on Google Earth and is made viewable is this video. This mission just cleared the 100k’ mark @ 102,286′.

Every recovery has a story!

Our heroes this time are the men and women in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. They shared our excitement and know how important this payload is for the young women engineers in the program. The Harbor Patrol Team picked up the payload which landed in the Pacific Ocean following the APRS coordinates. Big thanks from all of us.