Rubber Chicken Flies Into Solar Radiation Storm

Well it looks like some students in California are trying to one-up the Canadian kids who sent the lego man into space. It's really cool that students are getting a chance to do things like this. I will be interested to see what they come up with next.

Rubber Chicken Flies Into Radiation Storm

April 19, 2012: Last month, when the sun unleashed the most intense radiation storm since 2003, peppering satellites with charged particles and igniting strong auroras around both poles, a group of high school students in Bishop, California, knew just what to do.

They launched a rubber chicken.

The students inflated a helium balloon and used it to send the fowl, named "Camilla," to an altitude of 120,000 ft where she was exposed to high-energy solar protons at point blank range.

This sounds interesting.

"Later this year, we plan to launch a species of microbes to find out if they can live at the edge of space," explains team member Rachel Molina (age 17). "This was a reconnaissance flight."

On the outside of her space suit (knitted by Cynthia Coer Butcher from Blue Springs, Missouri), Camilla wore a pair of radiation badges, the same kind medical technicians and nuclear workers wear to assess their dosages.


Bishop CA students launch Camilla on March 3, 2012. [movies: above and below] Camilla actually flew twice--once on March 3rd before the radiation storm and again on March 10th while the storm was in full swing. This would give the students a basis for comparison.

You have got to do the vid of it.
That was pretty damn cool.

reply to post by usmc0311


That would be awesome to take part in that for a science project.....geesh,way back in the old days it was rocket kits with parachutes......they should try send up a happy meal next encased in a hamster ball

How far we have come.
Sputnik to rubber chickens.
What a proud civilization we are.

Sorry,I couldn't let that pass by.

Is that... ?
Is this a video of Aloysius getting fired?

Edit to Add: Nevermind. I see that it was his wife, Camilla the Gaul.

Originally posted by kdog1982
How far we have come.
Sputnik to rubber chickens.
What a proud civilization we are.

Sorry,I couldn't let that pass by.

That got me laughing. I was thinking something simalar earlier when I first saw this story. Thanks for posting the vidoe also. That was pretty cool. Amazing that kids can do these things without having to spend big bucks to do so like NASA does.

Isn't helium pretty much a finite natural resource? I say we save it all for making those high squeaky voices!

"Later this year, we plan to launch a species of microbes to find out if they can live at the edge of space," explains team member Rachel Molina (age 17).

microbes go UP

get radiation they were never meant to get


mutated zombie virus comes down.


we are SO DOOMED.

I wonder if their is a way to stabilize it....
Most of us have seen the freedom of information act footage from nasa witch showed UFO's in space around earth. I wonder if some one had the right camera and could stabilize the balloon if we could get a good look at whats going on in space with no doubt.

Originally posted by Infi8nity
I wonder if their is a way to stabilize it....
Most of us have seen the freedom of information act footage from nasa witch showed UFO's in space around earth. I wonder if some one had the right camera and could stabilize the balloon if we could get a good look at whats going on in space with no doubt.

If I had the money I would make a camera ball an send it up over and over gathering all kinds of images from all angles. It would also be cool to send up a huge lit up disco ball and time it so the ISS is flying overhead when it reaches maximum alltitude. I can see the headlines now. 'Astronaughts On The ISS Capture Disco Ball On Camera.'

Originally posted by Infi8nity
I wonder if their is a way to stabilize it....
Most of us have seen the freedom of information act footage from nasa witch showed UFO's in space around earth. I wonder if some one had the right camera and could stabilize the balloon if we could get a good look at whats going on in space with no doubt.

Of course stabilizing the altitude of helium balloons is an old inexpensive way to gather high altitude research and that is where the expense starts to escalate. As we see it doesn't take very much to send a couple kilo payload up until the balloon pops, devise a parachute system that doesn't get tangled up to slow the decent to about a 17 mph impact, and let the winds take it to wherever.

As one would expect, sending up a ton of scientific equipment, to a designated altitude to remain there for 100 days or so involves serious calculations and weather forecasts. To achieve control or even provide some propulsion we expect greater sophistication in the thin air, meaning you can't use air devised propulsions like propellers, you'll need some kind of gas discharge like a cheap rocket engine, and means to control that discharge.

Serious research instrumentation in high altitude ballooning is cooled by liquid nitrogen to maximize their sensitivity and remained at a frosty -322 degrees Fahrenheit throughout each flight.

One can always trivialize serious high altitude research from helium balloons but there is a great leap from sending up a toy store balloon until it pops and conducting controlled scientific detection with retrievable reusable instrumentation.

Also keep in mind the 110,000 ft altitude is but a fifth of the way up to the threshold of space, a 7th of the way up to the ISS normal operating altitude.

I like his ickle helmet.
My flying monkeys would never agree to going that high.