The Spirit of Knoxville IV (SNOX IV), a balloon carrying a control computer, GPS receiver, and amateur radio transmitters, is currently over the north Atlantic ocean headed for Europe. The link leads to a page of near-real-time telemetry giving the balloon’s latitude, longitude, altitude, temperature, and other interesting data. It also displays a Google map of the balloon’s position, its course so far, and its predicted course based on the current jet stream direction and velocity.
SNOX IV was launched from Knoxville, Tennessee about 10:00 PM Eastern time on March 10th. The balloon is expected to reach Europe, but weather or technical malfunctions may cut that short. So if you want to see data from the balloon in-flight, now would be a good time.
For more information on the Spirit of Knoxville project, including radio frequencies for monitoring the balloon’s telemetry, visit the Spirit of Knoxville Launch Information page.
(Link via the American Radio Relay League.)
[Addendum: There’s a nicely written article about the Spirit of Knoxville project in the Knoxville Metro Pulse.]
