My scientific questions for this exploratory launch are:
- Can I map some part of the Earth’s magnetic field using an inexpensive, Hall effect sensor on this trip?
- Can I receive ionizing radiation via an inexpensive Geiger-Muller tube in an altitude-dependent way, while traveling through the troposphere, or will the radiation be all the same at these altitudes?
- Can I notice a gradual reduction in particulate matter concentration on the way up, and an increase on the way down, or will the particulate matter concentration remain steady throughout the entire trip up and then in reverse on the trip down, or will there be an abrupt change representing a crossing into the stratosphere and then another abrupt change on the way back down?
- Can an inexpensive, LED-based infrared detector count carbon dioxide concentrations credibly at high altitude, and if so then will there be any changes in carbon dioxide concentration as a function of altitude?
- Will the detection of volatile organic compounds match the detection of carbon dioxide, as is true in the low troposphere, or will they become vastly different in the statosphere?
The five web pages linked in the horizontal menu above lay out my pre-flight preparation. I would like to launch the balloon this autumn (2022), presenting the data on new pages on this same website, for another Physics 600 unit.