Flight duration 514 days and we will never know how many times it went around the world. Last count was 13 orbits as of May 2024 and then it became very sporadically spotted and moved down into the far southern hemisphere. The transmitted WSPR signal is very very weak -27/-28 snr. It has been silent for 5 months and the current spotter report (only 3 spots) on Oct 15th was by Antarctic station DP0GVN/1 it showed a solar panel voltage of 3.88v and an altitude of 45,735 ft. temp of 42F and speed of 74mph. Rick / K7CNT
Hooooleeee Cow! Thanks for the update. I think you all should apply for a Guiness record of some sort. Thanks for the update.
Was this balloon launched in the northern hemisphere? Would be interesting to see how it transitioned to the southern. Kudos to all the picoballoonists out there - amazing tech is being developed and you are taking it to great heights!
That's awesome! Congratulations, these are the things that make me go, what other hobby can you do THIS in.
WB6RER BALLOON It was spotted again today (10-24-2024) by Antarctic station DP0GVN/1 a little bit farther south than on the 15th almost 10 days ago. My guess is that it made an orbit in those 10 days. It is amazing that it is getting enough sun on the solar panel to make it work, at that low of sun angle. But we'll take it. it was around the 60 degree south latitude today. The data was very poor but we got 2 altitude readings and shows a lower altitude than 10 days ago (44,423 ft.)
WB6RER is officially over the Antarctic continent as of 04:42 10-25-2024 (last night) Pink blob is the balloon and the green blob is DP0GVN/1 spotting station.
