When Purdue University Fort Wayne gets its next chance to see a major eclipse on Sept. 14, 2099, the legend of the 2024 weather balloon launched from campus may still be told. And it will still be a remarkable tale.
Launched by the College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science, and ETCS Outreach Programs, everything went perfectly when the 10-foot balloon took off from the Science Mall at approximately 2:15 p.m. on April 8. Lifting its 12-pound payload about two meters per second until it reached 88,033 feet over northeast Ohio, the highest temperature the balloon experienced was 96.3 degrees, and the lowest was minus 63.8.
PFW officials tracked the balloon throughout its journey—except for two minutes over Bowling Green, Ohio, during the solar eclipse totality. As designed by Upland’s NearSpace Education, the hydrogen-filled balloon popped at 4:50 p.m., but it happened over Sandusky Bay before descending to land in the middle of Lake Erie just north of Cleveland at 5:36 p.m.
Despite help from various Cleveland media outlets alerting local boaters, no one could find the balloon or the payload, which was supposed to float.
But then last Wednesday the cell phone of Janet North, coordinator of the ETCS Outreach Program, rang with a call from Buffalo, N.Y. Because she was occupied and didn’t know anyone from Buffalo, North let it go to voicemail. After listening to the message a few minutes later, North heard Jason Wieczorek describe how he found a package floating near Buffalo with North’s name and phone number pasted on it.
“Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh!” North exclaimed. “So I ran out, and our whole office just kind of exploded.”
After all, since being lost at sea almost two months previously, finding the weather balloon came out of the blue (sea, or lake). Wieczorek and his girlfriend Laura Maseto had taken their boat out at 3 a.m. for a fishing trip when they spotted something orange in the water. Wieczorek had lost an orange backpack a few weeks earlier and thought maybe this was his lucky daybreak.
Instead, the balloon and its components had somehow floated 122 miles east and closer to Buffalo. It was a miraculous recovery for North and PFW, with three Wieczorek pictures providing proof. North and her husband Brad left Friday morning in their Jeep Gladiator for the 5½-hour drive to Buffalo.
The three-section payload included chunks of metal and concrete and some LEGO spacemen, with the university's goal to examine reactions to extreme altitude and temperature differences. There was also a 360-degree camera taking pictures continually and a pair of sensors to allow tracking.
Ironically, as part of his job, Wieczorek studies concrete core samples and was shocked to find that chunk among the payload.
When the Norths arrived, Wieczorek and Maseto offered to show them the discovery area during a five-hour tour on their boat Restless.
“They said if it had floated a little bit further, there’s an area where boats can’t go into because it is so shallow,” North recalled. “We were about 500 feet from shore, and if it had gone over to that shore, nobody would have found it because you are not allowed over there.”
Wieczorek and Maseto had ridden through the area earlier in the morning and had not seen it.
Had the balloon floated a couple of miles in the other direction, it likely would have gotten caught in the currents leading to Niagara Falls and oblivion. Instead, the Norths met new lifelong friends.
“It was a spectacular day,” North said. “You could not have had a better day on the lake. It was just amazing.”
The original equipment and all components were accounted for, even shreds from the 10-foot weather balloon.
“I know we were supposed to find it to further this story and make it even more,” Maseto told North.
Because the balloon and pieces are biodegradable, decomposition had started, changing the textures, and, as Brad North said, “It all smells like it’s been in a lake for two months.”
Except for a Lego spaceman Wieczorek asked to give to Maseto’s grandson, the rest of the weather balloon and cargo returned to PFW for examination. The hope is the research results will be released soon.
Pictures from another weather balloon launched from the Allen County Public Library’s Monroeville branch on April 8 by Dale Rupert, Mechanical Engineering lab technician, and Jeff Nowak, professor of STEAM Education in the College of Professional Studies, are available on the bottom of the ETCS website. After about three hours, that balloon landed in Risingsun, Ohio, before being recovered.
