An excellent mission where almost everything went right!  The prep, launch event, flight and chase could not have gone much better, especially given the weather.

LASA-3 reached an altitude of 122,899' or about 37.4km which puts us at #2 in the record books.

The camera was a canon A570IS programmed to take 3 pictures (with bracketed exposure settings) every 30 seconds.  Most images were taken directly as jpegs but every 5 minutes the camera would capture a set of raw images for top quality. 

• View a slideshow of the event and flight

The payload was recovered about 5 hours after launch in Quebec just north of Hawkesbury ON.  Despite the soggy conditions, the transmitter was still beaconing GPS positions and the camera was still clicking away.

There are several ways to view the track of the balloon:

• Google Earth
• Google Earth with embedded pictures
• Google Maps
• Google Maps with embedded pictures

Special thanks to:

• Peter Echlin and the Perth Fire Service for the use of the firehall
• George Hanna at The Source for donation of the batteries
• Lake 88 and the Perth Courier for support and coverage
• Coutt's and the Sunflower Bake Shop for snacks and refreshments
• The Rideau Lakes ham club and the Lanark North Leeds ARES group for financial contributions, equipment and expertise
• Aire Liquid for the donation of helium equipment

Payload Components:

• Byonics MicroTrak 8000 transmitter
• Garmin GPS 18 LVC OEM
• Battery pack with 7 Energizer E2 Lithium welded in series (about 12V) for the transmitter and GPS
  
• Byonics quarter-wave antenna
• Counterpoise constructed from two 36" pieces of 18 gauge tool steel crossed and welded in the centre to a brass tab
• Canon A570IS camera with 4GB SD card
• Battery pack with two pairs of series Energizer E2 Lithium batteries hooked in parallel for the camera
• Mercury switch mounted to detect landing and increase transmitter power
  

Total Weight

• Payload 570g
• Parachute and rigging 80g