no matter what manner of control we use, our maximum altitude is dictated by our burst volume and our system mass. The attached MATLAB code is more generally useful. Given an altitude, it spits out air pressure, temperature and density based on the 1976 US Standard Atmosphere.

% input: geopotential altitude h (1 x n vector) in meters
% outputs: pressure P in Pa, temperature T in K, density rho in kg/m^3

function [P,T,rho] = usStandardAtmosphere(h)
h_i = [0, 11000, 20000, 32000, 47000, 51000, 71000];
T_i = [288.15, 216.65, 216.65, 228.65, 270.65, 270.65, 214.65];
L_i = [-0.0065, 0, 0.001, 0.0028, 0, -0.0028, -0.002];
P_i = [101325, 22632.1, 5474.89, 868.019, 110.906, 66.9389, 3.95642];

M = 0.02896;
g_0 = 9.81;
R = 8.314;

n = length(h);
P = nan(1,n);
T = nan(1,n);

for j = 1:n    
    for i = 6:-1:1
        if h(j) > h_i(i)
            break
        end
    end

    t = T_i(i) + L_i(i)*(h(j) - h_i(i));
    if abs(L_i(i)) < 1e-6
        p = P_i(i)*exp(-M*g_0/R/T_i(i)*(h(j) - h_i(i)));
    else
        p = P_i(i)*((T_i(i) + L_i(i)*(h(j) - h_i(i)))/T_i(i))^(-M*g_0/R/L_i(i));
    end    
    
    P(j) = p;
    T(j) = t;
    
    clear p t
end

rho = M*P./T/R;

end

As the weeks went on, the meetings moved from the classroom to the waiting area just inside the building. The group became smaller, Manan became busy as well as many others that attended the first meeting, and only a core few of us remained. I enjoyed visiting the Cal Tech campus and made sure to capture photos of the old looking buildings.

Edwards Air Force Base states the R-2508 Complex:

includes all the airspace and associated land presently used and managed by the three principal military activities in the Upper Mojave Desert region:

Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake
National Training Center, Fort Irwin
Air Force Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The R-2508 Complex is composed of internal restricted areas, Military Operations Areas, Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace areas, and other special use airspace.

Use of these areas include bombing ranges, supersonic corridors, low altitude high speed maneuvers, radar intercept areas, and refueling areas.

I figured nothing wrong with asking, so I contacted the Control Center through email inquiring if it was at all possible to launch from the Badwater Basin area. To my surprise I was contacted back with directions of what would be needed to even consider such a feat. The Who, What, When, Where, and Why was sent back in the hopes they would sign off on our endeavor. THEY DID!! The only caveat was that we would need to supply them with a flight path to sign off on utilizing a flight path predictor. After a few feudal attempts I was informed I would need to send the information the day before launch, so that they could check a much more definitive flight path. The balloon could not cross any airspace that would be in use. WOW only a day notice to launch? We set a weekend up and that Friday I emailed the flight path and THEY SIGNED OFF! Great news considering it would have been a nightmare telling everyone to reschedule.

The night before the launch we convened at Cerro Gordo ghost town. As I was a previous caretaker I was given permission to have us all stay in one of the buildings. The town was right outside Death Valley and allowed us to achieve an early launch time. We set out before the sun was up and reached Badwater Basin by 7 am. We all attempted to quickly set up before the heat of the day was upon us, but everyone was disorganized. There was a specific order for everything and we were jumbling left and right

I helped secure the payload box while Evan and a few others filled the balloon. We ended up turning each item on slightly early so while we were working, the cameras were rolling and using battery.

As all this was going on a crowd was starting to form all around us with tourists stopping to watch this momentous occasion. Turns out one of the individuals who was observing our launch worked for Sage Cheshire and helped construct the Red Bull Statos capsule! He even was carrying a badge to prove it and actually gave it to one of my team members as a good luck gesture! Talk about divine intervention! How we would launch on the same day and the same location this individual would be in is coincidental to say the least!

As time drew later and the temperatures reached the 90's we all worked together as a team to finish.

Photo by Evan Miyazono

Before launch we gathered for a group photo of us all prior to this great undertaking

Photo by Evan Miyazono. From left to right: Morgan Miyazono, Me, Blake Farrow, Max Jones, Evan Miyazono, Jeremy Brouillet

We carefully let go and watched as the balloon soared high above us, slowly reaching altitude.

The heat was on, and it was a waiting game to get a ping back from the GPS. We all headed to Furnace Creek and patiently waited outside the Inn where we had cell service. The temperatures hit over 110 and the only thing to refresh us was a kind lady handing out small cups of free lemonade to tourist. We informed her of our situation and she graciously allowed us to help ourselves while we passed the time. The hours crept by and the team slowely broke away to travel back home. Most of us figured failure and I had a hard time letting go of all the investment of the payload box. As I traveled home I received an exciting text from Evan stating the GPS had sent coordinates of where the balloon had landed. He informed me those remaining would attempt to recover the balloon.

The balloon had traveled some 30 miles south east of Badwater Basin and landed in a flat area (luckily). As it was dusk when Evan went searching, they were unsuccessful. I headed out the next day to the location and within 30 minutes of leaving the truck, was able to locate the downed payload box. I was jumping for joy! The payload box had sustained damage from impact but everything inside was intact. I informed the rest of the group and received much praise

The information collected was passed among the group. Turns out the data obtained from the on board computer was corrupted but all cameras compiled shots. The two taking pictures died long before the video camera did, although it did die before the balloon popped.

I put together a video compressing the entire launch