At 9:00 am in Windsor, Colorado, the 3-day snowstorm cleared and winds calmed just long enough to send off the third BIG BLUE experiment. A 54,600 cu.ft. Raven plastic balloon was used to carry the 23.7 lb combined UK and EOSS (Edge of Space Sciences) payload to a maximum altitude of 97,873 ft. Before the balloon burst, the UK BB3 inflated wings were successfully deployed at approximately 96,000 ft in low density conditions approximating those on Mars. The wings continued ascent with the balloon to the maximum altitude and then descended under a parachute for recovery. The wing pressurization maintained a wing shape suitable for flight throughout demonstrating the feasibility of inflatable wing technology for Mars exploration.

The onboard still camera captured the wing deployment. Flexible solar cells attached to the surface of the wing are seen in the images and generated power after deployment. Other images from the edge of space include the moon and stars, while images from closer to ground level show the snowy countryside and recovery team moving into position for the touchdown.

More images and pictures of the preparation, launch and recovery will be posted soon. For more information on EOSS see eoss.org (Recap EOSS-090). Click here for a slideshow of images from the flight!

At Homecoming on October 16, BIG BLUE featured the Kentucky Aviation Museum Project. Earlier this year, Sofasco generously donated of all the fans for the wind-tunnel, including spares. A 5 x 5 section of fans was assembled for display at Homecoming, verifying the assembly and harness designs. Lexmark donated a printer that was raffled at the CoE Homecoming lunch with proceeds supporting the purchase of parts for building the wind-tunnel display. Since then, the assembly line has been in action for the 10 x 10 fan bank that will provide the airflow for the wind tunnel. BIG BLUE also thanks BIG ASS Fans for their recent donation of $200. Your donation to support the Aviation Museum Project is needed. Click here for more information on the project and how to support it.

BIG BLUE II makes "history" -- again! On November 30, 2004 the History Channel aired "Tactical to Practical" episode #36 featuring a segment on ILC Dover. The BBII aircraft was shown during the mention of inflatable wings. The entire ILC segment is available on the BIG BLUE Media page under movies.

On September 12, 2004 we had the first BIG BLUE hot-air balloon flight test. Two tests were planned, a rehearsal with the balloon tethered to the ground and the test flight. The rehearsal consisted of launching the BBII aircraft with Styrofoam wings, onboard data acquisition and cameras and an Asbury film crew to be sure that we knew how the test would proceed. The test flight is a drop- and-pull-out flight test of the Colorado BIG BLUE II wings. Weather delayed the start, so only one test (the rehearsal) was flown. We learned a lot - which was the point of the rehearsal. We haven't had the final flight test yet, but will post it as news when we do.

High school students from all over Kentucky recently participated in UK's Summer Engineering Program. As part of a workshop session the students were given a tour of the BIG BLUE Lab by Adam Groves and Andrew Simpson. After hearing about BIG BLUE, the students designed, built and flew small gliders in a group competition. Hopefully these students will use what they learned this summer for future BIG BLUE experiments.

BIG BLUE II was launched successfully on May 1, 2004! After snow the two days before and long discussions of whether to scrub the planned Saturday launch to Sunday, the day dawned bright and beautiful. The launch and lower ascent were as good as you can have. Although the balloon burst prematurely just over 60,000 ft, the wings were inflated and cured into great flying shape. The premature burst put the touchdown away from the grid of the recovery team, so no-one was close enough to visually spot the balloon payload on descent (to enable us to cut away and fly under VFR rules). The aircraft was undamaged by the landing impact under the EOSS parachute, so once finals are over, we'll be ready to test fly the wings. The onboard camera was mounted in the nose to observe the wings (you can also see the two orange vertical stabilizers of the tail and in the third picture, the orange parahute).

BIG BLUE II visited the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, NC to learn to fly where the Wright Brothers did 100 years ago. The trip included flight testing on the sand dunes of Jockey's Ridge State Park, hang gliding lessons, a visit to the Wright Brothers museum and monument and lots of hard work. The hard work was worth it when we saw the BBII aircraft in flight and the pictures from the onboard camera.

Students at Beaumont Middle School hosted a visit of BIG BLUE II to kick off their Astronomy Week. Dr. Suzanne Smith, Will Wathen and Bobby Jones (a Beaumont alum) talked about exploring Mars and BIG BLUE I and II. There were lots of great questions, so it's easy to imagine these Beaumont students and their own exploration projects in a few years.

Seven BBII students and three advisors traveled to Frankfort to see Governor Fletcher and NASA Ames Research Center Director Scott Hubbard announce and sign a new partnership for space exploration research. UK President Lee Todd and Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation President Kris Kimel were given BBII T-shirts, along with Director Hubbard and Governor Fletcher.

Twelve BBII students representing 20 teams traveled to Delaware and presented the BBII design to ILC engineers. Advice and questions from Chuck Sandy and Jim Stein (engineers for the Mars landersairbags), from Steve Scarborough, Frank Uhelsky and Matt Mackusick (engineers for ILCs inflatable wings), from Dave Cadogan (Manager of Research and Development) and from Ralph Weis (Director of Engineering) were discussed and noted. The trip included a great seafood dinner, a walk on the beach and Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches at the original "Jim's Steaks" in Philadelphia.