Farsund Kristne GrunnSkole, Norway
Christoffer Gundersen is a student of the Farsund GrunnSkole.
Because he enjoys photography he feels very happy to be part of Stratosphere Team. Dramatic high definition pictures taken 30 kilometers in the stratosphere over Norway amaze him. Christoffer looks forward to continue the balloon projects in the future. With his team, he is working now on a CanSat Arduino program that can measure altitude, acceleration, and temperature in the stratosphere and hope to have everything ready soon for a launch to a record height.
"It has been totally great!"
Svein Eirik Haaland is a student of the Farsund GrunnSkole.
Svein Erik likes activities like their project because "they take you outside the classroom". He enjoys computers, computing gaming and would like to learn computer programming.
Jonathan Harbaak is a student of the Farsund GrunnSkole.
He likes archery and focusing intently on something, like shooting an arrow at a target. He enjoys the Odysseus Contest because he thought of Odysseus and his famous arrow. The project was something new and exciting for him. Jonathan is very happy to know that other students have been inspired by their project. He wants to become a pilot, a fighter pilot.
Per Veraas is passionate about middle school science education. His interest in science was kick started by that first moonwalk. Kick started by space and the wonder of shooting a rocket to the moon. He wants to kick start some passion among his European students for near space exploration by launching high altitude balloons into the stratosphere. He is "a young at heart science teacher with extensive background in science and science education with a child's curiosity."
On December 6, 2012 Team Farsund launched a high altitude balloon to 30 km in the upper stratosphere to measure the effect of extreme altitude on the properties of vibrating metal wire in a miniature Stradovarius violin in an investigation of these high polar winds.
Our findings indicate dramatic changes at 58 degrees of latitude at 27 kilometres altitude. Because the location of the polar jet stream is generally accepted at 60 degrees latitude our findings at the lower latitude may indicate a shifting south of this particular current.
The highlight of the project was a series of three special concerts created around the balloon video. Led by the popular physicist and educator Andreas Wahl our violin video highlighted a concert called SVINGNINGER by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra on January 19, 2013. Over 5000 fifth grade students and adults were captivated by an electrifying performance of Gustav Holst's Jupiter in the Oslo Concert Hall during these three concerts.
While our violin ascended up through the clouds the orchestra captivated the audience with a rousing musical performance of Holst's Jupiter Opus 32,The Bringer of Jollity. The concert culminated with the cymbals crashing and the audience standing in a long round of applause as the violin reached it's zenith.
We seek to motivate fellow students globally to cooperate and work together in this wonderful and exciting world of near space exploration.
Project: "STRADO-SPHERE! An exploration of the effects of extreme altitude on the harmonics of vibrating metal wires from a miniature violin."
The projects primary mission was to discover the effect of extreme altitude on the characteristics of the audio captured during the launch and the violin's ascent to 30 kilometers in the stratosphere. Discovering the location of the polar winds in the stratosphere particularly in the Arctic region is important in understanding the impact of global warming and its effect on the speed and direction of these high currents. Project Strado-Sphere discovered interesting harmonics at 27 km in the stratosphere over Norway. We believe we have discovered a relatively simple method to detect the polar jet stream in the high polar winds above Norway.
