Near Space Program

The Missouri Wing of the Civil Air Patrol has embarked on a project to launch Simulated Satellite payloads (SimSats) into Near Space, at or above 100,000 feet using High Altitude Balloons as the launch vehicle.

This is an Aerospace Education program that will enable participants to gain knowledge in a wide variety of fields, such Amateur Radio, weather, space science, engineering, program management, telemetry systems, experiment design, cosmic ray studies, atmospheric studys and more.

CAP members actually construct the payloads that are sent up, which takes precise calculations, a little ingenuity, and a lot of fun. They participate in the planning stages for the launch, as well as the actual launch itself. They track the balloon as it ascends through the atmosphere and weather patterns, and across many miles or even states. They also perform search and recovery for the equipment payload, where they can finally analyze their experiments.

Our goal is provide education opportunities and monthly launch, tracking and recovery services for Amateur Radio Groups, High Schools, Community Colleges, Technical Schools, CAP Squadrons and other interested groups.