SSCM I TEST FLIGHT - PROJECT HAPPE

The objective of the flight was to test a mockup gondola similar to the one to be launched on the first SSCM flight. SSCM stands for Small Superconducting Magnet and was an experiment carried out as part of the High Altitude Particle Physics Experiment (HAPPE), a project originally conceived by scientist Luis W. Alvarez, at the University of California, Berkeley that would use a large superconducting magnet under a stratospheric balloon in order to study extremely high-energy particle interactions.

The payload was composed by a simulated gondola that weighted 3600 pounds, carrying onboard an up-looking 16 mm camera and several sensors. The main objective of the test was to obtain a perfect picture of the behaviour and dynamic loads experienced by the gondola when suddenly air-dropped from an altitude of 103,000 feet.

Figure at left shows the suspension train used in the test. Force data was continuously telemetered from the "load cell" and acceleration data was telemetered continuously from the "SSCM inst." box mounted atop the dead weight.

Balloon launched on: 3/23/1970 at 6:58 cst
Launch site: Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, Palestine, Texas, US  
Balloon launched by: National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon Winzen 10.600.000 cuft (1.5 mil. 1.0 mil cap- Stratofilm)
Flight identification number: 536P
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 3/23/1970
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): F 1 h 55 m
Landing site: In Many, Louisiana, US
Payload weight: 4371 lbs

The balloon was launched by dynamic method from Palestine, Texas on March 23, 1970. After moving to the east the gondola was separated in a point located 150 miles of the launch site for a final landing place in Many, Louisiana.

The scientists obtained valuable data of the shocks experienced by the gondola during cutdown and snatch. Cutdown is the instant of separation, by explosive shear pins, of the balloon from the parachute train while snatch is the sudden deceleration caused by the blossoming of the parachute. Maximum accelerations occured during snatch, and were recorded at 5.5 g's. Also was obtained a film taken automatically during early descent.

• Initial Descent Data - Test Flight Nº 536P Luis Alvarez memos collection at Berkeley Lab. 1970 Pag. 17
• NCAR Scientific Balloon Facility Annual Report, 1970 National Center for Atmospheric Research, February 1971