On Wednesday night, Troop 445 got together to begin construction on of the Payload Capsule.

Primary Design Characteristics:

• Light Weight
  • The lighter we can get, the higher we can go!
• Compact
  • The more compact we can make this, the less space we will need to heat with Hand Warmers
• Moderately durable
  • Doesn’t need to withstand a bomb blast, but should cushion impact at a velocity of about 10 feet per second

Characteristics that are not important for us:

• Aerodynamic
  • There is very little atmosphere left at the high altitudes, so this is not very important
• Super insulated
  • While we want to insulate our gear, we need to balance this with being lightweight and compact
• Extreme durability
  • The only impact we will have is when the payload reaches the ground. As long as our equipment doesn’t impact at terminal velocity, we anticipate the it should survive. Fingers crossed?