La Trinité high school in Béziers releases a weather balloon with various sensors at an altitude of 30,000 m

The weather balloon was released around 11:45 am on Wednesday, September 18, from Place du 14-Juillet in Béziers. Antonia Jimenez – ML

Le ballon-sonde a été lâché vers 11 h 45, ce mercredi 18 septembre, depuis la place du 14-Juillet, à Béziers. Antonia Jimenez – ML

CO2, altimeter, temperatures, GPS, cameras, photos… The weather balloon, released this Wednesday, September 18, designed and manufactured by Terminale and Première students, in collaboration with Planète sciences, will allow to collect and analyze, in a second phase, various experimental data on the Biterrois.

It was the attraction of the day, this Wednesday, September 18, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., at the Champ-de-Mars. A large number of students from the private high school La Trinité in Béziers, its teaching and administrative teams, as well as onlookers did not miss the “spectacle”: a large blue tarpaulin spread out in front of the media library; a silver radar reflector placed next to it; three students – Romain Pasturel, Simon Zorzi and Enzo Vicaire – activating a golden box containing sensors (CO2, altimeter, temperatures, GPS, cameras, photos); Tiemen Duvillard, from the Planète sciences association, speaking at the IUT of Béziers, installing the balloon under the tarpaulin which will then be inflated with helium…

"This is the culmination of the Etherna project, led last year by the Première and Terminale students. Named A balloon for a school, it was launched by Planète sciences", explained Camille Raffaelli, one of the two teachers (with Marie-Hélène Moulin) who accompanied the young people in this scientific adventure: a weather balloon with “on-board experiments”, containing different sensors, in order to collect a lot of data, particularly meteorological, on the Béziers region.

An altitude of 30 km, a flight of two and a half hours, for an arrival in Lézignan-Corbières

“About twenty students designed and built this weather balloon, helped by the association, as part of the workshops that we organize. To do this, they created the Éclipse club, and once a week, went to the IUT to get help and finalize their weather balloon with Laurent Roy, a professor at the IUT. They had to respect very precise specifications."

This Wednesday morning, the release had been scheduled from 11am at the Champ-de-Mars, with the approval of Civil Aviation and the City. “Luckily, there is no wind or rain this time, explained Romain Pasturel, who was particularly responsible for the mechanical part. Due to bad weather, we had to postpone the launch twice." The initial apprehension was quickly replaced by the joy and satisfaction of seeing their weather balloon take off into the air without difficulty.

It was programmed to rise to 30 km, fly for two and a half hours, then burst above Lézignan-Corbières. "We will go and get it later, using a GPS tracker to find it. Then the analysis work can begin and end with a project report that we will present in June”, Romain Pasturel specified.

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