Hey, Peeps, How's the Weather Up There?

Virginia Students Contribute to Balloon Experiment

"I hope we can see it. That would be so cool," said Matt Norloff as he peered out the van's window.

The Oakton 13-year-old was looking for a large weather balloon, possibly with a "Peeponaut" or two attached.

One Saturday morning last month, Matt and nearly 20 other members of the Vienna Wireless Society equipped the big balloon -- nine feet across -- with two radio tracking devices and two cameras. Then they released it. The devices would tell them where the balloon was and how fast it was moving. The cameras would capture the view from 20 miles up.

While the adults were busy, Matt and his 11-year-old sister, Amanda, and Tyler Pacak and Kaitlin Martindale, 12-year-old friends from Annandale, prepared an experiment of their own.

They tied six helium-filled birthday balloons, each with a marshmallow Peep inside, to the big balloon's string. The idea was to find out how high the smaller balloons would go before the helium expanded, popping the balloons and freeing the Peeps (lovingly called "Peeponauts"). The kids wrote an e-mail address on the Peeponauts' parachutes, hoping that whoever found them would respond.

The Vienna Wireless Society is a group of amateur radio operators. For them, part of the fun in launching a weather balloon is chasing it. They use radio signals to monitor, from their vehicles, where it's headed.

They also enjoy seeing photos taken from 20 miles up. Sometimes they send up weather-measuring equipment.

The recent launch was a test to prepare for a science experiment with students at Algonkian Elementary School in Sterling. In a launch scheduled for Feb. 9, the students will attach a pack of seeds to a new weather balloon to see if sending seeds that high affects their growth.

Before last month's warm-up, the adults spent weeks checking wind conditions to figure out where the balloon would travel. They wanted to avoid a landing in the Chesapeake Bay or the Atlantic Ocean, which might ruin their equipment (not to mention the Peeponauts).

The group decided that Strasburg, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, was a good release spot. As the balloon floated into a cold, cloudy sky, the real adventure began: chasing it.

Inside the Norloffs' van, Matt's dad, Peter, navigated while Matt watched over his shoulder. The balloon rose about 19 miles and was pushed east by winds of up to 99 miles per hour. It was in the air about two hours.

Chasing it was a six-vehicle caravan. Everyone wanted to be first to see the balloon, or what remained of it, descend.