Verso l'alto

Originally conceived by Michele Carmichael as a Community College student at Southwestern Community College, Verso l'alto became Michele's physics research project during their time at Western Carolina University. The purpose of the project was to better understand the impact of cosmic radiation fluctuations from the ground into the mid-stratosphere, which occured through high altitude Weather Balloon launches. Ten flights took place between 2011-2014 and an eleventh flight took place in 2017 for the Solar Eclipse.

Catamount I & Catamount II

Launched in Early-Mid 2012. Used incorrect equipment to justify that amateur radio equipment should be purchased for future flights. Loss of payload occurred when GPS data could not be retrieved. Considered to be failed flights.

Catamount III

Launched in October 2012. The first successful flight of the Verso l'alto project. The payload flew to over 76,000 feet, covered over 43 ground miles, and landed in Dacusville, South Carolina. The students involved designed radio communication schematics and tested them for the payload. A small radiation dosimeter also flew to record cosmic radiation.

Catamount IV

Launched in December 2012. The payload flew to over 88,000 feet, covered 216 ground miles and landed in Wingate, North Carolina. This wqs the first flight that also flew an official scientific experiment including a video camera.

Catamount V

Launched in April 2013. The payload flew to nearly 98,000 feet and landed in Tigerville, South Carolina. This was the first flight that included a double payload set up to separate the radio equipment from the scientific equipment.

Catamount VI

Launched in November 2013. The payload flew to 96,000 feet and landed near Fairy Stone State Park, Virgina. An Arduino Gamma Ray Detector designed by Dr. Enrique Gomez recorded radiation counts every 60 seconds throughout the flight, and the temperature sensor recorded the lowest temperature seen by the Verso l'alto team at -52 degrees Celsius. The Earth's geomagnetic field was also measured from an experiment from the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, otherwise known as PARI.

Catamount VII

Launched in February 2014. New scienfic equipment was used during this launch attempt. Due to incorrect lift calcuations, the payload landed in the Atlantic Ocean off of the coast of Virgina. After contacting the Cape Charles Coast Guard and the Virginia Institue of Marine Sciences, the payload washed up on shore in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, was identified by beach goers and mailed back to Western Carolina University. Although the equipment was lost or damaged, the data and pictures were successfully retrieved.

Catamount VIII

Launched in March 2014. Catamount VIII required entirely new equipment, but only tested new radio and communication equipment.

Catamount IX

Launched in April 2014. Catamount IX reused the radio and communication equipment from the Catamount VIII launch, but also tested new scientific equipment. This payload landed nearly 150 feet at the top of a tree, and a tree climber was hired to retrieve it.

Catamount X

Launched in June 2014. This was the last flight of the Verso l'alto project as Chele had graduated from Western Carolina University in May 2014. The payloads on Catamount X were designed by kids from the Duke TIP program to teach them about balloon science, tracking, retrieval, ham radio, and radio direction.