Great Plains Super Launch 2005

Omaha, Nebraska - July 1-3, 2005

Last update: October 05, 2005

The 2005 Great Plains Super Launch was a great success.  Ten flights were launched Saturday morning, July 1st, between 0800 and 0900 CDT.  Despite a few difficulties, all the payloads were recovered by early afternoon.

A more detailed write-up will be available later on.  I have a new son, Joseph, born on the 19th and that's keeping me a little busy.  If you have pictures to contribute to the GPSL 2005 proceedings, e-mail me for information on how to submit them.

Thanks to all who attended this year's GPSL.  

GPSL 2006 will be held in Hutchinson, Kansas on August 4-6.  Please bookmark www.superlaunch.org for the latest!

History of the GPSL

The Great Plains Super Launch (GPSL) is an annual gathering of amateur radio high-altitude balloon groups.  Held since 2001, the GPSL has brought participants from as far away as Alabama, Arizona, and Idaho to the Central Plains in the summertime.

GPSL 2001   The inaugural GPSL was held near Manhattan, Kansas, on Saturday, June 30th, 2001.  The site was the "Johnson Near Space Center" south of Manhattan and featured three balloons from the Olathe-based Near Space Balloon Group (NSBG) and the Kansas City-based HABITAT/Skylab flying in tandem, Idaho's Treasure Valley Near Space Program (TVNSP), and Nebraska Stratospheric Amateur Radio (NSTAR).  The magazine Weatherwise covered this event in the November/December 2001 issue.  Also see more on this flight from the NSTAR perspective.

GPSL 2002   This year, a program was held in conjunction with the launch.  We met at a library on the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan on Friday, July 5th, with the launches the next day.  For this GPSL, six groups participated: NSTAR, Colorado's Edge of Space Sciences, Hutchinson's Project: Traveler, TVNSP, and KD0FW and HABITAT/SkyLab from the Kansas City area.  The programs included one from Bill Brown WB8ELK, who is regarded as the father of amateur radio ballooning.  Other presentations came from Arizona Near Space Research and Windtrax from Indiana.  The launch site was moved to the Herington airport, 25 miles south of Junction City due to the predicted flight path. Check here for more on the 2002 flights.

GPSL 2003    EOSS hosted the GPSL on June 13 and 14 in conjunction with the University of Colorado BalloonSat workshop.  Five groups participated: EOSS, TVNSP, Experimental Sub-Orbital Society (ES-OS), Montana State University, and Arizona Near Space Research. Here is the EOSS recap of the flights. 

GPSL 2004    GPSL returned to the plains of Kansas, this time hosted by Project: Traveler in Hutchinson on 2 and 3 July 2004.  The conference was held at Hutchinson Community College and the launch took place at the McPherson airport.  Six groups attended: Project:Traveler, NSTAR, EOSS, HABITAT, KD4STH, and Oklahoma Research Balloons (ORB).  

GPSL 2005

The 2005 Great Plains Super Launch is planned for Friday and Saturday, July 1-2, 2005, in Omaha, Nebraska.  This is a change from the date announced in 2004. A tentative list of events and area map is below.  Anyone with an interest in amateur radio ballooning is welcome to attend the conference on Friday and/or the launches on Saturday.  If Saturday's weather is unsuitable, we will delay the launch to Sunday morning.

There is no charge to attend either the conference or launch.  Registration is not required but if you plan to bring a large group, please e-mail the conference organizer and provide an approximate number of attendees.  This will help us get an appropriately-sized conference room.  If you plan to fly a balloon and are not on the list below, e-mail me with details on your group's participation.

Planned flights for GPSL 2005

• NSTAR
• EOSS
• Project: Traveler
• HABITAT/SkyLab (possibly 2 flights)
• WB8ELK (possibly 2 flights)
• KD4STH
• Central Nebraska Near Space Program (tandem with NSTAR)
• MECSAT
• Taylor Univ.
• CAP-N-SPACE
• ORB 
• Grosse Pointe Academy (tentative - solar Montgolfier, must have calm winds)

GPSL 2005 Events

The meeting room at the EconoLodge has been reserved for GPSL use for the entire period.  If there is a weather delay, we may gather at the EconoLodge Saturday afternoon.

GPSL Area Map

Helium and Balloons

For those groups flying payloads, helium purchase and transport will be arranged for those who prepay.  Unused tanks will be refunded.  Price is $40 if paying by check or $41.50 by PayPal.  Spare balloons will be available for purchase at the launch site.  Contact me for details.

Launch Sites

Official:  Treynor High School parking lot in Treynor IA.  We will use this site if the projected landings are 0° to 180° from launch.

• Terraserver map
• 41° 13.90' N  095° 36.47'W
• 27 miles from EconoLodge
• I-80 east to I-29 south (Kansas City) to 275/92 exit.  Go east about 13 miles to Treynor.  Sign for high school visible from highway.
• Position assignments (subject to change)

Frequency assignments (click to view)

GPSL 2005 Results

Landing sites for GPSL 2005 flights

Detail view of some of the landing sites

E-mail list

If you want to keep up with the latest GPSL news, sign up for the GPSL e-mail list on Yahoo Groups.  

For more information

E-mail the webmaster if you have questions on GPSL.