Up, up and away to study near space

By Sara Meisch
Published June 25, 2006
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Jason Krueger, 22, graduated from Taylor University’s upland campus in May, but he’s already president of his own company, StratoStar Systems LLC. And things are looking up – way- up for the young entrepreneur.

On Saturday, Krueger’s company, in cooperation with Taylor, Valparaiso University and Indiana Space Grant Consortium, launched a high-altitude balloon about 20 miles into the sky form Fort Wayne’s Salomon Farm Park on Dupont Road. In comparison, airplanes typically go no higher that six miles into the sky, he said.

The balloon, which carried equipment form Valparaiso for studying ozone levels and pollution, and experimental technology for improving broadband communications from StratoStar, went into an area just before outer space that’s called “near space,” he said.

“It’s prototype near-space equipment for an alterative to satellites,” Krueger said. About 25 people, including children from a class on aviation at Salomon Farm, watched at 11 am, the launch of approximately 6-foot-wide and 8-foot-tall white balloon with a cord attached that dangled boxes containing the experiments. As the balloon goes higher into space, it expands considerably, and after about an hour and a half it pops, sending the experiments back to Earth on a parachute, he said.

The researchers track the balloon in a specially equipped vehicle and expect it to travel about 100 miles, Krueger said. The experiment from Valparaiso is financed by a NASA grant, Valpo students Stephen Holcom said. “It’s to see if ozone and other pollutants are being transferred from Asia,” Holcomb said. “With all the industrial developments going on, especially in China, the air quality is poor over there.”

“We are trying to get better equipment to be able to see with more detail what the pollution is and where it’s at,” Krueger added. Krueger majored in marketing at Taylor and learned about high-altitude balloons through Taylor University’s Center for Research and Innovation, said Hank Voss, Taylor professor of research and Chief Scientist for StratoStar.

“It mixes all the students together with facilities and equipment and faculty know how to help them,” Voss said. High-altitude balloons, he said, are a promising business area. StratoStar is currently in the center, which gives it an edge against other new companies.”

“Incubated companies have a much better chance of succeeding,” Voss said. Krueger has high hopes for the company. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he wants to launch a balloon known as a long duration geostationary platform that will stay in near space for six months and could improve cell phone connections with it broadband technology.

“It will allow for…..a (cellular) coverage area the size of Texas for one platform,” he said. “It would eliminate dropped cell phone calls.” Taylor has been launching high-altitude balloons from Salomon Farm once a summer for six years, said Jeff Dailey, a consulting research engineer for Taylor and Chief Engineer for StratoStar.

Bill Davenport of Fort Wayne was glad his 7-year-old son, Coleman, got to see the launch. “That’s the kind of thing he’s interested in,” Davenport said. “It’s a great opportunity to com out and see what Taylor and Valpo are doing.”