We’re making progress putting the physical balloon together as well as the LoRa/Iridium tracking systems together. The biggest block at this time is the supply of He is very transient and expensive. Our two initial no payload test flights (intending to vet the launch process w/ no expectation of recovery) have been scrubbed as a result. We’re working on scheduling no. 3 currently. We also have picked up two volunteers for our tracking team from the Hong Kong makerspace Dim Sum Labs.
https://www.dimsumlabs.com/#:~:text=Dim%20Sum%20Labs%20is%20a,'000HKD%20or%202’000USD.
If you’re interested in participating in this or other citizen science projects – https://www.meetup.com/Nature-Nerds-of-Austin/