High-Altitude Balloon Program
The South Carolina Space Grant Consortium (SCSGC) is pleased to announce the High-Altitude Balloon Program, which will immerse students in "hands on" learning experiences while working on NASA-related research with a faculty mentor. The program's purpose is to provide students across South Carolina the opportunity to Design—Build—Fly science and engineering experiments in a nearspace environment. Students will apply to build an experiment to fit into a 6-inch by 6-inch pod for flight on a high altitude balloon. The student/faculty team will have the thrilling opportunity to launch the high altitude weather balloon to the outer edge of the earth's atmosphere, sometimes as high as 110,000 feet. The student/faculty teams will also be a part of the tracking team following the balloon's progress and the descent of the payload before recovering it to retrieve data. Upon data retrieval the student will be able to conduct exciting research of their own design. Applications for the student (with a faculty mentor) are available below.For a cool example launch, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFk10dcfWmo.
SC Space Grant will have all of the necessary hardware for launch and recovery, the student will have to design and purchase, with the awarded funds, the necessary sensors for the pod.
Possible Ideas for submission:
- Various filter options with cameras (i.e. IR)
- Ozone sensor
- Exposure experiments answering what happens if X is exposed to the near space environment (Items flown include: bubble wrap, marshmallows, popcorn, eggs, paint balls, camera film, oranges, grapes, pickles, carbonated beverage in the can, ink pens, liquid soap, hand sanitizer, alcohol, oil, fruit juice, etc.)
- For some items, a simple diode thermometer was used with the pod interface board to provide real time temperature information to see if the object actually freezes during the flight.
- Small air filled balloons (initially inflated to different volumes) and used a camera to photograph the balloons to determine when they burst.
- Solar cell performance and to investigation of the polarization of the sky with simple phototransistors and polarizing filters.
- Basic Stamp board with a speaker and a digital voice recorder to investigate how the sound changes throughout the flight
- INSPIRE extremely low frequency radio on a night flight
- Attempted to collect air samples at different altitudes during descent and particulate samples from the atmosphere during the ascent
- An essay, 500 words or less, describe past activities, current interests, and future plans;
- In two pages or less describe your intended research project designing an experiment to fly to the edge of space (as a PDF file). Include: a) a general outline of the project; b) methods to be used; c) goals/results envisioned for research, d) NASA relevance, and e) Budget;
- Two (2) on-line recommendations; one from your faculty sponsor and the other from a teacher or employer;
- Your college transcript(s); and
- Your resume, of past schools and work experience.
Eligibility: Students must:
- Be a citizen of the United States
- Attend a consortium member institution (see list above)
- Have sponsorship from a faculty advisor
- Be a rising sophomore, junior or senior
- Have an interest in aerospace and space related studies. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the basic sciences, science education, astronomy, planetary science, environmental studies, and engineering.
Obligation to the Government: While students who receive support through the National Space Grant Program do not incur any formal obligations to the government of the United States, the objectives of the program clearly will be best served if graduates from the program pursue further study or careers in science, technology, engineering, and support areas. *As required by NASA, all awardees will be tracked, via email, through their first year of employment.
Obligation to the SC Space Grant Consortium: All award recipients must present their findings to a conference or campus group within 1 year of the completion of the project. All award recipients must send a written report of their project and all presentation dates to the SC Space Grant Consortium within 1 year of the completion of the project.
Awards: Research money awarded by the SC Space Grant Consortium will be administered through your faculty mentor. The full research award amount is $5,000. You will need to include a budget breakdown with your application – an example is included below (this is just an example – you may do whatever you feel is appropriate; however the reviewers will be looking at the distribution of funds and appropriateness of that distribution). **If you need or would like assistance with the budget, please feel free to contact the SC Space Grant office at 843.953.5463; we are more than happy to help!**
| Budget Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Student stipend | $2500 |
| Supplies (circuit boards to run sensor, sensor, batteries, data analysis software) | $1500 |
| Faculty Mentor time | $500 |
| Travel expenses for conference presentation | $500 |
Assistance in locating research mentors: Students interested in the High-Altitude Balloon Program who do not have a research mentor should contact their campus director or the project director (Cynthia Hall) for assistance in locating a mentor. A student's faculty mentor need not be located at their home institution. Please remember that you will need to travel to the campus that the mentor conducts their work. Students should be prepared to provide potential mentors with their resume, college transcripts, a description of any previous research experiences, and a listing of research interests.
For more information, please contact: Ms. Cynthia Hall, Project Director
phone: 843.953.7852 | email: hallcr@cofc.edu
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Last
Updated: January 5, 2011
Curator: Cynthia Hall 
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