THE 18.9 MILE HIGH CLUB

The NASA SC Space Grant Consortium (SCSGC) implemented a new high-altitude ballooning program designed involve students in NASA related research. The students designed their own experiments and constructed equipment “pods” to carry their experiments to the edge of space. On Saturday March 28^th, teams of students & faculty from five different SC campuses participated fully in the loading their experiments and launching the balloon. The balloon’s flight path reached the edge of space at an altitude of over 70,000 feet, and traveled over a hundred miles into NC. The students tracked the balloon across the countryside using a laptop and GPS receiver, and assisted with the balloon’s retrieval after the landing. The launch, tracking and retrieval of the balloon all were assisted by a group from StratoStar Systems who specialize in high-altitude balloon launches and were on hand to offer support to the students. Experiments ranged from measuring the different wind speeds, atmospheric pressures, temperatures, and radiation in the upper atmospheres. Using recreational GPS units and cameras SCSGC tested the usefulness of this setup for remote sensing purposes. After the balloon was retrieved and the data collected, each participant shared the data with their ballooning peers as the experiments were completed. Comments from the students and faculty show that this ballooning activity is an exciting learning experience. The SCSGC is looking forward to another launch in 2010 that will involve more students.