The Pierce College Science Dome is leading the pack in getting high school students introduced and involved in STEM. Over the summer, the Science Dome hosted a High Altitude Balloon (HAB) Summer Program for high school students to gain hands-on experience experimenting, coding, and launching a HAB. During this experiential learning opportunity, students were coached by STEM college mentors and Professor in Physics and Astronomy Dr. Hillary Stephens. High altitude balloons are used for monitoring and testing weather in the upper atmosphere, typically reaching a height of 100,000 feet in the stratosphere! Students were formed into teams, where they created their own team name, mission patch, and crafted different payloads for the balloon. All teams were set to test different conditions when the balloon was launched. Each team’s experience encapsulated the critical steps in design, build, test, evaluate, and failure analysis demonstrating their learning through the engineering design process framework.
Voyager 2.5
The first payload, located closest to the balloon, was created by the Voyager 2.5 student team. Due to the placement of the payload, their goals were to measure the behavior of the balloon by installing a camera pointed upwards. By doing so, they were able to study how the balloon fluctuates and what factors may have affected it. They coded onboard instruments to record pressure and temperature changes in the atmosphere as well as the apogee (highest reached point) of the balloon. They found that the main behavior changes were caused by temperature and altitude differences between the troposphere, tropopause, and stratosphere.
Radical Rads
The middle payload was created by the Radical Rads student team. Their mission objective was set to assess how radiation is impacted by altitude and earth’s magnetic field; the team incorporated multiple sensors in their payload testing Alpha, Gamma, and Beta particles as well as UV and magnetic field sensors to record their findings. Although their preliminary testing was thorough, when it came to launch, their SD card (which recorded all data from the sensors) disconnected ultimately leaving them with a data loss from the launch. However, data loss does not mean this team did not gain valuable information. Through this experience, they now know to increase the security of their SD card and ensure all wiring is fully intact to record data accurately in the future.
Mothmen
The Mothmen student team developed the third payload. Due to the placement, located at the bottom, their goal was to record a top-down video of the earth, as well as measuring temperature, altitude, pressure, and recording sounds that could be picked up on the way. The team successfully crafted their payload, utilizing aerogel to capture particles from high up in the atmosphere. Their plan was to have the lid containing the aerogel open at 70,000 feet, and once the balloon began its descent, it would close the lid containing the particles for later testing. However due to a minor error in their programming – the measurements were confused between feet and meters, not quite recording what they hoped. Despite this, the team gathered tremendous data on pressure and altitude, a beautiful view of the earth, and even captured what could be alien sounds on the recording!
The Descent
Once the balloon reached its apogee, it began its descent down to a remote part of Washington State. All teams travelled over 3 hours to retrieve the balloon, and after resting from the long trip, created presentations on their findings. Through this whole program, students were able to experience failure analysis through experiments, develop graphic designing skills of their team badges, and most importantly – had fun throughout the entire program. The students learned many technical competencies related to launching a High-Altitude Balloon, as well as teamwork and professional development skills to take with them in their future careers.
The Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium is composed of multiple institutions, industries, and organizations all working to provide experiential learning and professional guidance to strengthen interest in the STEM field. Pierce College was awarded funding through WA Space Grant to implement this program. We are lucky to have such a strong community in Washington state that has a shared passion in creating opportunities for authentic STEM engagement and learning.
Program Contact: Dr. Hillary Stephens
Written by Alexandra Walters