Changes in Altitudes
                                 Balloon Satellite Program                                                                                         

Sponsored by the Arizona Space Grant Consortium & the Phoenix Mission Education/Public Outreach         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

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VIDEO LINK


 
Please click on the Yellow Video Link above to view a "live action"
3 minute video of our February 2007 Balloon Sat Launch

This is a large file (28 MB) so please be patient while it loads.

 
Ten of our 5-12th grade teams launched on November 3, 2007 and the payloads reached 89,507 ft. 
(that's about 17 miles above the earth !). 
Participating student teams in the launch were from these schools:
Mingus Union High School, Gila Crossing Community School, DeMiguel Elementary School
 Camp Verde High School, Flagstaff Middle School, Cottonwood Middle School,
Canyon Ridge Elementary School, Shiprock Alternative School,
Granite Mountain Middle School and Sage Elementary School.

We launched from Gila Bend AZ, and successfully recovered all our payloads
near the town of Maricopa.  The short video (about 3 minutes) above, demonstrates the
balloon filling process and one of our actual launches (2/11/07).
**   Please go to www.tv.nau.edu/insidenau for a look at a TV segment/interview of this launch.  **
We are Inside NAU show #106 (listed under "Previous Episodes", Segment #3.

NEXT LAUNCH:   April 26, 2008

Feel free to contact us at
spacegrant@nau.edu.

Please welcome our 4 newest participating schools for 2008/2009:
These teachers participated in a weekend-long workshop held at NAU during the first week of August 2007.

Laurie Parker - CottonwoodMiddle School - Cottonwood
Julie Bais and Terry Pemberton - Granite Mountain Middle School - Prescott
Anne McGinley - Shiprock Alternative High School - Shiprock, NM
Martha Rope - Gila Crossing Community School - Laveen

Our 5 current participating schools & teachers for 2007/2008 are:

Robin Blackford - Mingus Union High School - Cottonwood
Maura Neill - Sierra Vista Middle School - Sierra Vista
Mike Mackie - Sage Elementary School - Phoenix
Florence Speight - Canyon Ridge Elementary School - Surprise
Rick Treadway - Flagstaff Middle School - Flagstaff

 Schools & teachers who have "graduated" from our program:

Mary Lara - DeMiguel Elementary School - Flagstaff
Jackie Drewett - Tuba City Boarding School - Tuba City
Lynda Matheson - Bullhead City Schools - Bullhead City
Matt Malloy - Camp Verde High School - Camp Verde
Brian Bingham - Deer Valley High School - Glendale
Mark Calhoun - Sabino High School - Tucson
Chris Tokarz - Rock Point Community School - Rock Point
Brenda Wolpa - Canyon del Oro High School - Tucson
Tori Carrasco - Picacho School - Picacho
Anne English - Salt River High School - Scottsdale
Teresa Lang - Kaibeto Boarding School - Kaibeto
John Persichilli - Many Farms High School - Many Farms
Robert Vranas - Cottonwood Middle School - Cottonwood
 

 

What is a Balloon Satellite?                                    What is "Changes in Altitudes?"
A balloon satellite is a scientific payload that has equipment inside to photograph and measure the physical properties of the Earth's atmosphere during the ascent and descent of the high altitude weather balloon. 

What do we measure?      pressure
                                        temperature
                                        relative humidity

What tools do we use?     HOBO - pressure gauge
                                       HOBO - temperature
                                       Camera

 

 

Changes in Altitudes is a Balloon Satellite program for
5th-12th grade teachers and students, in support of the Phoenix Mission
Education/Public Outreach (E/PO) efforts. The goal of this program is to
establish the elements of a small weather balloon satellite program at each participating school, that can be sustained by the school districts at a minimal cost.

Teachers are selected from schools across Arizona through a competitive application process, to receive training at a summer Balloon Satellite Workshop.  Once they are trained, the get to put together a student team that will design, construct and launch and recover small balloon payloads.  These payloads robotically measure the physical properties of the Earth's atmosphere as a function of time during the ascent & descent of a high altitude weather balloon, such as pressure, temperature and relative humidity 

NAU staff and volunteers from ANSR (Arizona Near Space Research)
assist with organizing and running all launch activities 

All materials, travel, room & board fees for the weekend launches are covered by the Grant except for a $60/student participation fee for each student that is paid prior to the launch.

 

 
Program Highlights


Teachers participate in a Workshop paid for by the Space Grant
(typically held on a weekend in July or early August)

Choose a team of 4 students to train to build their own payload

Participate in up to 4 weekend launches over the course of 2 years
(w/4 different student teams)

Be part of a group of 5-10 schools participating in each launch

Be part of a real balloon chase and recover the payloads

Participate in follow-up meeting to discuss experiment/launch results during the launch weekend

Take this valuable lesson back to your classroom and share the experience

The only cost to your school or your students is a $60 per student participation fee that is due prior to the launch.

Quotes from participants

"I felt everything went very smoothly.  Part of science is not always knowing the outcome.  It's important for students to experience this".                             
      Mary Lara, Teacher, DeMiguel Elementary School

 

"I feel that my students became extremely excited about the possibility of a successful flight, and were truly engaged in what they were doing.  This trip solidified a strong working relationship between the students and I, and their productivity has increased by 100%".            
                              
Christine Tokarz, Teacher -
                          Rock Point Community School

"Looking into the box and having the Rock Point students explain what they did was excellent.  My students were able to understand each part and why it was there.  The overall experience of being at the hotel meetings and the launch, with the other student teams and adults was excellent".  
                                
Jackie Drewett, Teacher -
                           Tuba City Boarding School

"it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Not a lot of people do this.  That's why I wanted to do it.  I can't wait to see the pictures".

                    N.Schafer - Bullhead City Jr. High student

      "I had to learn how to solder.  I've never done that before and this has gotten me more interested in Physics".  

                          M. Jordan - Deer Valley High School student

 

 

 

 

   

 

Welcome to !

For details and photos of some of our other launches, click on this ANSR logo and go to Flight Archives and/or Flight Images.  We are Launches #16, #18, #24  #29, #30 , #35 and #36.

                                                                                                                               

                                                                                CLICK HERE for  April 2006 Launch Details

 

Students prepare their Balloon Sat payload Students prepare to launch their payloads Balloon launch as seen from the ground looking up Balloon Recovery team posing for last photo of the day

Students prepare payload for the launch

Getting ready for the lift-off

Balloon with payloads as seen from launch site

The recovery team after a long chase

 

Photo on left was taken from a student payload camera over Firebird Lake in Phoenix area / 2006.
Photo on right was taken from a student payload camera in the upper atmosphere (near 100,000 ft. above the Earth).
The small white dot on the top of the photo is the crescent Moon from 2/10/07.
 

For more information, please contact:

Kathleen Stigmon: Program Coordinator, NAU/NASA Spacegrant Program
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Northern Arizona University Box 6010
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6010
(928) 523-8067

Updated on February 14, 2008 by Kathleen Stigmon.
Send all reports of broken links or other bugs to
this address.

 

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