RocketSat

Abstract: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Space travel, even low Earth orbit, is probably several years away for most of us; however, students and teachers can research the edge of space by participating in the BalloonSat program. BalloonSat payloads are inexpensive versions of the professional scientific balloon payloads scientists use to investigate space and aerospace topics. These satellitelike vehicles--built by students--are suspended from a weather balloon and carried to an altitude around 30 km, which is above about 99% of Earth's atmosphere. BalloonSat payloads are equipped with simple integrated systems, sensors for collecting data, and tracking devices. BalloonSat is an offshoot of the Space Grant Consortium's very successful RocketSat program (see "How to get involved," p. 40). The Arkansas BalloonSat program consists of teacher-initiated projects that link the use of geospatial technology tools and community resources. This article describes the Arkansas program, which is an excellent example of a collaborative scientific program that makes learning real and meaningful for students. Origin of Arkansas BalloonSat In July 2006, a group of nine Arkansas science educators attended Starting Student Space Hardware Programs: A How-To Workshop in Boulder, Colorado. The initial objective of this workshop, which included 54 participants from all over the United States, was to introduce inservice secondary science teachers and preservice science teachers to BalloonSats and create a collaborative network of schools across the United States. The four-day space hardware program hosted by the Colorado Space Grant Consortium provided participants with detailed information on current successful BalloonSat programs and instructions on how to successfully adapt/implement their own BalloonSat programs. Participants gained hands-on experience building and launching their own payloads by participating in a BalloonSat launch in Colorado on July 15, 2006, to an altitude of over 30 km (100,000 ft.). The original nine educators who attended the July 2006 workshop--including two faculty at Arkansas State University (ASU), two ASU science-education majors, and five (grades 7-12) science teachers--formed the Arkansas Academy for Space Science Education (AASSE). Our goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of "edge of space" exploration through a collaborative network of teachers from different K-12 schools and universities across Arkansas. In addition, we aim to engage students at the K-12 level in authentic research using an inquiry-based approach to learning with hands-on experience. Arkansas launches Upon completion of the workshop in July 2006, plans were made for the first Arkansas BalloonSat launch. The equipment, information, and experience gained from the workshop were essential for planning this initial launch of a high-altitude balloon capable of carrying recoverable payloads such as graphical analysis software, battery-powered data loggers, cameras, geographic positioning system (GPS) tracking equipment, and radio transmitters (Figure 1). AASSE teachers from four different schools (grades 7-12) involved their students in setting up the payloads for launch (see "How to get involved"). Upon receiving Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval of the flight plan, a time and location for launch of Arkansas BalloonSat I (ABS-01) were set. On December 16, 2006, on the campus of an Arkansas high school, a 1,200 g latex balloon was inflated with helium and released. Attached to this balloon were a recovery parachute, five payloads, and two tracking modules, which had a cumulative mass of 5.5 kg. The altitude and location of the balloon were tracked using global positioning data transmitted at a frequency of 144.34 MHz to the ground crew. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Early on in the program we (AASSE) decided that we would fly at least one new untested experiment or piece of equipment each flight. …