Nuts and Volts - December 2015

the data and images the BalloonSat recorded. It looks like the BalloonSats were in large part a total success.

Results?

It’s through workshops like this that I hope to introduce teachers to BalloonSats, so they feel comfortable with introducing them into their curriculum. Not only do they need to see how to build a BalloonSat and get its data, they need to see how BalloonSats can fit into science standards like the Next Generation Science Standards, or NGSS.

NGSS is trying to take science education away from just teaching facts, history, and the interconnectedness of science to integrating science with engineering. BalloonSats fit into that view of science education because students need to design an engineered lethal environment that can’t otherwise be reached.

In some ways, a BalloonSat is a student’s avatar, collecting the data they’d like to collect, but can’t. Isn’t that what exploring deep space is all about?

Onwards and Upwards, Your near space guide NV

A BalloonSat Curriculum Here are some of the topics a BalloonSat class will cover:

• What is near space?

• Conditions in near space

• How to reach near space

• Factors affecting near space flights

• Predicting near space flights

• Limitations and rules

• Avionics (depending on time available, this will include basic electronics and programming)

• Sensors

• Airframe design

• Airframe construction (tools and techniques)

• BalloonSat testing Completing a BalloonSat curriculum can take over a week of full class time if it involves assembling and programming the flight computer. Some schools use an entire semester for their BalloonSat when they run it as an afterschool club. On the other hand, when the avionics is preassembled and programmed, teachers and students can get a BalloonSat ready for flight in two days. A class then needs an extra day to download and analyze their data.