Near-Space Near You!

Background

NASA and other scientific organizations launch scientific high-altitude balloons (HAB) to study weather, explore the cosmos, and test payloads in development for orbital satellites. Lessons learned and technologies used from these flights have helped lower the barrier-to-entry for others to explore the field.

Designing and launching a HAB develops many skills, including problem solving, flight prediction and tracking, communications and telemetry, and coordination with government organizations.

Objectives

Your challenge is to develop a lesson-plan and bill of materials (BOM) to teach students how to build a low-cost HAB capable of reaching near-space. For the purposes of this challenge, we define “near-space” as the Earth’s atmosphere between 20 kilometers and 100 kilometers above sea level. The lesson-plan should include planning, preparation, launch, tracking, and recovery of a HAB.

Potential Considerations

• As you develop your idea, you may (but are not required to) consider the following:
• What government organizations must people coordinate with to launch a HAB? And what regulations must be followed?
• How does the environment affect a HAB?
• How can someone predict the flight path (including landing area) of a HAB?
• What are the minimum materials needed to launch a HAB?
• In addition to the minimum materials needed, what else can be added to a HAB?
• Where can someone purchase items needed to build and launch a HAB?
• What are the different types of technology/techniques used to track a HAB?
• What cautions must someone take when launching a HAB?
• How does physics determine the size/weight/design of the HAB?

For data and resources related to this challenge, refer to the Resources tab at the top of the page. More resources may be added before the hackathon begins.

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