High-Level Project Summary
In this project we chose the "Near Space, Near You" challenge where our goal is to create a lesson plan along with the bill of materials to teach students how to build a high-altitude balloon. A high-altitude balloon has many purposes including studying weather, cosmos and testing payloads for orbiting satellites whereby in this challenge we used studying weather as an example. In the lesson plan we include a detailed list of the materials needed, how to prepare the payload and balloon, how to launch it and track it and finally how to retrieve the payload. With our detailed lesson plan, students should be able to build their own high-altitude balloon.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
A high-altitude balloon capable of studying weather and climate conditions was designed, using the structure of a weather balloon as a basis. The HAB design consists of 2 main parts: the balloon itself, inflated using helium gas, and the payload, a styrofoam box filled with a GPS tracking device and the necessary weather equipment (such as a humidity sensor, an altitude/pressure barometric sensor, etc.). The main idea is to launch the HAB into near-space whilst tracking its movement using the GPS tracking device, following its route as it collects data and information on weather patterns. When the balloon reaches a certain maximum altitude (believed to be 120,000 feet above sea level), it pops and triggers a parachute to open, allowing for the safe descent of the payload.
We hope that this sort of design will enable users to study the weather without having to set up large or expensive or permanent tools such as a wind vane or a rain gauge. Additionally, the HAB is hoped to give a faster reading and analysis of weather patterns or conditions in a certain area, without being dependent on rain or wind speed and direction. As the materials and items necessary are relatively accessible, this design of the HAB is relatively cost-efficient.
The planning, as well as the arranging of documents, of this project used digital equipment (laptops, phones) and information was taken and used on the basis of the internet, along with personal knowledge derived from schools and other educational platforms. The main applications used in completing this project were: a web browser, Google Docs, Google Slides and Google Sheets.
Space Agency Data
We mainly relied on data provided by NASA, StratoStar and the National Weather Service, using information and data provided to forge our ideas for our project. There have been countless other investigations done by qualified researchers, and based on their analysis, we adapted and modified several processes, using more cost-efficient materials instead.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/technology/explorers_balloons.html
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-mission-will-study-the-cosmos-with-a-stratospheric-balloon
https://www.csbf.nasa.gov/balloons.html (for payloads)
https://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons
Hackathon Journey
Challenging, innovative, and educating. If we had to use three words to describe our Space Apps experience, this would be it. The prompt seemed relatively simple at first, but as we went in depth, it became much more difficult than originally thought. We initially set a focused direction for the project and matched the materials and planning according to the aim, purpose and availability of the materials required.
The main problem we faced was that the balloon was unable to reach a theoretical height above 120,000 feet (approx. 37 km), when the range of near-space was between 20 km - 100 km above sea level. We thought long and hard about this, but then decided to go with it anyway, considering that 37 km lay within the required boundaries.
We also had a mild problem looking for "cheaper", but good-quality materials, but the team persisted and eventually, we were able to find these materials at nearly the lowest cost possible.
The project took us nearly 24 hours to complete. Throughout these 24 hours, we’ve had recorded calls discussing our ideas for the project. We initially drafted an initial, more focused, direction for our investigation, and afterwards decided to use our personal strengths (some members were better at research, others at writing, etc.) to fulfill the necessary requirements. There were a lot of debates on which materials to use and the limitations to each idea presented, and a lot of time was spent for preliminary research. By the end, it was the combined effort of the team that allowed us to finish the project in time, coming up with a HAB that is both operational and cost-efficient.
We'd like to thank NASA and this team for the experience, because through this, we were able to not only gather together as a team (online, of course) amidst the pandemic (since we were all in different schools and could not talk as often anymore), but also to gain greater insights on the knowledge of "near-space". We feel that our communicative skills, the way in which we get our messages across, and the way we properly handle debates and little arguments between team members, have improved. Usually, we have only been accustomed to "planning" experiments using familiar equipment. However, through this experience, we were able to actually understand the cost of experiments and investigations, how important it was to find the most cost-efficient and effective materials and methods, and how to research for information outside of our current scope of study.
References
https://www.amazon.com/
https://www.highaltitudescience.com/collections/all
StratoStar
National Weather Service - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
https://www.overlookhorizon.com/flight-safety/
https://launchwithus.com/lwu-blog/2016/01/21/high-altitude-weather-balloon-laws-and-regulations
https://niwa.co.nz/education-and-training/schools/students/layers
https://www.mvorganizing.org/how-does-temperature-affect-a-balloon-2/
https://www.overlookhorizon.com/how-to-launch-weather-balloons/flight-predictions/
https://www.stratoflights.com/en/tutorial/weather-balloon-tools/predicting-the-flight-path/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zs6ry4j/revision/2
https://www.mide.com/air-pressure-at-altitude-calculator
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/prs/hght.rxml
https://www.highaltitudescience.com/pages/tracking-a-weather-balloon
https://sites.google.com/site/ki4mcw/Home/cutdown-mechanisms
https://launchwithus.com/lwu-blog/2015/11/08/space-camp-lesson-1-nozzle-lift
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.