Shielding from Cosmic Radiation: Part 2 - High-Altitude Balloon Launch Test
Filling the balloon with helium for launchCopyright 2020 Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium, University of Wyoming, Trina Kelty
This activity has students embarking on an ambitious design project: to measure the effect of shielding from cosmic radiation via a high-altitude balloon launch test. Students prepare their payloads for launch, making sure batteries are charged, payloads are complete, flight predictions have been made and approved, etc. On launch day, students launch a latex, high-altitude balloon that carries each space agency’s payload to near space. GPS tracking units follow the balloon flight path in real-time, so the location and altitude of the balloon during flight, when it bursts, and once the payload is on the ground. After landing, participants travel to the landing site and retrieve and examine the payloads.
Once engineers have a product designed and prototyped, they need to test that the prototype works as expected. To determine whether a design works, engineers need to collect data (here in near space) about whether or not their product (in this case, shielding) works. Engineers can then iterate on future designs based on the data they collect from the tests.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Collect data to test the effectiveness of the radiation shielding device, including a non-shielded Geiger counter for comparison.
- Produce deliverables according to their assigned role (e.g., director presents an overview of the program; economic advisor provides an itemized list and budget; public relations expert produces a logo and poster).