TTA Seniors have launched a Weather Balloon for NearSpace & NASA. Four seniors in the Alternative Energy Course at Toledo Technology Academy of Engineering have launched their Senior Capstone Project in a high altitude weather balloon on the campus of Defiance Elementary School in Defiance, Ohio.
Seniors Alex Marino, Kei Fry, Jackson Hulse, and Logan Oster have worked all year to design and develop a unit that will record data in the phenomenon known as Urban Heat Island, where the heat from urban areas impacts nearby natural areas. The project, known as DreamBig, is under the auspices of the University of Toledo in conjunction with NearSpace and NASA. Only a select number of universities and high schools were chosen to participate in Phase One of the project.
The students employed infrared sensors and a GPS module to measure heat emitted from the earth and to determine the coordinates/location of the source. Once the balloon returns to earth, they will retrieve the data from the SD card and analyze the results. Then the university will construct and modify a space-ready payload for a ThinSat satellite to be launched into orbit and collect the same data related to the students’ research project.
The Defiance launch site was chosen because of its distance from Lake Erie to avoid the balloon’s return to land in the water. Approximately 500 Defiance elementary students were on hand to watch the launch.
“This is an incredible opportunity for our students to work on a project of this magnitude in cooperation with UT and NASA,” explained TTA’s Laura Kubiak, the students’ instructor. “Their work has been exceptional, and they have devoted an entire school year to design and build this module. The University of Toledo only chose three high schools to participate in the project, and TTA was chosen because of our previous projects through NASA with them.”
Ultimately, the plan is for the DreamBig project to go nationwide in Phase Three.