Start Date
27-10-2017 3:00 PM
End Date
27-10-2017 3:15 PM
Abstract
In August 2017, Destination SPACE (Satellite Program for Aerospace-Centered Education) launched its pilot run of Satellite Week, a camp where high school students learned about satellites and remote sensing through constructing small weather stations and launching them on low altitude balloons in Asheville, North Carolina. The payloads, designed and produced by XinaBox, represented ThinSats, a variation of a Pocket CubeSat small satellite. Students learned about calibration, data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, as well as how weather balloons are used prior to the launch of a rocket. The students will continue to use these skills as they enter the ThinSat Program, an after school program where they will conduct both low and high altitude balloon launches and ultimately design and build their own ThinSat. Destination SPACE is manifested for launch on the second stage of an Orbital ATK supply rocket to the International Space Station in October 2018. Destination SPACE’s ThinSat Program is developed in collaboration with Twiggs Space Lab and Virginia Commercial Space.
Using Balloon Launches as a Precursor to Small Satellite High School Education
In August 2017, Destination SPACE (Satellite Program for Aerospace-Centered Education) launched its pilot run of Satellite Week, a camp where high school students learned about satellites and remote sensing through constructing small weather stations and launching them on low altitude balloons in Asheville, North Carolina. The payloads, designed and produced by XinaBox, represented ThinSats, a variation of a Pocket CubeSat small satellite. Students learned about calibration, data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation, as well as how weather balloons are used prior to the launch of a rocket. The students will continue to use these skills as they enter the ThinSat Program, an after school program where they will conduct both low and high altitude balloon launches and ultimately design and build their own ThinSat. Destination SPACE is manifested for launch on the second stage of an Orbital ATK supply rocket to the International Space Station in October 2018. Destination SPACE’s ThinSat Program is developed in collaboration with Twiggs Space Lab and Virginia Commercial Space.