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5/ TheBucknerClarion.com April 23, 2015 Space Balloon Launches First Leg of Mission is Accomplished Although the students did not get to work on the balloon itself, they still did experiments as if they were the engineers working on the project. One experiment included how the students protect cameras from damage. "The engineers already made their protective layer for the camera, but we were just testing it to see what it would be like if we were the ones creating it. So, we did egg drops and we were given supplies to create a box around the egg to protect it, and most of them didn't break," Beckmann said. Supplies included things like popsicle sticks to use as a protective layer. "This was a pre-experiment to kind of get their brains wrapped around the project," Hirschi said. "One of the things the kids wanted to do in the program is they wanted to fill up different kinds of smaller balloons, with helium and oxygen and different kinds of gases, and attach it to the payload to see how they respond by going up way into the beginning levels of space. I know there's going to be some seeds in there to see how the seeds respond, and some popcorn will be in there. Those are some of the experiments that I can think of off the top of my head." Explaining what a payload is, Hirschi said, "Essentially, it's a case. It's the actual stuff that the balloon carries out. It's 2x3 and is a relatively small box that's protected. It has a slot for the camera, so the camera can be exposed. Then, everything that you are experimenting on is either attached to it or inside of it." The data the students will analyze include barometer, pressure, heat and temperature, as well as how far the balloon travels and where it lands. Fire Prairie Upper Elementary students, Aly Young and Madison Beckmann, and their principal, Cody Hirschi, have been working on a scientific project for the past few months. "A space balloon is technically something that you launch, and it goes into the lowest level of space. It records the distance that it goes, and you can record the temperature and take pictures or videos," Beckmann said. The space balloon, also known as a High Altitude Balloon (HAB), is a large latex balloon capable of carrying objects into near space, according to BalloonChallenge.org. The balloon, usually filled with a gas such as helium, floats into the stratosphere (the second layer of Earth's atmosphere, 32 miles above the surface) and collects data about space and weather. "Some of the pictures you get are really, really cool because you can't see that from here – you can see other planets or craters or things like that," said Young. Beckmann, Young and the rest of their 6th grade science class launched their balloon on Friday, April 10. The project is sponsored by the engineering design firm Burns and McDonnell, along with the students from the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). "It was something that I kind of pursued," Hirschi said. "I'm really good friends with the chief engineer, who's in charge of the project, and he works with IEEE. So, he and I began talking, and were able to get a grant funded and meet with engineers." Students also met with an engineer from Burns and McDonnell to talk about the launch, and discuss engineering, flight and other related topics. "The kids got to ask a real live engineer their questions," Hirschi said." Although the team of engineers did most of the physical work on the balloon for safety and accuracy, the students were able to learn how to write the codes, which tell the software used in the experiment what to do by using a combination of math and computer science. When asked to explain their coding, Beckmann said, "It's technically like figuring out all the data and when to take pictures. So, every three seconds it needs to take a picture or every 10 seconds it takes a video. It was kind of weird and hard to figure out all the coding. It gets confusing because you have to know your math to really understand it. For some of us, it was really easy, but for other kids it wasn't quite as easy. It gets really confusing at certain points because of all the division and stuff like that." The balloon, according to Hirschi and the students, is expected to land right outside of Marshall, Mo. "It'll take the pictures, and once it gets so far it'll pop and start drifting away. It should land in Marshall," Young said. "We typed in longitudes and latitudes on map coordinates to figure out where the balloon might land," Beckmann said. "We're working with Burns and McDonnell, some engineers from the firm, who've given us this simulator where you can enter all of this information, and it gives you the projections based on wind and temperature so we can kind of get an idea of where this is going to land," Hirschi said. "A month or two ago, it was going to land in St. Louis because of the weather pattern. So, it's kind of neat that the students are able to track that through the simulator." Once the payload is retrieved and delivered by a member of Burns and McDonnell, the class will have until May 1, 2015, to analyze the resulting data. Beckmann, Young and their classmates have been working on this project since January. Beckmann and Young are excited to learn about the earth's atmosphere and to see the pictures that result from the balloon. Their favorite parts of the project were learning how to code and the excitement around getting the grant that made the launch possible. They are also eager to learn about other planets and craters. Young says that one day, she'd like to go up into space and take pictures herself. By Tempest Wright Left: Fire Prairie 6th graders Madison Beckmann (L) and Aly Young (R). Right: Students prepare to launch space balloon. Burns and McDonnell engineer makes finishing touches to the payload before launch.