NASA TechRise Student Challenge 2024-2025 PDF

Step 3 Learn About High-Altitude Balloons Step 3: Learn About Balloons Learn all about the high-altitude balloon flights. Think about the following questions when learning about the balloon: What environment does the balloon provide? How long will your experiment/payload be in that environm...

Step 3 Learn About High-Altitude Balloons Step 3: Learn About Balloons Learn all about the high-altitude balloon flights. Think about the following questions when learning about the balloon: What environment does the balloon provide? How long will your experiment/payload be in that environment? What types of experiments can you conduct on the balloon? What kind of data can you collect on the balloon? (e.g., Can you collect temperature, pressure, altitude, visual data ?) About High-Altitude Balloons Video High-altitude Balloons High-altitude balloons are large, helium-filled balloons that carry scientific payloads and experiments up into the Earth’s atmosphere and closer to the edge of space. They can sustain long periods of time in the Earth’s atmosphere. Balloon flight tests for NASA’s TechRise payloads will fly for approximately 4-8 hours. High-altitude Balloons The NASA TechRise 2024-25 Challenge will have one flight provider: World View Enterprises. Once the flight vehicle reaches float altitude, the system takes advantage of stratospheric wind patterns to steer the balloon. Using altitude control maneuvers like venting lift gas (causing the balloon system to descend) or dropping ballast (causing the balloon system to ascend), the flight engineer will find the best wind layer to steer the platform in the desired direction. Photo Credit: World View Power and Data Before flight, all NASA TechRise experiments will be hooked up to the balloon’s power and data and mounted to a frame called a gondola. If it is morning time, not raining, low winds, and with little/no cloud cover, then we are GO for launch. Flight Once the balloon and gondola start ascending into the sky, the experiments can start using their onboard sensors and cameras to collect data. The experiments will have exposure to the air around them, views down to Earth’s surface, and views out to the horizon. Photo Credit: World View Flight The balloon will traverse over surfaces that encompass discernible surface features such as vegetation (natural or agricultural) and or bodies of water (e.g., rivers, reservoirs, lakes, other). The higher the balloon goes, the colder it gets. And since air pressure decreases with altitude, the balloon will expand from big to HUGE. Atmospheric Layers It will also travel through different layers of the atmosphere. It will take about 30 to 45 minutes to ascend through the troposphere, which is the layer we live in, AND the layer that has almost all of our planet’s weather, like clouds and water vapor, which are constantly moving. About 75% of the air from our atmosphere is in the troposphere and it is by far the wettest layer. Next is the stratosphere, which is above the clouds and where the winds are calm and dry. This is where commercial airplanes typically fly and where you’ll find the ozone layer. Ozone molecules in the stratosphere absorb a lot of the Sun’s harmful UV radiation, and in the process generate heat. Unlike the troposphere, it actually gets warmer the higher up you go in the stratosphere! Target Float Altitude During flight, the balloon’s altitude can be adjusted by venting helium to go lower or dropping weight to go higher, until it reaches its target float altitude of approximately 70,000 - 95,00 feet, where NASA TechRise experiments will float for at to 8 hours least 4-8 hours. to 95,000FT Flight Data Experiments can also use the balloon’s on-board data. The balloon’s onboard flight computer will send messages to the experiments including GPS data of where it is, altitude data of how high it is, or acceleration data of how fast it is changing speed. You can program a microcontroller to use this data to start or stop your experiment at a certain altitude, or to map where you took a particular photo, or to log how far your experiment traveled. Experiment Retrieval And once the mission is complete, the experiment will be powered off before the gondola separates from the balloon and parachutes back down to Earth. After the balloon lands, a crew will try to retrieve it and send your experiment home. Photo Credit: Aerostar Key Points: High Altitude Balloons Flight Time: 4-8 hours at approximately Power is provided to each experiment; 70,000 - 95,000 feet no additional batteries are permitted Experiment will have line of sight in two Vehicle data is streamed to each directions during flight - Down to Earth (Nadir) experiment and out to the horizon (Horizontal) Exposed to ambient atmospheric temperature and pressure Possible Experiments Topics High Altitude Balloon Comparing Atmospheric Layers Remote Sensing/Imaging of Earth Ozone Materials Experiments Temperature, Pressure & Humidity Earth’s Magnetic Field Measurements Greenhouse Gases Moon & Mars Landing Systems Air Quality Lunar Dust Mitigation Radiation Living in Space - Air Quality on Spacecraft Thermodynamic Experiments You Choose! Design Guidelines The NASA TechRise Student Challenge website has the Balloon Design Guidelines with more information.