A Stratospheric Balloon Program as a Space Mission Analog: An Educational Activity at the International Space University

Scott Madry; Ariane Platell; David Bruce; William Cowley; Mark Jessop; Mathew Cook; Gauravsingh Cheekhooree; Francesca Covella; Marshall Cowan; Francesco Mazzei; Victor Mukherjee; Rajesh Kannan Muthanoor Radhakrishnan; Vinod Kumar Sharma; Tiffany Sharp; Milica Symul; Thomas Windsor; Toshihide Yoshida

Abstract

The International Space University (ISU), in cooperation with the University of South Australia (UniSA), has operated the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program (SHSSP) in Adelaide, Australia since 2011. During the 2023 program, in January and February, a stratospheric balloon mission was conducted where a group of 12 program participants from six countries, along with their faculty advisors, planned, designed, and conducted a stratospheric balloon mission which reached an altitude of over 35, 000 meters. Five payloads were carried, including two imaging cameras (one nadir and one horizon), two radiation detectors, and a life science experiment, all within a total payload mass of only 1.1 kg. The participants were organized into four teams: planning and launch operations, ground station and tracking, payloads and data, and data processing and analysis. The team, in one week, designed, built, tested, rehearsed, launched, and tracked the balloon and recovered the payloads and their data. Analysis of the data was conducted both in real time during the 2-hour 21-minute flight, and also immediately after the mission upon recovery of the payloads. The mission was conducted as an analog to an orbital space mission, with participants playing various appropriate roles that would be required for an orbital rocket mission. This paper presents an outline of the program, its structure and organization, and how such an activity was conducted within a single week. We discuss the educational value and benefits of such a hands-on skill-building activity within the larger structure of our overall space education program. We also discuss the project's direct costs, technical requirements, and regulatory permissions needed for such a launch. Finally, we discuss future plans for the activity and how it could be modified to be used by other educational programs, including our plans to create an open-source course pack and instructional design document to facilitate its replication by other space educational programs around the world.

Original language	English
Number of pages	2
Publication status	Published - 2023
Externally published	Yes
Event	74th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2023 - Baku, Azerbaijan Duration: 2 Oct 2023 → 6 Oct 2023

Conference

Conference	74th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2023
Country/Territory	Azerbaijan
City	Baku
Period	2/10/23 → 6/10/23

Keywords

analog space mission
balloon radiation measurement
balloon remote sensing
Space education
Stratospheric balloon mission
telecommunications

Access to Document

https://iafastro.directory/iac/archive/browse/IAC-23/E1/4/75729/Licence: In Copyright

Cite this

Madry, S., Platell, A., Bruce, D., Cowley, W., Jessop, M., Cook, M., Cheekhooree, G., Covella, F., Cowan, M., Mazzei, F., Mukherjee, V., Radhakrishnan, R. K. M., Sharma, V. K., Sharp, T., Symul, M., Windsor, T., & Yoshida, T. (2023). A Stratospheric Balloon Program as a Space Mission Analog: An Educational Activity at the International Space University. Abstract from 74th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2023, Baku, Azerbaijan. https://iafastro.directory/iac/archive/browse/IAC-23/E1/4/75729/

@conference{70a1209cd4874723ab0881096c894805,

title = "A Stratospheric Balloon Program as a Space Mission Analog: An Educational Activity at the International Space University",

abstract = "The International Space University (ISU), in cooperation with the University of South Australia (UniSA), has operated the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program (SHSSP) in Adelaide, Australia since 2011. During the 2023 program, in January and February, a stratospheric balloon mission was conducted where a group of 12 program participants from six countries, along with their faculty advisors, planned, designed, and conducted a stratospheric balloon mission which reached an altitude of over 35, 000 meters. Five payloads were carried, including two imaging cameras (one nadir and one horizon), two radiation detectors, and a life science experiment, all within a total payload mass of only 1.1 kg. The participants were organized into four teams: planning and launch operations, ground station and tracking, payloads and data, and data processing and analysis. The team, in one week, designed, built, tested, rehearsed, launched, and tracked the balloon and recovered the payloads and their data. Analysis of the data was conducted both in real time during the 2-hour 21-minute flight, and also immediately after the mission upon recovery of the payloads. The mission was conducted as an analog to an orbital space mission, with participants playing various appropriate roles that would be required for an orbital rocket mission. This paper presents an outline of the program, its structure and organization, and how such an activity was conducted within a single week. We discuss the educational value and benefits of such a hands-on skill-building activity within the larger structure of our overall space education program. We also discuss the project's direct costs, technical requirements, and regulatory permissions needed for such a launch. Finally, we discuss future plans for the activity and how it could be modified to be used by other educational programs, including our plans to create an open-source course pack and instructional design document to facilitate its replication by other space educational programs around the world.",

keywords = "analog space mission, balloon radiation measurement, balloon remote sensing, Space education, Stratospheric balloon mission, telecommunications",

author = "Scott Madry and Ariane Platell and David Bruce and William Cowley and Mark Jessop and Mathew Cook and Gauravsingh Cheekhooree and Francesca Covella and Marshall Cowan and Francesco Mazzei and Victor Mukherjee and Radhakrishnan, {Rajesh Kannan Muthanoor} and Sharma, {Vinod Kumar} and Tiffany Sharp and Milica Symul and Thomas Windsor and Toshihide Yoshida",

year = "2023",

language = "English",

note = "74th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2023 ; Conference date: 02-10-2023 Through 06-10-2023",

}

Madry, S, Platell, A, Bruce, D, Cowley, W, Jessop, M, Cook, M, Cheekhooree, G, Covella, F, Cowan, M, Mazzei, F, Mukherjee, V, Radhakrishnan, RKM, Sharma, VK, Sharp, T, Symul, M, Windsor, T & Yoshida, T 2023, 'A Stratospheric Balloon Program as a Space Mission Analog: An Educational Activity at the International Space University', 74th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2023, Baku, Azerbaijan, 2/10/23 - 6/10/23. <https://iafastro.directory/iac/archive/browse/IAC-23/E1/4/75729/>

TY - CONF

T1 - A Stratospheric Balloon Program as a Space Mission Analog

T2 - 74th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2023

AU - Madry, Scott

AU - Platell, Ariane

AU - Bruce, David

AU - Cowley, William

AU - Jessop, Mark

AU - Cook, Mathew

AU - Cheekhooree, Gauravsingh

AU - Covella, Francesca

AU - Cowan, Marshall

AU - Mazzei, Francesco

AU - Mukherjee, Victor

AU - Radhakrishnan, Rajesh Kannan Muthanoor

AU - Sharma, Vinod Kumar

AU - Sharp, Tiffany

AU - Symul, Milica

AU - Windsor, Thomas

AU - Yoshida, Toshihide

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - The International Space University (ISU), in cooperation with the University of South Australia (UniSA), has operated the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program (SHSSP) in Adelaide, Australia since 2011. During the 2023 program, in January and February, a stratospheric balloon mission was conducted where a group of 12 program participants from six countries, along with their faculty advisors, planned, designed, and conducted a stratospheric balloon mission which reached an altitude of over 35, 000 meters. Five payloads were carried, including two imaging cameras (one nadir and one horizon), two radiation detectors, and a life science experiment, all within a total payload mass of only 1.1 kg. The participants were organized into four teams: planning and launch operations, ground station and tracking, payloads and data, and data processing and analysis. The team, in one week, designed, built, tested, rehearsed, launched, and tracked the balloon and recovered the payloads and their data. Analysis of the data was conducted both in real time during the 2-hour 21-minute flight, and also immediately after the mission upon recovery of the payloads. The mission was conducted as an analog to an orbital space mission, with participants playing various appropriate roles that would be required for an orbital rocket mission. This paper presents an outline of the program, its structure and organization, and how such an activity was conducted within a single week. We discuss the educational value and benefits of such a hands-on skill-building activity within the larger structure of our overall space education program. We also discuss the project's direct costs, technical requirements, and regulatory permissions needed for such a launch. Finally, we discuss future plans for the activity and how it could be modified to be used by other educational programs, including our plans to create an open-source course pack and instructional design document to facilitate its replication by other space educational programs around the world.

AB - The International Space University (ISU), in cooperation with the University of South Australia (UniSA), has operated the Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program (SHSSP) in Adelaide, Australia since 2011. During the 2023 program, in January and February, a stratospheric balloon mission was conducted where a group of 12 program participants from six countries, along with their faculty advisors, planned, designed, and conducted a stratospheric balloon mission which reached an altitude of over 35, 000 meters. Five payloads were carried, including two imaging cameras (one nadir and one horizon), two radiation detectors, and a life science experiment, all within a total payload mass of only 1.1 kg. The participants were organized into four teams: planning and launch operations, ground station and tracking, payloads and data, and data processing and analysis. The team, in one week, designed, built, tested, rehearsed, launched, and tracked the balloon and recovered the payloads and their data. Analysis of the data was conducted both in real time during the 2-hour 21-minute flight, and also immediately after the mission upon recovery of the payloads. The mission was conducted as an analog to an orbital space mission, with participants playing various appropriate roles that would be required for an orbital rocket mission. This paper presents an outline of the program, its structure and organization, and how such an activity was conducted within a single week. We discuss the educational value and benefits of such a hands-on skill-building activity within the larger structure of our overall space education program. We also discuss the project's direct costs, technical requirements, and regulatory permissions needed for such a launch. Finally, we discuss future plans for the activity and how it could be modified to be used by other educational programs, including our plans to create an open-source course pack and instructional design document to facilitate its replication by other space educational programs around the world.

KW - analog space mission

KW - balloon radiation measurement

KW - balloon remote sensing

KW - Space education

KW - Stratospheric balloon mission

KW - telecommunications

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85188016940&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Abstract

AN - SCOPUS:85188016940

Y2 - 2 October 2023 through 6 October 2023

ER -