Student Ballooning for Aerospace Workforce Development

LSU v8/03/04 Student Ballooning 1

Student Ballooning for Aerospace Workforce Development

T.G. Guzik and J.P. WefelLouisiana State University

Lessons Learned WorkshopAugust 9, 2004


Two Extremes• The Aerospace engineer / scientist

– Expert in practical skills– Familiar with team work– Write numerous proposals, reports, documents – Daily management of people, money and time

• The entering undergraduate student– Few practical skills

• No “Heathkits”, or High School auto or wood shops– Many have problems with writing and presentations

• Grammar, spelling, organization, argument presentation– Somewhat computer “literate” (web capable)

• Little programming, CAD or data analysis experience


How do we go from one to the other?• Need to provide “hands-on” practical experience• Need to integrate classroom “theory” with real

applications• Need to improve communication skills• Need knowledge about and experience with, team work

and management• Some Engineering Departments address such issues

– “Capstone” or Design courses in last year• Most Science Departments have no organized method

for handling this situation– Students pickup whatever they can along the way


Space Grant has developed a national effort

• Many higher education institutions across U.S. are engaging students in design, construction and operation of aerospace payloads – Small payloads launched on sounding balloons– Compact Earth-orbiting satellites (e.g. CubeSat)

• Space Grant effort is referred to as “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly”– Represents staged approach of moving from simple sounding balloon

payloads, to LEO CubeSats, to, eventually, student built payloads on Mars.

– Currently ~30 states are engaging students in some variant of this program

– Website at http://ssp.arizona.edu/sgsatellites/programs.shtml• The Louisiana program, Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for

Students (ACES), began in 2002

http://ssp.arizona.edu/sgsatellites/programs.shtml

http://ssp.arizona.edu/sgsatellites/programs.shtml


ACES in Louisiana

• Goals included the following– Attract new students to aerospace related programs– Provide background on how to develop programs– Practical experience with sensors, electronics & systems– Retain students in science by exciting their imagination

• Implemented pilot version with NASA funding during 2002-2003 academic year– Test bed program concepts– Use LSU expertise in scientific ballooning– Build upon “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly” program


The ACES Basic Concept• Use a latex sounding balloon as the vehicle

– Up to 12 lbs payload without FAA waiver– Altitude up to ~100,000 feet

• Trained students to use knowledge about the project life cycle and project management

• Students were exposed to skills not normally available in conventional classrooms.


ACES Structure• Involved students from LSU and SU

– About 15 students organized in teams of 3-4– Students committed to 4 hours / week (took attendance)– Paid student wage for up to 10 hours / week

• Weekly contact Tuesday & Thursday evening– One or two 1 hr lectures and 3+ hrs of activities– Talks on electronics, programming, payload design, project

management & life cycle, technical aspects of high powered model rocket, radio telemetry & communication

– Activities include CricketSat, CanSat and BalloonSat• Launch trip to NSBF (May 2003) resulted in the

successful flight of three student built payloads


ACES Evolved into LA ACES• The “lessons learned” from the pilot ACES program are

incorporated into the current LA ACES program– Involve student teams from institutions across Louisiana– Formalize the training aspect of the program with a series of

lectures and hands-on activities (Student Ballooning Course)– Balloon support activities centered at LSU-BR

• NASA approved LA ACES funding 2/2004• Student Ballooning Course developed during Spring &

Summer 2004• Instructor training workshop held during May, 2004• Begin activities at UNO, LaTech, ULL, SU-BR & LSU-

BR by fall semester 2004


Fall semester builds basic skills

• Proceed through the Student Balloon Course (SBC) lectures and activities

• Develop circuit building skills• Learn about microprocessor

programming• Understand how to use sensors• Develop knowledge of project

management techniques• Understand the ballooning environment,

payload constraints and design• Exposure to various science topics

appropriate for balloon payloads


Motivation for the SBC• There has been little development of

classroom materials to support the student built aerospace payload program.

• No materials for an integrated course– Need to cover diverse topics– Need to complete in academic year

• Focus on younger undergraduates– Work with ~2nd year students

• Available “CanSat” electronics needed improvements

• Provide basis for an advanced programLaunch of the ACES-01 vehicle during May, 2003


SBC Contents• A course syllabus

– Provides a summary of the Student Ballooning Course– Can be modified to fit institution needs

• Lectures– 33 PowerPoint presentations covering the primary topics relevant to the

program• Activities

– 30 descriptions of hand-on activities that complement the lectures and build skills relevant to payload development

• List of materials necessary for the activities• A hardware kit with the PCBs, microcomputer and other core

components required to support the activities• Evaluation forms

– Feedback from both students and instructors is important


The SBC Units

The lectures and activities are divided into five major units1. Electronics – Basic knowledge about circuits, sensor

interfacing & data acquisition2. Programming – How to control the BASIC Stamp, read &

store data, interfacing to devices3. Project Management – How to plan, manage and track

the progress of a project4. Balloon Payload Design – Facts and skills relevant to the

successful development of a payload5. Science – Collection of a few presentations on science

topics relevant to balloon payloads


Spring semester is focused on payload• Apply skills learned in the fall to develop a small balloon payload• Proceed through a project life cycle and apply project manage-ment

techniques• Written documents & presentation required for Preliminary Design

Review (PDR), Critical Design Review (CDR) & Flight Readiness Review (FRR)

Groups fabricating payloads Programming the controller


The National Scientific Balloon Facility will host the LA ACES launch.

• Launch anticipated for May, 2005• Must successfully complete FRR prior to flight• Operations will be similar to the ACES flight in May 03

ACES-01 was assembled and tested in this NSBF hanger Students preparing for their FRR


ACES-01 Launch Day

• Payload string consisted of several radio beacons– Location “chirper” at top– Primary GPS radio next– Secondary GPS at bottom

• Three student payloads– TIC, StuMURD, FRED

• A 60” Skyangle parachute• Radar reflector at bottom• Total Weight was 11.8

pounds. The ACES-01 flight string


ACES-01 Flight Operations

Flight line payload preparation (above) and balloon inflation (right)

ACES-01 launch (above)

Joint LSU, SU StuMURD UV experiment successfully recovered (above)


ACES-01 Initial Results


Sounding Balloon Limitations• Development life cycle needs to be limited to one year to

conform with student schedule– Feasible with small sounding balloon payloads– Difficult for satellites where launch schedule is uncertain, but could be

flight tested on a balloon• Sounding balloons have limited “hang time”

– Total flight time about 2 ½ hours– Time above 24 km about ½ hour

• Inappropriate for testing student-built satellites or new technologies– At most only cursory evaluation of power,

data acquisition & telemetry subsystems– No test of day-night thermal cycling


HASP Addresses These Issues• The High Altitude Student Platform supports advanced student-

built payloads– Regular schedule of launches at least once per year– Provide high altitude (~36 km) and reasonable duration (~15 to 20 hours)


Cost effective & adaptable

• Existing flight designs and experience minimize cost of development and operation– Hardware / software from flight proven ATIC payload– University based development & support– Use time-tested NSBF balloon vehicle hardware– Capitalize on decades of NSBF experience with flight operations

• Could be easily adapted for LDB (~15 – 30 days) flights• Could become major part of Aerospace Workforce Development

– Provide student “CubeSats” with flight test time while waiting for launch– Fly payloads too heavy for sounding balloons– Space test student concepts for Moon or Mars payloads


Conclusions• The President’s Commission on Implementation of United States

Space Exploration Policy suggests that NASA partner with universities to develop a “virtual” space academy– “…goals of which are: 1) to provide tangible experiences that prepare

students for a future in a space-related field, and 2) to bridge the divide between engineering and science training.”

• The existing Space Grant “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly” program and professional scientific ballooning at universities already go a long way to satisfying the goals of the “virtual” space academy– Support pipeline from undergrads to graduates and post-docs in both

science and engineering.– What is needed is to increase support for more science payloads and

more Space Grant ballooning programs at universities across the country.

Documents

Student Ballooning for Aerospace Workforce Development