2022 Payloads
Here you'll find all the information you need about our previous custom designed projects and payloads that we fly on our various programs.
The 2022 payloads are happening right now, we will update as we go!
What is HASP?
HASP, or the High Altitude Student Platform, provides educational institutions and STEM field students from around the world with the opportunity to design, fabricate, and launch a scientific payload on a NASA scientific balloon. The program, run through Louisiana State University's Space Consortium (LaSPACE), works closely with NASA and many other space focused institutions, is focused on encouraging students to receive real world experience and develop unique works of aerospace engineering.
Not Your Ordinary Balloon
Scientific high-pressure balloons are an important part of environmental and atmospheric science. They often carry monitoring, surveying, or experimental payloads which help us to better understand the Earth, our effects on our planet, imaging, navigation, astronomy, and many other scientific objectives. These balloons, made of highly flexible materials, are often filled with hydrogen or helium, and can soar to heights of nearly 25-30 miles, an area known as "near space". They are often massive, capable of lifting hundreds of pounds of equipment if necessary and can stay at float for extended periods of time to allow for long duration research
HASP specifically utilizes a zero pressure balloon that stays at float nearly 20 hours. The gondola, comprised of 12 student designed and selected payloads, allows students to run their proposed experiments through the on board power and communication systems, simplifying the process for student teams.
Student teams travel to the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas for integration, testing, and flight approval. The balloon is launched from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, with LSU and NASA in command.
Design, selection, and fabrication
Payloads begin the design process with inspiration, ingenuity, and bold ideas. Often, experiments are designed around achieving goals related to environmental, atmospheric, or astronomical sciences. At College of the Canyons, a team structure for HASP is usually adopted, with a project lead fronting the new year's payload design. From here, team leads and teams are integrated to assist in making the idea a reality. It is no small feat to design a payload, often requiring many hours devoted to scholarly research, technical engineering, and thorough experimentation to develop a professional and industry grade proposal. Students often have a chance to be introduced to Computer Aided Design, peer reviewed papers, and real world methods of operations.
Once the proposal has been completed, it is submitted to LSU for review and acceptance. 12 slots are available on the balloon, and many educational institutions apply for the opportunity. College of the Canyons has distinguished itself so far with being accepted all 3 years the HASP team has applied, beginning in 2016. For more information on past year's and future experiments, scroll up and select a HASP project from the drop down menu under "Projects"
After the proposal has been accepted, the team focuses on making the payload a reality. Through the generous and expansive assistance of College of the Canyon's involved advisers, the team advances through every stage of design which may include metal shop work, laboratory experimentation, 3D printing, software development, and many other fields. This allows for a dynamic and inclusive team, where students from all areas of study are allowed to participate, engage in their respective field, or even learn something new.
HASP makes a perfect introduction to our program, and we have the resources we need to make it happen. The only thing that's missing is you!
Background
The High Altitude Student Platform (HASP) was originally conceived to provide students with intermediate flight opportunities between those available with small latex-sounding balloons and Earth-orbiting satellites. HASP is a support vehicle developed with flight-proven hardware and software designs that uses an 11 million cubic foot, thin-film polyethylene, helium-filled balloon to carry multiple student-built payloads to altitudes of ~120,000 feet (~36km) for durations up to 20 hours. The HASP platform is currently designed to support eight small payloads of ~3 kg weight and four large payloads of ~20 kg weight (i.e., 12 experiments "seats").
A standard interface is provided for each student payload, including power, serial telemetry, discrete commands, and analog output. HASP will archive student payload data onboard and telemeter the stream to the ground for real-time access. See the HASP website (https://laspace.lsu.edu/hasp/) for further information. Construction of HASP was supported by the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Department of Physics and Astronomy at LSU, and the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium (LaSPACE) program. The NASA Astrophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate, the NASA Balloon Program Office, Wallops Flight Facility, and LaSPACE have committed to supporting one HASP flight per year through 2025. This Call for Payloads (CFP), jointly issued by the LaSPACE HASP team and the NASA Balloon Program Office (BPO), solicits student groups to apply for a "seat" on the 2021 HASP flight. To apply, student groups will need to develop a proposal describing their payload, including science justification, the principle of operation, team structure and management, as well as full payload specifications of weight, size, power consumption, mechanical interface, data requirements, orientation preference, and initial design drawings.
This application is solely for a seat on the HASP platform and not for financial support for student teams. The costs of hardware development and testing, travel to Palestine, TX, and/or Fort Sumner, this application does not cover NM for interface verification and flight operations, or any other student payload or team expenses (see section XII).
This application will be due at the LaSPACE office on or before January 8, 2021. A Notice of Intent form will be due on November 11, 2020, for all groups considering a proposal for HASP 2021. A teleconference to answer general questions about the HASP program and application process will be held on November 13, 2020. On December 18, 2020, a second teleconference was added to assist participants and answer any questions they may have as they are completing their applications. Preference will be given to payloads that are clearly demonstrated to be designed, built, and operated by students. Notification of selection will occur at the end of January 2021. The remainder of this document describes the HASP system, student payload interface, anticipated program schedule, and how to prepare and submit your application.
How Does It Work?
A compact scintillator will detect antimatter collisions in the upper Stratosphere.
Detecting gamma-ray and neutrino activity, the primary products of antimatter collisions, we will estimate the number of antimatter collisions in the upper stratosphere
Application and Future Plans
We will launch, fly, and safely land an autorotational reentry vehicle to test a novel approach to re-entry, descent, and landing.
What is RockSatX?
RSX, or RockSat X, provides educational institutions and STEM field students from around the world with the opportunity to design, fabricate, and launch a scientific payload onboard a real NASA rocket. The program, run through the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, works closely with NASA and many other space focused institutions, is focused on encouraging students to receive real world experience, and develop unique works of aerospace engineering.
Real Rocket Science
Scientific sounding rockets are an important part of aeronomy (the science of planet's upper atmospheres), astronomy, and equipment or material testing. They often carry these payloads to the upper edge of our planet's boundaries to help us better understand our planet or to give engineers the chance to test breakout technologies at near-space. These rockets, often built with surplus military grade engines and hardware, are often filled with solid rocket fuel, and can soar to heights of nearly 930 miles, an area known as the exoatmosphere, or the area just outside of the atmosphere. They can stand a mere 7 feet tall to 65 feet tall, and are capable of lifting hundreds of pounds of equipment on a sub-orbital flight lasting up to 30 minutes before returning to Earth.
RSX specifically utilizes a sounding rocket capable of carrying our payload to an apogee of 150-170 km (93 - 105 miles). Additionally, this rocket has a few tricks up it's sleeve, including a retracting skin on the nosecone to allow payloads access to space-like conditions, as well as the ability to perform maneuvers that provide us excellent stability.
Students often have a chance to be introduced to Computer Aided Design, peer reviewed papers, and real world methods of operations.
Once the proposal has been completed, it is submitted to Colorado State for review. Several of these critical design reviews are necessary to ensure that the rocket and flight will be safe and that we are accounting for the extreme environment we will be operating in. 5-10 slots are available on the rocket, and many educational institutions apply for the opportunity. College of the Canyons is the first community college attempting to participate in the program, and is setting the path for hopefully many more to come.
After the initial proposal has been approved, the team focuses on making the payload a reality. Through the generous and expansive assistance of College of the Canyon's involved advisers, the team advances through every stage of design which may include metal shop work, laboratory experimentation, 3D printing, software development, and many other fields. This allows for a dynamic and inclusive team, where students from all areas of study are allowed to participate, engage in their respective field, or even learn something new. Along the way, we take input from the critical design reviews to refine and push the envelope in ways that will ensure we meet the standards set. For more information on our specific projects, hover over the drop down menu under "Projects" and select an RSX project.
RSX is a huge undertaking for our community college team, however we are fully prepared to meet the challenge.
The only thing that's missing is you!
Student teams travel to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia for integration, testing, and flight approval. After everything is flight certified, the team is invited to watch the launch out of the same facility, before being involved in the recovery process.
Design, selection, and fabrication
Payloads begin the design process with inspiration, ingenuity, and bold ideas. Often, experiments are designed around achieving goals related to environmental, atmospheric, or astronomical sciences. At College of the Canyons, a team structure for RSX is adopted, with a project lead fronting the new year's payload design. From here, team leads and teams are integrated to assist in making the idea a reality. It is no small feat to design a payload, often requiring many hours devoted to scholarly research, technical engineering, and thorough experimentation to develop a professional and industry grade proposal.
How-to-Workshop
What is RockON! ?
"During the RockOn workshop, teams will learn through hands-on activities, how to build a sounding rocket payload or RocketSat. Teams of 3 will build their rocket payload from a kit at their own pace at their location and then ship it to Colorado. After check out, it will ship to Virginia to launch on a sounding rocket to ~73 miles. The hardware in the kit could be used on future RocketSat and possibly CubeSat flights. Wallops will be providing the rocket and launch operations for the workshop. Wallops will also provide a tour and briefings on sounding rocket environments for future flights. We will also present their concept for standardized flight opportunities for future experiments called RockSat-C and RockSat-X. This workshop is not about building rockets. It is about learning to build sounding rocket payloads. This workshop is organized by the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortium. RockOn is funded by you, the participant, and NASA Education."
Taken from RockON! Workshop Info
RockOn was originally designed to be an in-person workshop, but because of the pandemic it was moved to a self-paced virtual workshop. This project is an introductory level project where we hope incoming students will gain experience to work on the third level RockSat-X programs.
Teams will be required to select which completed kit will be flown on the rocket in June. Individuals participating without a team or cohort are still eligible to have their hardware flown but selection will be completed by a random drawing, which will be conducted live via Zoom.
Each kit will include all the necessary equipment to complete the build remotely.
Conducting Science on the Moon
What is GLEE
"Inspired by NASA's Apollo Moon landings over 50 years ago, the Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone (GLEE) will be a catalyst for a new generation of space missions and explorers. This scientific and technological mission to the Moon will deploy 500 LunaSats to the lunar surface to conduct local and distributed science missions. LunaSats are tiny spacecraft with an integrated sensor suite that will be programmed by teams of students all over the world for a mission of their own design. These teams will be mentored by GLEE program staff through the programming, test, launch, and data gathering process. GLEE will be free to all teams that are selected for participation. From hands-on activities to a global citizen science network, GLEE is the next step to inspire and engage the world in a truly global mission to the Moon."
Taken from GLEE Vision
The GLEE team has already been assembles, we are currently awaiting our kits and will update as we go!