ASGARD V DIY astronautics for students Think of a science experiment, build and fly it on a stratospheric balloon Pieter Mestdagh (ESERO Belgium) Erik de Schrijver (Sint-Pieterscollege jette) On April 23 rd 2015, it will happen again. Ten teams of pupils and their teachers are preparing their experiments for a flight to the upper atmosphere. Tension is rising as the hour of the launch approaches. Erik de Schrijver knows this. He is a science teacher at Sint- Pieterscollege in Jette (Brussels) and founder of this space education project. For this fifth edition, he is again cooperating with ESERO, the national office of ESA (European Space Agency) in charge of promoting space education. The balloon itself is a gift from the Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) and the Solar- Terrestrial Centre of Excellence (STCE). Strato... what? The atmospheric layer we live in, with its clouds, precipitation and winds is called the troposphere. Depending on latitude and season, its upper limit varies from 7 to 18 km above sea level. Normal commercial air traffic takes place in this layer. Within it, the temperature drops with increasing altitude, reaching lows of -50/-60 C at its upper layers. Above the troposphere, the temperature is stable for a few kilometers. Once arrived in the stratosphere, you see a black sky and a curved horizon, like in space. This stable transition layer is called the tropopause. It is capped by the stratosphere, wherein the temperature rises again, due to the absorption of solar UV radiation in the ozone layer. Asgard weather balloons reach altitudes of 30 to 35kms, deep within the stratosphere, which is why these balloons are also referred to as stratospheric balloons. While space officially starts at 100km altitude, the conditions in the stratosphere Press release ASGARD page 1 aug 2014
are not unlike those in space: the sky above is pitch black, the horizon shows both Earth's curvature and the fragile 'thin blue line' of its lower atmosphere. Schematic presentation of troposphere and stratosphere. The shown altitudes can vary, depending on the latitude. Who can participate? The contest is open to all secondary schools, Belgian and foreign, and to the third level (5/6) of Belgian primary schools. A call for proposals will be issued to the educational community in september 2014. A team usually consists of 4 to 5 students and a teacher helping them manage their project. For practical reasons, no teams bigger than 10 people are accepted. How to register? Gather a small team and think of a worthwhile experiment you can put together Like a real scientist, one has to be creative to study effects on the subject of the experiment. yourselves. A reminder that several parameters are subject to considerable variations during the flight: temperature, wind speeds, air humidity, solar radiation, etc. You could also study clouds or the effect on living cells. Or you could measure radiation and other flight parameters. Just like professional scientists, you put in a great deal of creativity to achieve your objectives. Some cameras are always on board to provide some footage of the near-space environment. Beware: the maximum allowable mass for an experiment is 150 grams. Press release ASGARD page 2 aug 2014
When you and your team have come up with a cool idea (it might take several brainstorming sessions to achieve this), put it on paper and submit it before November 11th 2014. Explain in detail how you propose to build the necessary hardware, as technical feasibility is a major criterion for the jury. A jury with an astronaut A jury of experts, led by Dirk Frimout, Belgium's first astronaut, will select 10 projects out of all submitted proposals. The jury will focus on scientific and technical merit, creativity, originality and team spirit. The winning Dirk Frimout teams are asked to build their experiment, test it and hand it over to the organisers before April 13, 2015. Selected! What now? Your team's experiment will be flown on the gondola. That is the box hanging beneath the balloon. Its walls are styrofoam for insulation. Electronics are usually placed inside, while sensors, or any part of an experiment that requires exposure to the outside conditions can be placed on any of the sides of the gondola. The launch campaign covers 3 days: Some young students are busy with the final touch on their experiment 1. Wednesday April 22 nd : Planetarium Brussels Before noon, the teams give presentations to one another about their self-made projects. In the afternoon, the experiments are integrated in the gondola and their flight-readiness is assessed. 2. Thursday April 23 rd : Plateau Uccle All teams, including those from the primary schools, are present at the launch. For the remainder of the day, they are offered a varied programme of workshops and guided tours at the different scientific institutions located at the Plateau in Uccle: the Royal Observatory, the Royal Meteorological Institute and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy. Late in the afternoon the gondola descends under a parachute and is recovered by Erik and a team of students. The gondola usually lands in Belgium, between 50 and 100km from Brussels. Meanwhile, Dirk Frimout gives lectures about space exploration for all groups. 3. Friday April 24 th : Planetarium Brussels The gondola with the experiments being recovered, the students get to find out if their experiments worked as intended. A 'first results' presentation is given to the other teams, while a more thorough analysis of the Press release ASGARD page 3 aug 2014
data gathered can take place at school in the following weeks. Numerous students base their graduation work/thesis on the Asgard experiment. Experience is optional You would like to participate, but you have no experience with electronics? No problem. Teams from primary schools usually send in proposals with little or no technology involved: plant seeds or insect eggs can be flown for example, and their post-flight behaviour compared with a control group kept on the ground. Students with their Arduino kit Participation is within reach for almost everybody, even for teams with no experience in technics and electronics. Teams from secondary schools can decide upon registration whether to apply as 'beginners' or rather as 'accomplished'. Beginners can purchase an Arduino Starters Kit from the organisers for 50 to help them get started on electronics. These popular kits are ideal to learn about microcontrollers, circuits and sensors. Selected teams get their kit refunded, while they can keep it as school property. The purpose of this approach is to motivate teams to get involved with electronics. Using Arduino is of course by no means mandatory. The balloon experiment shows how science works: it starts with an idea and after a long process you get the measurements and your results which you need to interpret. Maybe, one of those students chooses a scientific carrier and becomes a colleague. (Roeland Van Malderen, KMI, 2013) Press release ASGARD page 4 aug 2014
ASGARD Balloons for space education About the partners Sint-Pieterscollege Jette cooperates with different partners on Asgard. They are presented in brief here. ESERO BELGIUM ESERO (European Space Education Resources Office) exists in about ten ESA member states to support schools and teachers in their STEM* activities. ESERO uses astronautics and the enthusiasm it awakens in both young and old to achieve this. *STEM = international term for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics www.esero.be Facebook: ESERO.Belgium/België/Belgique/Belgien ESERO is co-organsier and funder. ESERO takes care of all practical matters and logistics, and is partly in charge of communication with the schools. RMI and STCE The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) is a federal scientific institute devoted to meteorology. Daily measurements and weather forecasting are supplemented with a vast programme of scientific research. The scientists often use weather balloons for their work. http://www.meteo.be The 'Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence (STCE) studies the Sun and its influence on space, the Earth and its atmosphere. It also encompasses a service centre for space-weather. http://www.stce.be/ Photos taken by a camera on the gondola, each at a higher altitude than the previous. Press release ASGARD page 5 aug 2014
Once a year RMI and STCE donate the balloon for the Asgard programme. RMI is in charge of preparing the balloon for launch and puts its infrastructure at the disposal of the organisers. Moreover, guided tours are offered to the teams, including the Climatology Parc and the Weather Bureau. Planetarium Brussels At the Planetarium of Brussels, you discover everything there is to know about astronomy and astronautics. Watch a full dome movie explaing the wonders of stars and planets. Daily visits for schools and individuals alike. www.planetarium.be The day before launch and the day after, the teams from secondary schools gather at the Planetarium. The workshops for the primary schools are given by dedicated Planetarium personnel. And ESERO has its office in the Planetarium building. ROB The Royal Observatory of Belgium is a federal scientific institute devoted to several fields of astronomy and is located in Uccle, next to the RMI. http://www.astro.oma.be On the day of the launch, ROB offers guided tours and puts infrastructure at the disposal of the organisers. BISA The Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy is a third federal scientific institute located at the Plateau in Uccle. Here, atmospheres of Earth, planets and other objects are studied. http://www.aeronomie.be BISA offers guided tours and workshops to the students on the day of the launch. ASGARD : why? Mission statement? Actively working on astronautics instead of only reading/dreaming about it. Foster interest in science and technology in students of all ages. Deepen understanding of curriculum-related topics. Promote self-confidence through goal-oriented teamwork. Why stratospheric balloons? Inexpensive compared to other means of access to space or the upper atmosphere Payload recovery Wide range of scientific objectives possible: Earth observation, atmospheric research, astronomic observations, Press release ASGARD page 6 aug 2014
ASGARD FAST FACTS Editions ASGARD I 28/04/2011 ASGARD II 15/03/2012 ASGARD III 25/04/2013 ASGARD IV 27/03/2014 ASGARD V 23/04/2015 Important dates Novembre 11 th, 2014 Proposals submitted December 1 st, 2014 Teams selection April 13 th, 2015 Submit experiment to organisers after building and testing phase April 22-23-24, 2015 Launch campaign Open to whom? Team size Selected teams Languages All secondary schools (Belgian and foreign), third level (5/6) of Belgian primary schools 4 to 5 students + 1 teacher (max size: 10 people) 2 primary schools, 8 secondary school teams English, Dutch, French (Presentations are given in English) Contact Sint-Pieterscollege Jette Erik de Schrijver eds@sint-pieterscollege.be 0486787063 ESERO België Pieter.Mestdagh@planetarium.be 024747058 0475755515 ESERO Belgique Denis.Cornet@planetarium.be 024747066 0499385553 Website http://asgard-balloons.webs.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/153214554744003/?fref=ts Press release ASGARD page 7 aug 2014