Programs

Maine Student High Altitude Program

(MeSHAP)

The primary goal of MeSHAP is to increase students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers by enhancing their technical skills and research abilities in the development, launch, recovery and analysis of student-based multidisciplinary science and engineering experimental payloads using high altitude weather forecasting balloons and rockets. The weather balloons ascend to 100,000 feet before bursting and ejected their payloads, which descend back to the ground with the aid of parachutes. The rockets ascend to 20,000 before ejecting their payloads.

The target populations of MeSHAP are faculty and students at Maine’s universities and colleges, and K-12 teachers and students. A secondary goal of MeSHAP is increase the number of Maine students, teachers and faculty who participate in NASA-sponsored student competitions as well as NASA missions.

MeSHAP partners includethe University of Maine (UMaine), the University of Southern Maine (USM), the Maine Maritime Academy (MMA), the Louisiana State University (LSU), NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Applied Thermal Sciences, the Maine Department of Education, the Brunswick School Department, LockheedMartin/Maine Space Day, US Navy and Bath Iron Works, and MTN Enterprises, LLC.

MeSHAP Components

MeSHAP has a K-12 component and a university component. Each component is going through its pilot testing and evaluation.

University Component

The university component has completed its pilot phase with support from MSGC under a Consortium Development Competition award from the NASA National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. The goal of the pilot project was to adapt LSU’s nationally recognized “Scientific Ballooning Course” to our requirements in order to build Maine’s institutional capacity for student-based aerospace experiments using Sounding Balloons and Rockets. At the end of this project we expect to have 1) a MeSHAP student course structure specific to Maine that has been field tested, 2) a group of faculty and undergraduate students from UMaine, USM and MMA that have gained practical experience in the design, development and operation of small aerospace payloads, and 4) an expanded the capability in Maine to support student built payloads.

A group of faculty and students from these institutions traveled to Louisiana in January 2011 for a one-week workshop on scientific ballooning provided by LSU. As the result of the training, each institution was provided financial support to incorporate a modified version of the LSU training into their respective curriculum, as a new course or student design challenge, to develop identify student teams who would develop, launch, recovery and analyze student-based multidisciplinary science and engineering experimental payloads using high altitude weather forecasting balloons and rockets.

Lead personnel at these institutions are:

University of Maine

Dr. Rick Eason, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ballooning)
Dr. Michael Boyle, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering (rockets). Karl Hoose, President and CEO, Applied Thermal Sciences, provided Dr. Boyle and his students access to his rockets and launch sites.

University of Southern Maine

Dr. John Wise, Sr., Professor of Toxicology and Molecular Epidemiology.
Dr. Robert Kuech, Associate Professor of Education.

Maine Maritime Academy

Dr. Richard Kimball, Department of Engineering.
Lynn Darnell, Department of Engineering.

To date, each institution has participated in at least one launch; some have conducted at least three launches.

Please click here to see some of the photographs and videos of three launches provided by Dr. Eason’s student teams.

K-12 Component

The K-12 component is in a 2-year pilot phase with an initial focus on 10th grade biology teachers and students. The pilot is supported by the Maine Space Grant Consortium through a NASA Cooperative Agreement award for the "The Astrobiology-Scientific Ballooning Pilot Project.” This project is a train-the-trainer program in which high school teachers are trained in the development, launch, recovery and analysis of student-based multidisciplinary science and engineering experimental payloads using high altitude weather forecasting balloons. Schools and teachers that complete the program are encouraged to institutionalize the Astrobiology-Scientific Ballooning Project as part of their programs at an annual cost of $500 to $1,000.

In bringing authentic astrobiology research together with scientific ballooning missions as a vehicle to introduce existing data and planning aspects of NASA science missions into high school classrooms, the project intends to accomplish these specific objectives: (a) provide opportunities for high school teachers to build their scientific skills, including data collection and analytical thinking, and their ability to lead students in passionate inquiry related to NASA science mission goals, through engaging professional development activities and ongoing support; and (b) increase student interest in STEM careers by informing students about STEM career options, and exposing students to engaging and authentic scientific research experiences integrated with the engineering design challenges of a scientific mission.

Together with professional development training for teachers and career fairs, teachers and students will learn and experience the science methodology behind Astrobiology (Science); the integration of computers, sensors, cameras, and radio communications hardware (Technology); mission requirements, product design, and innovation (Engineering); and the calculations needed for design, budget, and data interpretation (Mathematics). As a result, teachers, guidance counselors and students will gain a better understanding of opportunities and benefits related to STEM careers especially those related to NASA missions, teaching, higher education, and the private sector.

A unique feature of this project is the strong support network to help the teachers and students succeed. This network includes Dr. Monroe Duboise from USM and his staff inclding the ScienceCorps graduate fellows, Dr. Lynn Rothschild from NASA Ames Research Center, Diane Bowen from Brunswick school department, Sharon Eggleston from Lockheed Martin/Space Day, Catherine Tsairides from MTN Enterprises, LCC, Rocco Mancinelli, a former employee of NASA Ames Research Center,, and members of the university teams. This network supports the teachers in incorporating Astrobiology in their curricula, in providing classroom presentations on the science behind Astrobiology, in designing and development of scientific payloads, in training on tethered balloon flights, in the logistics related to setup and launch of the free flight balloons, and the recovery and analysis of the science and engineering experimental payloads.

The TERC-developed astrobiology curriculum and the Louisiana State University/NASA Wallops Flight Facility-developed scientific ballooning curriculum and workshop are aligned with the Maine Learning Results and are consistent with the latest revisions of the National Science Education Standards and the National Research Council’s Framework forScience Education.

The schools that are participating in the pilot K-12 component are Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, Westbrook High School, and Winthrop High School. Lead personnel at these schools are:

Mt. Blue High School - Doug Hodum, 10th Grade Biology Teacher
Westbrook High School - Amy Troiano, 10th Grade Biology Teacher
Winthrop High School - Danielle Doucette, 10 Grade Biology Teacher

To date, the teachers have traveled to Palestine, Texas, in July 2011 for a one-week training workshop in scientific ballooning, which was developed by NASA Wallops Training Faculty and LSU, and participated in a 3-day Astrobiology workshop to show them how to incorporate elements of Astrobiology in their biology curricula. The teachers have also received initial training in tethered ballooning flights and are poised to conducted their own tethered flights at their respective schools during the week of October 24, 2012.

Click here to view a short video of the October 7, 2011 tethered ballooning training session.

Teachers and students are working hard to prepare for the free ballooning flights scheduled for May 2012.

Next Steps

Both components will be institutionalized into a unified MeSHAP STEM integrated K-16 pipeline initiative that leverages Maine’s institutional capacity for student-based aerospace experiments using Sounding Balloons and Rockets. The primary focus in the K-12 will be 10th grade teachers and students. Inclusion of middle school students is under consideration.

There are two major features of a unified MeSHAP. First, MeSHAP will foster partnerships between the university and the high schools in the development, launch, recovery and analysis of student-based multidisciplinary science and engineering experimental payloads. Second, each spring MeSHAP, with support from the university partners, will coordinate the logistics for the free balloon setup, launch and recovery for the high school participants. Finally, MeSHAP partners will continue to provide support to current and past high school participants.

The university component has been institutionalized in MSGC’s based budget effective the 2011-2012 academic year. Each fall, MSGC will issue a competitive announcement to support five, student-based teams at $10,000 per team (with a 1:1 cost share requirements). Funds are available to support two teams are UMaine (one of which will be a rocket team), two teams at the USM, and one team at MMA. The expansion of the program to include other universities and colleges in Maine will be considered based on the availability of funds.

Effective the 2012-2013 academic year, MSGC will announce a competitive program to provide $500-$1,000 to five K-12 schools to participate in the MeSHAP program. Each award will support the cost of all materials and supplies, stipends for teachers and substitute teachers, travel cost, the cost of school bus transportation to launching events.

Selected schools must demonstrate the following commitments:

School Administration must support teachers and students participation in the project and provide access to school facilities when required.
Teachers must participate in all aspects of the project from beginning to end and must agree to enhance their existing science curricula with an integrated astrobiology and scientific ballooning course work and materials.
Students must participate in all aspects of the project from beginning to end

In return, MeSHAP will provide: