We need materials to build the payload, tracking and recovery system. The camera is for videoing the trip, the GPS for tracking and the tarp for a launch pad.
$490 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
The cadets are going to form groups and propose different science projects to attempt. The items we're requesting don't include a couple of key items, like the balloon, but we'll source that out ourselves. These other components will help us make this a project that we can do over and over.
One of the students showed us a video from another school. We had been discussing Low Earth Orbit and how NASA was giving up the Space Shuttle program in order to allow commercial enterprises to "take over" LEO. The cadets became extremely motivated to try it themselves. We're in a great part of the Bay Area to try it out.
One of the great things about the JROTC program is that it encourages cadets to take charge and make things happen. With a project like this, cadets will have to work together to design the payload and "spacecraft", develop a plan for launching it and then figure out how to execute the plan to include tracking and recovery.
In Their Own Words
We would like to take photos of the upper atmosphere and develop a unique scientific experiment with our space-weather balloon. The two classes participating are going to compete for the scientific experiment that will be chosen to go on our balloon. We really want it to be unique.
As cadets, we are encouraged to take the leadership role in many aspects of our program. In this case, our teacher, Major Hampshire, is having us develop, plan and execute a top-to-bottom plan. We have to create our balloon payload, develop a launch plan and create a recovery plan. And as leaders, we all must work together as a team in order to make this plan a reality.
For us, this project will inspire cadets to become interested in science and hopefully, increase our desire to go to college. We will also learn to work together more effectively and efficiently and become better leaders.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Hampshire and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.