Carolina HS Team Wins NASA ‘Balloonsat’ Title

September 13, 2010 — This is one high-flying competition that is nearly out of this world. The Balloonsat High Altitude Flight Competition, or BHALF, allows high school students to design and build a flight experiment or technology demonstration to be sent to the near space environment of the stratosphere, by a NASA weather balloon launch. Last week NASA announced that this year’s winner was a high school team from North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, N.C. Their experiment, "Variations in Polyvinyl Alcohol Radiation Shields," was one of four student team experiments launched May 26 on a NASA weather balloon to an altitude of about 100,000 feet. The experiment demonstrated radiation shielding with homegrown polyvinyl alcohol films through a combination of ground tests and a flight experiment. "We were impressed by the work of all the teams, but especially this one," said David Snyder, technical lead for the Balloonsat project at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. "This team won because they combined a variety of techniques and information sources to look for radiation effects." NASA will present a medallion to members of the winning team, and the high school will receive a plaque this fall. The student teams were judged on teamwork, presentations, and a final report submitted after the experiments were launched on the weather balloon. Other teams that had experiments launched included: Charlottesville High School in Charlottesville, Virginia — “The effect of near space conditions on Escherichia coli bacteria" Upper St. Clair High School in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania — “The effect of near space conditions on microbial life forms" Stansbury High School in Stansbury, Utah — "Thermal moisture penetration." The BHALF competition is open to teams of four or more students in grades 9 to 12 from high schools and community groups throughout the United States, District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Proposals for next year are due in February 2011.

A balloon rises in the sky after being released. Photo credit: Balloonsat

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