WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., June 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- University
faculty and students from across the country will RockOn! with NASA during
a workshop June 22 - 27 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island
in Virginia. During RockOn!, they will learn the basics of building
experiments for flight on suborbital rockets.
RockOn! teams will build the experiments from kits developed by
students from the Colorado Space Grant Consortium and learn about the steps
and procedures for creating payloads for flight. Each experiment package
will include a Geiger counter and sensors for measuring temperature,
acceleration and pressure. The experiments then will be integrated into
payload cans for launch.
The week will culminate with the launching of the experiments early in
the morning June 27 aboard a NASA Orion sounding rocket. The 20-foot tall,
single-stage rocket is expected to fly to an altitude of 41 miles. After
launch and payload recovery, participants will do preliminary data analysis
and discuss their results.
"The NASA Sounding Program historically has been a program for
scientists, engineers and technicians to develop the skills necessary for
developing and building advanced satellites and other spacecraft," said
Phil Eberspeaker, chief of the NASA Sounding Program office at Wallops.
Almost 60 people from universities in 22 states and Puerto Rico are
participating in RockOn!. Eighty-percent of the participants are faculty
members.
"This workshop will equip faculty with the skills and knowledge to
start their own student-led sounding rocket payload programs at their
university or college," said Chris Koehler, director of the Colorado Space
Grant Consortium in Boulder. "This workshop adds a new level of hands-on
programs for higher education students. It is expected that many of the
participants will have students come to Wallops to fly their own sounding
rocket payloads in the coming years."
NASA's Space Grant program sponsors university-based consortia that
focus on developing our nation's future scientist and engineers, as well as
improving science, engineering and technology education. Using the lessons
learned through RockOn!, participants will work to make flight experiments
a part of the educational process at their home institutions.
"The workshop builds on NASA's interest in reaching out to universities
for engagement with sounding rocket payload research and educational
experiences," said Mary Sandy, director of the Virginia Space Grant
Consortium in Hampton, Va. "It taps into the National Space Grant College
and Fellowship Program interest in having students and faculty participate
in space experimentation and real space missions."
For more information on NASA education programs on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education.
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