NASA TechRise Challenge
By Ryan Kim
Have you ever wanted to conduct an experiment in a space-like atmosphere or design an experiment for NASA? In the new 2024 TechRise Student Challenge, you can do exactly that. Interested students can join anytime before October 20. Those In the Robotics or StellarXplorers club may be interested.
NASA has invited all schools with students within grades 6-12 to form a group to design, build, and submit an experiment to be held in a high-altitude balloon or rocket-powered lander in the 2024 TechRise Student Challenge. Students can participate in the challenge by going to, https://www.futureengineers.org/nasatechrise, and submitting their proposals.
How To Participate
To participate in the challenge students must first form a team of four students and a team leader (a teacher or school employee). The team can consist of four students spanning from grades 6-12 with no limit of students per team. Secondly, students must read the proposal template and guide at, https://tinyurl.com/mru394z2. Next, choose between a rocket-powered lander or a high-altitude balloon for your experiment. The rocket-powered lander includes a clear view out to the ground from eighty feet or about as high as a six-story building. The flight time for your experiment will be about two minutes. For the balloon, your experiment will be open to the air with the ability to take pictures directly vertically horizontally. It will ascend through the troposphere and into the stratosphere from Baltic, South Dakoda while attached to a frame called a gondola. Once it reaches 70,000 feet, the balloon will stay there for at least four hours. Once the experiments have been concluded, the balloon will separate from the gondola and fall to the ground where NASA will retrieve the experiments.
Example of the gondola.
Lastly, your team leader can submit the proposal on or before October 20, 2023, and the winners will be announced on January 16, 2024, with a prize package of $1,500 for their experiment, a flight box, technical support for the experiment, and an assigned spot for the experiment. The experiments must be mailed no later than May 10, 2024. The experiments will be launched in the summer of 2024.
A NASA experiment being launched.
NASA said that the goal of the challenge is to inspire, “a deeper understanding of space exploration, Earth observation, coding, electronics, and the value of test data.” All students are encouraged to apply and participate in the challenge, so be sure to send your experiment ideas to TechRise! For more information go to: https://www.futureengineers.org/nasatechrise and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNSdAIDS9lI.
