Published: May 2, 2025
Ms. Sperling writes:
David and I, along with a rag-tag group of random physicists/ physics educators across the US and Australia, have started a project called HERA (High-Altitude Engineering for Research in Astrophysics). The short version is that we’ve paired high schools and colleges/universities that are local to each other across the US and Australia to launch particle detectors on high-altitude balloons to study cosmic rays. The idea is that we can have a low-cost, floating array of particle detectors to gather simultaneous data on cosmic rays with respect to altitude, magnetic field, solar activity, and atmospheric conditions. As fun as the science is, the driving force behind this program is astrophysics and engineering education, and we have 50+ students across the institutions involved at the moment. We currently have four US teams and four Australian teams (team = one high school + one college, working collaboratively). We’re in the pilot phase, so up to this point, we’ve recruited our preliminary teams, had some meetings, and done some basic feasibility testing. We have our first coordinated balloon launch this Saturday (it’s the US only, and it’s just the pilot program, so we expect massive failures!). There are three NITARP alums on the project, me, David, and Bob Anderson, so it is definitely NITARP inspired and a lot of the ethos around having students and teachers participate side-by-side in authentic research comes directly from NITARP.
You can follow our flights in real-time at the link below! We expect our East Coast balloons to launch just after 10:30 a.m. EDT and our final West Coast balloons to go up around 1:30 p.m. EDT. Every balloon is targeting a burst around 100,000ft at local solar noon.