Space Grant Consortium - University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

now, they have no input on what is launched, nor do they get experience through handson
work. Due to the budget cuts, Prof. Crossley will be returning to his Physics classes.
We are also going to ask for permission to switch the PHY 291 class to an AST 291
designation. The thought is that students may have been intimidated by having it listed as
a Physics course. Astronomy is always one of our more popular offerings.
Eventual High-Altitude balloon studies
High altitude balloon studies can bring an element of excitement into the
classroom. They can also provide an opportunity to do real science. From an altitude of
20 miles, students can study areas that are too high for airplanes, and too low for
satellites. Our future goal is to investigate the possibility of doing imaging in the UV and
IR parts of the spectrum. If this is feasible from a stabilized balloon platform, then we
will conduct a number of astronomical observations. We would also like to establish a
database with balloon flights throughout the year to see how the upper atmosphere
interacts with solar particles. This relationship is important, because it has an effect on
the decay rate of Earth-orbiting satellites.
By the mid-term of the spring semester, a date had been set for our first balloon
launch. It would take place on the weekend of April 25-26 th . The staff at Taylor
University had supplied us with a URL which can predict the path that a balloon would
take. It can be found at “nearspaceventures.com”. The staff at Taylor had suggested that a
late-spring launch would produce a shift in upper-atmospheric winds. We could then
expect the payload to drift to the west. Since Sheboygan is located along the western
shore of Lake Michigan, we would not want to lose a payload by having it travel east.
The alternative would be to launch it from a western location, and then chase the payload
east. I had discussed this possibility with a staff member at UW-Fond du Lac. This sistercampus
is about 35 miles west of Sheboygan. It would make a good launch site, and we
could store balloon supplies on campus. Predictions on the “nearspaceventures” URL are
good for a few days, at best. The exact launch location would not be known until a few
days before the actual launch was to take place.
The promise of a launch was already producing excitement in the Sheboygan
area. Our local newspaper, the SHEBOYGAN PRESS had published several articles
about the new ASTRONAUTICS class, and about UW-Sheboygan having joined the
WSGC. When they were told about the balloon plans, they suggested sending along a
reporter. Middle-school science teachers from District 12 had also shown an interest in
involving students in our area in such a launch. Several UW-Sheboygan instructors had
agreed to give their students extra credit for taking part in the activity. What had been
intended as a ‘test launch’, to simply see if such an activity was feasible from our
campus, was being blown out of proportion. I hoped that we would be able to deliver.
Among the attendees of the Taylor workshop was another group from Wisconsin.
They were from the College of the Menomonee Nation. This group is also a member of
the WSGC. During the workshop, we agreed to have our students meet for occasional
joint balloon activities. As a result of that, Dan Hawk suggested that we launch TWO
balloons on the scheduled weekend in April.
As the designated launch date approached, Taylor University informed me that
our campus would not qualify for support personnel. In order to qualify, we would have
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