Overview of the LA ACES Program

1
Overview of the LA ACES Program

• A summary of the motivation, components and
  expectations of this Louisiana-wide student
  ballooning program

2
Two Extremes

• The Aerospace engineer / scientist
• Expert in practical skills
• Familiar with team work
• Write numerous proposals, reports, documents
• Daily management of people, money and time
• The entering undergraduate student
• Few practical skills
• No Heathkits, or High School auto or wood shops
• Many have problems with writing and presentations
• Grammar, spelling, organization, argument
  presentation
• Somewhat computer literate (web capable)
• Little programming, CAD or data analysis
  experience

3
How do we go from one to the other?

• Need to provide hands-on practical experience
• Need to integrate classroom theory with real
  applications
• Need to improve communication skills
• Need knowledge about and experience with, team
  work, organization, and project management
• Some Engineering Departments address such issues
• Capstone or Design courses in last year
• Most Science Departments have no organized method
  for handling this situation
• Students pickup whatever they can along the way

4
The ACES Project (2002-2003)

• Goals included the following
• Attract new students to aerospace related
  programs
• Provide background on how to develop programs
• Practical experience with sensors, electronics
  systems
• Retain students in science by exciting their
  imagination
• Implemented pilot version with LaSPACE Workforce
  funding during 2002-2003 academic year
• Test bed program concepts
• Use LSU expertise in scientific ballooning
• Build upon Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly program
• http//ssp.arizona.edu/sgsatellites/programs.shtml

5
The ACES Basic Concept

• Use a latex sounding balloon as the vehicle
• Up to 12 lbs payload without FAA waiver
• Altitude up to 100,000 feet

• Trained students to use knowledge about the
  project life cycle and project management
• Guide students to think the problem through.

• Students were exposed to skills not normally
  available in conventional classrooms.

6
ACES Structure

• Involved students from LSU and SU
• About 15 students organized in teams of 3-4
• Students committed to 4 hours / week (took
  attendance)
• Paid student wage for up to 10 hours / week
• Weekly contact Tuesday Thursday evening
• One or two 1 hr lectures and 3 hrs of activities
• Talks on electronics, programming, payload
  design, project management life cycle,
  technical aspects of high powered model rocket,
  radio telemetry communication
• Activities include CricketSat, CanSat and
  BalloonSat
• Launch trip to NSBF (May 2003) resulted in the
  successful flight of three student built payloads

7
ACES Evolved into LA ACES

• The lessons learned from the pilot ACES program
  are incorporated into the current LA ACES program
• Involve student teams from institutions across
  state
• Formalize the training aspect of the program with
  a series of lectures and hands-on activities
  (Student Ballooning Course)
• Balloon support activities centered at LSU-BR
• NASA approved LA ACES funding 2/2004
• Student Ballooning Course developed during Spring
  Summer 2004
• Activities at UNO, LaTech, ULL, SU-BR LSU-BR
  began fall 2004 payloads were launched May 2004
• Begin 2005-06 session with LSU, SU, LaTech
  McNeese

8
Fall semester builds basic skills

• Proceed through the Student Balloon Course (SBC)
  lectures and activities
• Develop circuit building skills
• Learn about microprocessor programming
• Understand how to use sensors
• Develop knowledge of project management
  techniques
• Understand the ballooning environment, payload
  constraints and design
• Exposure to various science topics appropriate
  for balloon payloads

9
Motivation for the SBC

• There has been little development of classroom
  materials to support the student built aerospace
  payload program.
• No materials for an integrated course
• Need to cover diverse topics
• Need to complete in academic year
• Focus on younger undergraduates
• Work with 2nd year students
• Available CanSat electronics needed
  improvements
• Provide basis for an advanced program

Launch of the ACES-01 vehicle during May, 2003
10
SBC Contents

• A course syllabus
• Provides a summary of the Student Ballooning
  Course
• Can be modified to fit institution needs
• Lectures
• 33 PowerPoint presentations covering the primary
  topics relevant to the program
• Activities
• 30 descriptions of hand-on activities that
  complement the lectures and build skills relevant
  to payload development
• List of materials necessary for the activities
• A hardware kit with the PCBs, microcomputer and
  other core components required to support the
  activities
• Evaluation forms
• Feedback from both students and instructors is
  important

11
The SBC Units

• The lectures and activities are divided into five
  major units

1. Electronics Basic knowledge about circuits,
   sensor interfacing data acquisition
2. Programming How to control the BASIC Stamp,
   read store data, interfacing to devices
3. Project Management How to plan, manage and
   track the progress of a project
4. Balloon Payload Design Facts and skills
   relevant to the successful development of a
   payload
5. Science Collection of a few presentations on
   science topics relevant to balloon payloads

12
Spring semester is focused on payload

• Apply skills learned in the fall to develop a
  small balloon payload
• Proceed through a project life cycle and apply
  project manage-ment techniques
• Written documents presentation required for
  Preliminary Design Review (PDR), Critical Design
  Review (CDR) Flight Readiness Review (FRR)

Groups fabricating payloads
Programming the controller
13
The Project Phases

• All projects complete roughly the same phases
  from inception to completion

OPERATION
14
The National Scientific Balloon Facility will
host the LA ACES launch.

• Launch anticipated for May, 2005
• Must successfully complete FRR prior to flight
• Operations will be similar to the ACES flight in
  May 03

Students preparing for their FRR
ACES-01 was assembled and tested in this NSBF
hanger
15
ACES-01 Launch Preparation

• Payloads in final configuration and checkout all
  flight systems.

16
ACES-01 Launch Day

• Payload string consisted of several radio beacons
• Location chirper at top
• Primary GPS radio next
• Secondary GPS at bottom
• Three student payloads
• TIC, StuMURD, FRED
• A 60 Skyangle parachute
• Radar reflector at bottom
• Total Weight was 11.8 pounds.

17
Payloads were set for flight
18
The Balloon was inflated
19
And we had launch!
20
Then the Chase began
21
An easy recovery --- this time
22
Initial results followed the flight
23
Conclusions

• LA ACES builds upon the previous ACES experience
• The new Student Ballooning Course provides a
  formal structure that will enhance the skill
  learning process
• During payload development the student teams will
  follow a typical project life-cycle and will need
  to pass three reviews
• Flight operations will take place at NSBF in
  Palestine, TX during May 2006
• Communication and feedback is important
• Evaluation forms are included in the SBC
• Sign-up for and use the LA ACES Yahoo discussion
  group at http//groups.yahoo.com/group/la-aces/