Donald L.

Savage
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
July 8, 1994
(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Keith Kohler
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
(Phone: 804/824-1579)

RELEASE: 94-113

NASA Selects Participants for Student Launch Program

NASA has selected two Space Grant Consortiums and two

universities to participate in the Student Launch Program. This
program will provide undergraduate students hands-on education
with the opportunity to fly space and Earth science experiments on
suborbital sounding rockets and scientific balloons.

The purpose of the program is to provide undergraduate students

with an opportunity to gain experience in all aspects of
suborbital missions including planning, management, design,
fabrication, payload testing, qualification, and field operations
associated with experiments for spaceflight.

The program provides students with the opportunity to

participate actively in carrying out spaceflight experiments,
increasing their awareness of the complex nature of such
activities and stimulating continued interest in pursuing careers
in engineering and science. The program emphasizes participation
by underrepresented student groups, including persons with
disabilities.

The participants and their proposed projects are:

Virginia Space Grant Consortium

Hampton University, Old Dominion University and the College of
William and Mary will work together on the Virginia Student
Upper-Atmospheric Balloon Payload System. A 200,000 cubic feet
(5,664 cubic meter) balloon will carry the Virginia payload to
gather scientific data on atmospheric temperature and velocity
fluctuation levels and data on atmospheric constituent gases.

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Colorado Space Grant Consortium

The consortium will fly an experiment called "Hands-On

Education and Research of Ozone (HERO)" on a single-stage Orion
sounding rocket. The experiment is designed to accurately measure
the total atmospheric ozone over the rocket range; aid in the
calibration of ozone satellites; and flight demonstrate advanced
techniques for measuring total ozone on future satellites.
Universities participating in the project include the University
of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Southern Colorado, Fort
Lewis College, Colorado State University, University of Colorado
at Colorado Springs, Mesa State College and the U.S. Air Force
Academy.

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania, with Lincoln University and

Gettysburg College, will develop and fly a system for imaging star
fields and detecting Cerenkov radiation generated by cosmic rays
and pair-producing gamma rays in the upper atmosphere. This
system also will fly on a 200,000 cubic feet balloon. This
project is supported in part by the Delaware Space Grant
Consortium.

University of Cincinnati

The university will fly its experiment on a two-stage Nike-Orion

sounding rocket. The launch will carry an ultraviolet
spectrometer to investigate absorption of solar energy by ozone,
oxygen, and atomic oxygen in the lower thermosphere and
mesosphere. The science objective is to determine the
concentration of these gases from the spectroscopic measurements.

Through the Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight

Facility, Wallops Island, Va., NASA will provide the rockets and
balloons, launch services, technical consultation and guidance.

The participating institutions are responsible for funding the

payload hardware and related activities such as fabrication,
testing and travel. In addition, the universities will receive
technical assistance from industry and other NASA centers.

The suborbital program offers students an opportunity to see

projects through from inception to launch in a relatively short
time. The flights are planned to be launched from the Wallops
Flight Facility in 1995 and 1996.

The Student Launch Program is sponsored by the Office of Space

Science, the Office of Human Resources and Education, and the
Office of Equal Opportunity at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

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