[Vision2020] Moscow students to participate in first ever live streamed eclipse

[Moscow Cares]

Courtesy of today's (August 19, 2017) Spokesman-Review.

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Moscow students to participate in first ever live streamed eclipse
Group will travel to Weiser, Idaho, today to prepare for launch

Video of a total eclipse from near space has only been taken once before, in Australia in 2012.

It has never been done live. But Monday, 55 teams from across the United States, nearly all consisting of college students, will launch balloons into the sky to track the eclipse and live stream it for the world to see.

Near Space Engineering, a Moscow High School club that conducts high-altitude balloon launches, will be one of only a handful of high school teams participating in the nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Launch.

"It's pretty exciting," Katie Ward, 17, said Thursday.

Ward is one of six high school members of the club, which has been working on the eclipse launch in some capacity for approximately two years.

Ward, a soon-to-be high school senior, focused her senior project on the video portion of the launch, developing a system that allows the video to be turned on when the rest of the device is turned on, saving precious time for the team. Ward also focused on fixing the device's tracking system.

Two modems, one for transmitting video and one for transmitting images, will be lifted 100,000 feet into the air by a helium balloon that will burst shortly after the conclusion of the eclipse.

"One thing that I'm worried about is whether or not we're going to have an internet connection," Ward said.

The group is taking along a large blue spool of ethernet cable to hardwire a connection if they have to. There will also be an internet provider bringing in extra equipment to support the additional people expected to be in Weiser, Idaho, for the eclipse, where the launch will take place.

In addition, Ward said, the connection will be password protected for the students. The team has also been working with Weiser High School to utilize its internet connection - and their showers. The group will be camped out in Weiser today through Monday with a 40-foot trailer and 18 gallons of water.

Funded in part by the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the Eclipse Ballooning Launch is led by the Montana Space Grant Consortium at Montana State University.

Being the only participating team from Idaho, Near Space Engineering was awarded nearly $16,000 in grant funds from the Idaho Space Grant Consortium for materials and travel costs.

Victoria Wilk, 19, a sophomore at Vassar College in New York and graduate of Moscow High School, stuck some last minute labels to the device Thursday as she recounted other projects she has worked on.

Wilk said she had tried to conduct a similar project to the balloon launch in the past but could not find the necessary instruments or equipment within her price range.

"I actually talked about doing something that was exactly like this, almost exactly, and one of the professors was like, 'No. Won't work.' I was like 'fine, I'll do it through NASA,' " Wilk said, laughing.

The handful of team members and their instructor, Moscow High School physics teacher Pat Blount, were gathered in Room 46 of the high school Thursday afternoon for their final meeting before the launch, going over their launch plan and possible worst-case scenarios.

Flint questioned what would happen if the device were to land in a burnt field, a body of water or, worse, if someone watching live were to steal the device once it hit ground.

A handful of test launches hang from the ceiling in Room 46, representing past mistakes and triumphs.

The students and Blount are confident they have done enough launches that Monday's will go smoothly.

The eclipse will be live streamed at eclipse.stream.live.

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
  
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