Fly your student projects with StratoStar
The "Test Flight" program allows you and your students to try the StratoStar Program.
S.H.A.R.E. PROGRAM
STRATOSTAR
S.H.A.R.E. PROGRAM
S.H.A.R.E. Program
It’s project based learning, made easy.
The Student High-Altitude Research Experience (S.H.A.R.E.) Program gives students and educators a chance to fly their own experiments to the edge of space 100,000 ft above the Earth! Educators experience the StratoStar Science & STEM Program by teaching StratoStar lessons in the classroom with our curriculum, live webinars, and online PD materials provided through the S.H.A.R.E. Program. These lessons and content cover standards in Science and STEM in order for students to apply their learning in an exciting hands-on, real-world project.
Classroom Implementation / Curriculum
StratoStar understands starting new programs can be stressful and time consuming so we have created lessons for science education in elementary, middle school and high school along with online training videos and manuals for educators to make implementation as seamless as possible. These same lessons could be utilized as a part of STEM courses or an application for makerspace. In order to further help educators, StratoStar will host live webinars pre and post mission to review information, procedures and answer questions live. Along with the lessons we have included detailed instructions on how to design and implement Flight Capsule experiments. In order to facilitate the experimental design we have included “Project Cards” which detail previously flown Flight Capsule experiments which could be copied or modified for your students’ experiments.
What is the S.H.A.R.E Program?
StratoStar’s STEM program puts professional scientific research tools in the hands of students and teachers to expand and apply their classroom learning. They use StratoStar missions to conduct experiments applying the Scientific Method, Engineering Design Process and 21st Century skills. The student experiments typically investigate the effects of high-altitude and other stratospheric conditions which can reach temperatures of -40F, pressure of almost a full vacuum, full radiation of outer space and winds in the jet stream of 200 mph.
StratoStar’s sustainable science and STEM program puts the entire flight system along with the launch and recovery process in the hands of students and teachers in our full programs so your educational institution can conduct missions for all your students multiple times a year right in your backyard. It is an experience like no other, and one that schools and universities across the country cannot get enough of. In an effort to put our highly engaging scientific research platform in the hands of more students, we are offering a sample of the full program.
LIVE Mission Experience
Students design an experiment and place it inside Flight Capsules which are mailed in to our launch headquarters. Student experiments are loaded into payload boxes and suspended beneath a high-altitude scientific balloon. On the day of the mission StratoStar will live stream commentary, video, flight data and social media to the internet. Your students and community can join us as StratoStar staff launch and recover your Flight Capsules! The experiments are subjected to extreme temperature, pressure, and other conditions as they ascend to more than 100,000 feet above Earth and then return to the ground via parachute. We collect the payload boxes after they land and mail the Flight Capsules back to the classroom with the collected flight data for testing and analysis.
Post Mission Video & Data Analysis
During each mission, we mount GoPros to the outside of the payload boxes in several directions and record HD video of the entire flight. Additionally, our SatCom GPS and Weather Sensor Suite communicates comprehensive data to students in real time during the mission. The flight data and video footage is shared with participants so that they can better understand the results of their experimental research. This data includes:
- Time
- Altitude
- Temperature
- Pressure
- Humidity
- Latitude and Longitude
- Vertical Speed
- Horizontal Speed
- Heading
- Acceleration
- Spin Rate
- HD Video
How it works
How it works
Join StratoStar S.H.A.R.E. Program Online
Gain access to online training and curriculum materials
Receive S.H.A.R.E. Program materials in the mail
Teach StratoStar lessons in the classroom
Work with students to design experiment
Ship Flight Capsules to StratoStar
Experience the Live Mission online with other students and educators across the country
Receive your Flight Capsules and Mission Data for Analysis
Proposal to start a full StratoStar program at your institution or join S.H.A.R.E. Program for next year
Amazing experiments don’t have to be difficult.
Specifications / Regulations
Each student experiment will consist of a flight sample and control sample (in separate Flight Capsules), both of which should be identical, and weighing no more than 40g each and fit entirely within the payload tube with the lid secured. The control sample will be stored in a temperature controlled facility and shipped back with the flight sample to facilitate the Scientific Method and determine the effects of flight conditions vs the control. Due to the nature of the project, participants will need to adhere to the submission deadline to ensure their experiment will be included in the launch.
See What's Included
Each group will receive S.H.A.R.E. Program kits which include:
Experiment Materials
- 1 Mini-lab Flight Capsule for Flight (for housing experiment materials)
- 1 Mini-lab Flight Capsule for Control Experiment Container
Curriculum / Support
- StratoStar Lessons (Upper Elementary, Middle, or High School)
- NGSS Standards Alignment (Elementary, Middle, or High School)
- Teaching Resources and Professional Development Resources
- Sample Flight Capsule Project list
- Instructional Videos
- Flight Capsule Development Guide
- Instructional Webinars
- Post Mission Debrief Webinar
Stratospheric Flight Operations
- Experiment Integration and Validation
- Payload Slot on High-Altitude Platform for 50g Experiment
- Flight to the Edge of Space
- Professional Launch Service and Recovery
- Post Processing of Student Experiment for Return Shipment
LIVE Mission Tracking & Marketing
- Information and Event Web links to Join and Share LIVE Event
- Live Tracking Data
- Launch and Recovery Team Social Media Feed
- Live Launch & Recovery Video Coverage
- Press Release Template
- Email & Social Media Promotion Templates
Post Mission Data & Materials
-
- Mission Video with Flight Footage
- Full Set of Mission Sensor Data in .CSV
Mission Schedule
April 22: Registration closes
May 1: Last day for experiments to be received by StratoStar headquarters
May 5: S.H.A.R.E Program mission (dependent on weather)
May 7: Experiments are shipped back to students for testing and analysis
May 22: Final reporting of experiment and learning results
About StratoStar
Founded in 2006, StratoStar is an education company with a mission to “Empower educators to unlock student curiosity.” StratoStar works with educational institutions (K-12 through Universities) to start StratoStar High-Altitude Weather Balloon programs which cover core educational content in science and STEM. Students use 21st-century skills (Communication, Collaboration, Creativity & Critical Thinking) in an interdisciplinary mission to the Edge of Space. These missions allow students to learn while using science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to complete a real-world project.
There is nothing that can fit hands-on STEM like the StratoStar Program… My students have been able to test things in the real atmosphere which is constantly changing!…
Andy Wilkins, Teacher, Noblesville High School