were reproducing similarly to the
controls on the ground.”
Besides the two experiments from
middle school teams, the rocket
carried five experiments from high
school and university students. For
instance, a team at Cobre High
School in Silver City, New Mexico,
designed a flexible container for
liquid experiments. The students
sewed layers of heat-resistant
Nomex and water-resistant GoreTex into a pouch and closed it with
a waterproof zipper. Filled with
water for the test flight, the pouch
was wrapped with an absorbent
mat in case it leaked. In their post-
the sprouts from the experimental
and control groups and monitor
their growth and productivity.
A team of seniors in New Mexico
State University’s Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department
tested their design for a common
power-data bus that could supply
electricity to student payloads and
collect data from the experiments.
To date, student experiments
requiring electric power have used
batteries.
The students were excited to
see their experiments fly into space
and examine them after their safe
return. “I woke up at two in the
Two days before the launch, students could add critical materials to their experiments
Photo: NM Student Launch Program
through an opening in the side of the payload canister.
flight report, the students wrote,
“After the flight while completing
the de‑integration process, no
water leakage on the Pigmat
material was detected. Only a few
drops of water was left in the form
factor. It is theorized that the water
vaporized due to exposure to high
temperatures or because of the
lapsed time between pre‑launch
preparation and time of flight.”
Students at Las Cruces High
School and Dona Ana Branch
Community College sent bean
sprouts on the rocket. During the
flight, their instruments recorded a
number of factors including humidity
levels, carbon dioxide levels, and
temperature. They planned to plant
06
06
morning to come here, so I was
ready,” Schoeppner said. “That
feeling of success—just awesome.”
Another exciting aspect of this
launch was that it was sponsored by
NASA and carried experiments for
several government agencies and
commercial companies alongside
the students’ payloads.
“This flight was under NASA’s
Flight
Opportunities
program,”
said Christine Anderson, executive
director of the New Mexico
Spaceport Authority. “We used
to have the Shuttle that would
carry experiments and mature
technology, and we don’t have
that anymore. That’s the reason
why NASA developed this particular
program. We’re happy that their
first flight of that was here, and we
had a number of customers for the
payloads for that vehicle.”
NASA reserved space for its
own payload on the rocket it
purchased for the flight. The
Suborbital
Flight
Environment
Monitor is designed to monitor and
record onboard environmental
conditions throughout the flight.
The information will be useful in
planning future missions, which the
instrument will also monitor.
The
Federal
Aviation
Administration tested an Automatic
Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast
System device on the flight. The
system will be used on aircraft
and rockets to ensure they share
airspace safely. The Department
of Defense, Virginia-based Control
Dynamics, the Italian engineering
firm DTM, and several commercial
enterprises also flew experiments or
other cargo on the rocket.
The June 2013 flight was the
eleventh launch by UP Aerospace
from Spaceport America. It was
the seventh to use the company’s
SpaceLoft rocket, while the other
four involved test vehic les made by
other companies. For the first time,
this SpaceLoft vehicle was equipped
with a de-spin system designed to
quickly slow the rocket’s bullet-like
spin after it left the atmosphere. It
used a set of weights attached to
the rocket by cables. When the
system was activated, the weights
swung outward and slowed the
rocket’s spin much as figure skaters
do by extending their arms.
SL-7 was the first UP Aerospace
flight sponsored by NASA’s Flight
Opportunities
Program
and
the program’s first suborbital
spaceflight that carried student
experiments. Flight Opportunities
Program Executive L.K. Kubendran
took the opportunity to make his
first visit to Spaceport America. “Our
goal is to fly more payloads, and
eventually more student payloads,”
he said. “On one side, we want to
mature technology for spaceflights
in the future. On the other side,
we also want to encourage and
foster industry to develop [flight
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