Contact: Jim Gardner, NJIT Executive Director of Communications, (973) 596-3433
Contact: Carla Anderson, NJIT Director of Public Relations, (973) 596-3436
Contact: Elizabeth Flowers, NASA Public Relations, (757) 824-1971
For Release: ImmediateNewark, N.J., Aug. 6, 1998 – A team of NJIT honors students will conclude a two-year NASA project next week when they launch their MAACS air-sampling device from the Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va. NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS LAUNCH BALLOON EXPERIMENT AT NASA FLIGHT CENTER
The mission, funded by a $34,220 NASA grant, is one of six projects selected by NASA from among 40 colleges and universities. The balloon, which will carry the MAACS into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, is scheduled to launch during the week of Aug 10-14, depending upon local weather conditions.
The project, a "Multi-Altitude Air Collection System," (MAACS-2) was designed and constructed by an undergraduate team of four dozen students, led by chemical engineering senior Bridget Ann Hogan. This cross-disciplinary project required skills in computer science, mathematical modeling, chemical, mechanical, electronic, and computer engineering, and writing.
MAACS is designed to take samples of air as the balloon rises 17 miles above the earth, hovers, and then descends over the Atlantic Ocean in a flight that will last approximately four hours.
The air samples will be retrieved by NASA scientists and taken back to NJIT for student analysis using gas chromatography. The students hope to measure how various types of pollutants travel in the air, and whether different altitudes affect their concentrations.
Steve Smith, chairman of the flight center's Mission Readiness Review Board, praised the NJIT team for their excellent work.
"The Review Panel would like to commend the NJIT Design Team and their mentors for a cohesive, well-defined and practiced presentation," Smith said. "It was obvious that an extensive amount of excellent work had been accomplished. It also demonstrated that the Design Team recognized critical elements of the design process."
The grant, obtained through NJIT's Center for Applied Mathematics and Statistics by Dr. Dennis Donahue, director of the Albert Dorman Honors College, and Dr. Bruce Bukiet, associate professor of mathematical sciences, has required students to work together in creative problem-solving.
"The honors college is very grateful to NASA for this opportunity to help our students take their leadership, technical and social skills to the highest plane," said Donahue. "The goal of the honors college is to help all of our students develop a level of excellence that transcends the exceptional classroom and lab instruction they receive."
Dr. Joel Bloom, a vice president at NJIT and dean of the honors college, said the NASA project demonstrates NJIT's commitment to linking student researchers with government agencies and industry.
"This research, which has been very highly evaluated by NASA, is part of an expanding undergraduate research experience," said Bloom. "This kind of work, in which students have the opportunity to conduct university-level research, is becoming an essential part of a technological research university," said Bloom.
Housed within an aluminum gondola, the testing apparatus includes sensitive electronic and timing equipment which must withstand a wide range of both temperature and air pressure changes. During descent it must withstand the multi-gravitational force created by the opening of a parachute and impact with earth at 15 miles per hour. The entire payload must weigh no more than 100 pounds.
The device will rely upon a GPS (global positioning system) receiver to determine altitude and trigger the opening of a series of collection tubes.
Testing of the apparatus was performed at both the NJIT campus and at the NASA Wallops Flight facility. Small-scale temperature and pressure chambers were built on campus to test various pumps, electronics and design configurations.
"We hope to collect air samples to measure concentrations of various pollutants in the air at different altitudes," said Bukiet, principal investigator for the project.
Eight student leaders and 40 additional students worked on the project during the past two years. The eight students leaders, who were sophomores at the start of the project, are now all seniors at NJIT.
Frances Ermi headed the chemistry group, which is responsible for designing and building the experiment and for the final chemical analysis; William LeVine headed the electronics group, which is responsible for constructing the microcontroller system and its interface to all sensors, valves, pumps etc. and programming the system; Divyang Patel and Mark Will led the mechanical group, which is responsible for building the gondola, connecting parts and coordinating action with NASA's helium balloon; Mariusz Tuliszewski headed the mathematical modeling and computing group, and senior David Soltys led the testing group, which is responsible for coordinating testing of all components.
The payloads are part of the NASA Student Balloon Program, which provides students the opportunity to develop balloon-launched experiments that will produce valid scientific results. The students are responsible for all technical and managerial aspects of the project.
Among the other schools chosen to launch through the NASA project are Prairie View A&M in Texas and the Virginia Space Grant Consortium, composed of Old Dominion University, the College of William and Mary, The University of Virginia, Hampton University, and Tidewater Community College.
The program is sponsored by the Office of Space Science, the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
More information on the NASA Student Launch Program and Scientific Balloon Program may be obtained by visiting the Wallops Flight Facility homepage: http://www.wff.nasa.gov.
NJIT is a public research university enrolling nearly 8,200 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in 76 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include multimedia, manufacturing, microelectronics, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science. U.S. News and World Report's "1998 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges" ranked NJIT among the nation's top universities. Money magazine's "Best College Buys 1998" rated NJIT as the sixth best value among U.S. science and technology colleges and universities. Yahoo! Internet Life magazine ranks NJIT No. 2 on the list of "America’s Most Wired Colleges."
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