High-Altitude Ballooning as a Platform for Engineering and Astrophysics Research

High-altitude ballooning provides students with an engaging platform for engineering design and authentic scientific research. Students are tasked with formulating scientific questions, conducting literature reviews, designing data collection devices, meeting design specifications and government regulations, planning and carrying out a launch mission and recovery, and then analyzing data and presenting scientific findings. Most importantly, however, high-altitude ballooning provides students opportunities for repeated failure and the skills to work through it. This talk will explore the pedagogical benefits of high-altitude balloon programs, including its ability to teach systems engineering, sensor integration, coding, and data analysis, while fostering problem-solving and teamwork skills. I will also highlight the High-altitude Engineering for Research in Astrophysics (HERA) program, a joint high school-undergraduate initiative that enables students to develop and launch payloads for cosmic ray and atmospheric studies.