Wallops launches an average of 25 scientific balloons each year. Balloons are launched routinely from the National Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas and the Scientific Balloon Flight Facility in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico.

The Scientific Balloons fly to an altitude of 26 miles (42 kilometers), with flights lasting an average of 12 to 24 hours.

Temporary Launch Sites:• Canada • Australia • New Zealand • Antarctica • Fairbanks, Alaska • Sweden

The SEM Vial shown below is a clear, sealable, polycarbonate vial, measuring 1.0 inch in diameter and 3.0 inches in height.

          

Experiment materials must be able to fit through the neck of the SEM vial and inside of the vial.a. Vial neck size: 0.5 inches (1.27 cm) diameterb. Vial inside depth: 3.0 inches (7.62 cm)c. Total Vial volume: 26.3 ml or 1.6 cu. in. Allowable Vial volume: 92% full (24.2 ml or 1.47 cu. in.)Modules:

                        

Plastic, rugged cases with interlocking flange on countersunk lid with four slot head screws.Size: 7.5 x 4.3 x 2.2 inches

                   

SEM-B Timeline• February 6 – Application Deadline• March 1 – Experiments completed and

shipped to Wallops Flight Facility• March 15 – Experiments Integrated in Flight

Modules (students will have a live web cast of integration)

• Launch Date – to be determined April or May• Followed by post flight de-integration and

student reports to be completed and final experiment analysis report due to NASA at Wallops Island.

The Fungi for the Student Eye Experiment was

done with the help of Krista

McGuire, Ecology Doctoral

student from University of

Michigan.

Students worked after school

hours to prepare the experiment for flight on a high altitude

balloon. Experiment vials were made for

use in near space

conditions.

Sordaria produces sac shaped

reproductive structures called asci. These burst

open to release spores.

Each spore case has rows of spores that

are produced through meiosis and found eight at a time

in a spore case.

Students used samples of

homozygous black and

homozygous tan Sordaria fungus from a prepared

culture. Each sample was

carefully placed in an experiment

vial.

Penicillium cultures

were also prepared for flight on the

mission.

Penicillium is used in the manufacture of medicines that cure bacterial illness

and infection.

Penicillin tablets were

also sent into near space

conditions to test their

efficacy after their return to

Earth.

The balloon gondola is brought

to the launch site by crane.

The HERO balloon is

inflated and prepared for

launch.

The launch is complete at the Fort Sumner, New Mexico site.

The HERO payload lands

softly in a field in Kansas. The

equipment is in perfect condition at

recovery.

Once the experiments were returned from flight, the Sordaria tan was mated with the black Sordaria in order to determine if there was any change in the DNA.

Penicillin tablets were plates on Petri dishes with bacteria to test the efficacy of

the penicillin after exposure to near space conditions.

Penicillium culture was placed on Petri

dishes as well, to test the ability of

the fungi to inhibit bacterial growth

after its high altitude flight.

Students spent the day in the

lab using microscopes and other lab equipment to determine the

outcome of their

experiments.

The Fungi for the Student Eye experiment showed that the DNA of fungi can be altered by exposure to near space conditions. The lab report gives details of the students’ findings.

Young Scientists learned a lot about the work of real science and produced some interesting results for NASA’s space experiments program.