John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences

News and information from the UND John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.

NDSGC Solar Eclipse Team Information

What: The North Dakota Space Grant Consortium is participating in the National Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP)

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

  • The next meeting will be held sometime in March 2023 at UND. All are welcome, even if you didn’t attend the first info session.

PAST EVENTS:

Lead Facilitators/Sponsors:

  • NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and NASA Space Grant is providing $6.5 million for these efforts
  • Lead: MTSGC, with other co-lead Space Grants across the country. The NDSGC will fund ND’s involvement.
  • Check out the eclipse.montana.edu website!
  • View the tentative timeline

Goals:

  • ~55 teams nationwide will launch high altitude balloons during the 2023 annual eclipse and 2024 solar eclipse.
  • There are two tracks: Engineering and Atmospheric Science. The NDSGC will pursue the Atmospheric Science track.

DEIA:

  • The NDSGC and the national network are focusing on increasing DEIA efforts as we prepare these eclipse missions. This includes involving more MSIs, early-career faculty, and non-research institution participation.
  • The NDSGC team will collaborate with the ND Vision Services/School for the Blind during late spring STEM engagement events.

Timeline: 

  • Fall 2022
    • NDSGC will submit a proposal to the national organizers, due October 2022
    • Recruitment! Team proposals due; Teams selected
  • Spring 2023
    • Students start participating
  • Summer 2023
    • In-person student launches; Regional meetings
  • Fall 2023
    • In-person student launches
    • October 14th launch!
  • Spring 2024
    • April 8th launch!
  • 2024-2025-Beyond
    • Data analysis, conferences, publishing, etc.

Students

  • All majors and experience levels welcome
  • Numerous student roles may include: technical leads (atmospheric science, etc.), communications roles (social media, photography, STEM engagement), event logistics (managing timelines, lodging, travel support, etc.), risk management (safety officer, risk analysis, etc.), and more!

Staff/Faculty Mentors

  • Depending on the location of the sub-teams, mentors may need to lead practice launches without the NDSGC core team present (We’ll do our best to hold group-wide practices!)
  • Mentors must be early-career professionals.

Faculty/staff mentors:

  • Dr. Jared Marquis: jared.marquis@und.edu
  • (no longer at UND, but) Dr. Marissa Saad is serving on NEBP’s Leadership Team