From http://www.jpaerospace.com/pongsat/index.htm
"A PongSat is an experiment that fits inside of a ping pong ball. These ping pong ball ‘satellites’ are flown to the edge of space by balloon or launched in sounding rockets. The PongSats are then returned to the student."
Just after baby E was born, an acquaintance of Big J informed him of an upcoming PongSat flight. This friend is a teacher and had reserved space for a certain number of these PongSats and had not filled them all. He thought the homeschooling community might be interested and so we and a few of our friends were able to fill a ping pong ball and send them to space. We sent 5, 1 for everyone but the new baby.
We had the kids make a hypothesis as to how space would affect these items and there were some interesting contributions.
E and J both suggested that the Lego guy might shrink. R thought maybe he'd break in half.
J thought the rock might crack, while R thought it might change color.
J and E hypothesized that the crayon would draw a different color upon return. R said it would split in half.
J and R both said that the Tootsie Roll Pop would taste different and E said it would melt.
As for the seeds, J and E thought that the seeds would grow better after having been to space and back but R said they would grow worse than the seeds that stayed here on Earth.
Our PongSats went up in 'high altitude research vehicles.' The vehicles flew the PongSats to the edge of space. The balloons then popped and they parachuted back to Earth. They reached a peak altitude near 100,000 ft! They experienced near vacuum pressure, extreme cold, cosmic rays, and microgravity on descent. Pictures from the mission are supposed to be posted online here. Our mission was in the Away 78-Away 83 set.
Last week we finally received the PongSats back. Basically, there was no change to any of them. Some of the seeds were crushed a little and P said that the Tootsie Roll Pop tasted better. :) Big J and I think that we now own the coolest Lego on Earth.
Edited to add a link to a Youtube video of our PongSat flight.
Also, if you'd like to know more, check out the facebook page. I actually found a picture that shows some of our kids PongSats on there. :)
"A PongSat is an experiment that fits inside of a ping pong ball. These ping pong ball ‘satellites’ are flown to the edge of space by balloon or launched in sounding rockets. The PongSats are then returned to the student."
Just after baby E was born, an acquaintance of Big J informed him of an upcoming PongSat flight. This friend is a teacher and had reserved space for a certain number of these PongSats and had not filled them all. He thought the homeschooling community might be interested and so we and a few of our friends were able to fill a ping pong ball and send them to space. We sent 5, 1 for everyone but the new baby.
 |
| E sent an Anakin Lego figure |
 |
| R sent one of our crayon colored rocks |
 |
| T sent a crayon |
 |
| P sent a tootsie roll pop |
 |
| J sent Mammoth Sunflower Seeds |
E and J both suggested that the Lego guy might shrink. R thought maybe he'd break in half.
J thought the rock might crack, while R thought it might change color.
J and E hypothesized that the crayon would draw a different color upon return. R said it would split in half.
J and R both said that the Tootsie Roll Pop would taste different and E said it would melt.
As for the seeds, J and E thought that the seeds would grow better after having been to space and back but R said they would grow worse than the seeds that stayed here on Earth.
Our PongSats went up in 'high altitude research vehicles.' The vehicles flew the PongSats to the edge of space. The balloons then popped and they parachuted back to Earth. They reached a peak altitude near 100,000 ft! They experienced near vacuum pressure, extreme cold, cosmic rays, and microgravity on descent. Pictures from the mission are supposed to be posted online here. Our mission was in the Away 78-Away 83 set.
Last week we finally received the PongSats back. Basically, there was no change to any of them. Some of the seeds were crushed a little and P said that the Tootsie Roll Pop tasted better. :) Big J and I think that we now own the coolest Lego on Earth.
Edited to add a link to a Youtube video of our PongSat flight.
Also, if you'd like to know more, check out the facebook page. I actually found a picture that shows some of our kids PongSats on there. :)
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