Reaching for the stars
Exploring outer space as an astronaut is the childhood dream of many children envisioning adventure and new frontiers. However, some may not realize the other great opportunities to explore what’s beyond our atmosphere. Three science teachers at Newcastle High School are working on an initiative to do just that —
with the help of local high school students.
“Doug Scribner, Zach Beam, and I have been selected to mentor a student team to build and program a ‘LunaSat.’ This small sensor array will be deployed on the lunar surface in late 2023,” said James Stith, a science teacher at NHS. Stith and the other two teachers are working with a program called GLEE2023 to make this a reality for students.
According to glee2023.org, Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone seeks to engage the next generation of “explorers.”
“This scientific and technological mission to the Moon will deploy 500 LunaSats to the lunar surface to conduct local and distributed science missions. LunaSats are tiny spacecraft with an integrated sensor suite that will be programmed by teams of students all over the world for a mission of their own design,” the website states.
The journey that led to NHS’ involvement in this innovative program began over two years ago when Dr. Andrew Young, an instructor at Casper College, told Stith about the GLEE2023 project. Stith then contacted the program to let them know of his interest in the project. He didn’t hear back, however, until last summer. He then spoke with Scribner and Beam before submitting a proposal for NHS.
Stith, along with Beam and Young, attended a workshop in Boulder, Colorado, to be trained on the LunaSats and its sensors. They also received training in coding to aid students with programming the LunaSat. In addition, as part of the first group of teams to participate, they are helping with recruiting and training for the next round of teams. Stith said that most of the teams in this first phase are colleges and universities, so it’s quite the honor for Newcastle’s high school.
The trio won’t start assembling a team until they receive the final version of the sensors, but they have begun letting
students know about it to get them interested in the endeavor. The sensors will be able to collect data, Stith said, like magnetic fields, solar strength and temperatures.
This is an exciting opportunity for NHS, the teachers said, and will give students a once-in-a-lifetime experience, along with learning many valuable lessons. The bonus is that they will also learn more about the moon.
“The LunaSat gives NHS students the ability to design and run an experiment on the moon. Once deployed, they will collect data about the lunar surface and work together to transmit data to the lander, which will send it back to us,” Beam said.
Scribner is excited for the large scale of this project and the people the students will be working with.
“This project is an opportunity for our students to take part in a project that includes teams from all over the world. Our students will get to work with scientists to plan, develop and test their LunaSat design,” Scribner said.
