Community Relations
For Immediate Release
September 28, 2011
Contact:
Cass Cannon
Community Relations Specialist
Charlottesville City Schools
434-245-2962
Cass Cannon@ccs.k12.va.us
Media Release
NASA Names CHS Science Club as BalloonSat Winner
The Science Club at Charlottesville High School (aka BACON, Best All-around Club of Nerds) was recently named the Top Team in NASA’s 2011 Balloonsat High Altitude Flight competition. NASA representatives traveled to Charlottesville yesterday to recognize members of the team with a plaque and a medallion. They also gave a presentation to the morning Physics class at CHS.
The BACON team was among four high school teams selected as finalists in the spring, the second year in a row that the CHS team was selected for the BalloonSat competition. The CHS experiment called "The Effect of Near-Space on Solar-Powered Climate Control.” Experiments were launched on a NASA helium weather balloon at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The weather balloon and the “payloads” climbed to the stratosphere, a near-space environment at an altitude of approximately 100,000 feet. Information and pictures are posted at NASA’s BallonSat web site.
During flight days, the student teams tracked and recovered their experiments, then presented findings at the BalloonSat symposium. Teams were evaluated on participation during the launch, research presentations, and a final report about their experiment’s results.
For more information, see the NASA web page
The BACON Team
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