What an exciting week! We've some of compiled our videos into one long video for those interested in viewing them all at once. Stay tuned for more exciting updates on our next cubesat adventure next week! 

Good morning!
Chris Murphy, the director for high altitude balloons for Teachers in Space, has just sent us some of the first images of the cubesat in low earth orbit. Check them out below! 

After about 2.5 hours, our cubesat has touched down! Check out our final flight path below: 

We had a team of wonderful students from Gloversville High School, alongside Chris Murphy! Representing Ashford, we have student Lily Conway, along with mom Kate Conway, and teachers Dory Manfre, Kate Craven, and Carly Imhoff. 

We also successfully retrieved our cubesat, unbroken from its incredible 95,000+ foot high journey!
We will be updating our blog tonight or tomorrow with a final video of the journey. Stay tuned for more cubesat fun as we post more videos and pictures from today, and also as we update with pictures and videos from our journey to Nevada next week! 
-Mrs. Craven, Ms. Manfre, Ms. Imhoff

PS- check out our cubesat, pictured below: 

Ms. Manfre with a Tracking Update

Check out the tracking location below: 

Now, we’re off to track the weather balloon, and Ms. Manfre explains how we’re using a GPS app to follow along with the balloon. ​

Here is a screenshot of our launch track- if you look closely, you can see us launching from Garrattsville, and how we're tracking towards Canajoharie. It's currently at an altitude of 17603 m- that's almost 10 miles high!!!!

The  cubesat has launched, and we have just found cell phone service on our route, so we’re taking a second to share the video- check it out! Now, we're off to track the balloon with our GPS tracker. To track the balloon with us, visit APRS.fi and type in code 
k2jji-11 
​You can also learn more by visiting: www.facebook.com/highaltitudeachievement/

Interested in learning more about Cubesat? Check out the video below to learn more! 

Launching our Cubesat

Did you know that it’s possible to build a satellite and send it into low earth orbit? Over the past few months, an incredible group of Ashford School students have been working with an organization called Teachers in Space. Our goal was to create an experiment, then test our experiment in low earth orbit.

This amazing group of students spent months learning about space, researching different types of space experiments, and eventually settled on 2 different ones. They decided that they wanted to study whether being sent into low earth orbit had an impact on how seeds grew. Would the seeds that were sent up into space grow differently than the seeds that remained here on earth?

The second experiment involved radiation. Students wanted to see if wrapping the cubesat in a special material would reduce the radiation that it was exposed to. Our students researched radiation, then worked with a group of students at Gloversville High School under teacher Chris Murphy to bring the experiment to life.

Once we had our experiments, our next step was to build the cubesat. We printed a cube out of a 3-D printer and assembled 2 different spaces to test experiments. We performed tests on the cubesat and got it ready to ship out.Our cubesat will be launched in 2 different ways. First, it will be sent up in a weather balloon next week. Once it is returned and we have the results, we will be sending it up in the Perlan 2 space glider.

We will be updating this blog and posting throughout this crazy space adventure! Join us on the blog and on our Youtube channel as we attempt to track a weather balloon and fly a glider- all in the name of learning more about what's beyond our world!

​-Mrs. Craven, Ms. Imhoff, and Ms. Manfe