At 12:45 pm on Thursday, February 6 students in the Near Space Program at West Ferris Secondary School will be hosting a video presentation by NASA scientist Dr. Ben Poulter.
Approximately 125 students are set to attend the event, including those involved in this year’s stratospheric balloon mission, senior science students, as well as all students enrolled in the enriched STEAM program. The presentation is expected to last approximately 40 minutes, with a 20-minute question period to follow.
Dr. Poulter is an environmental researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland. He works in the remote sensing of Earth’s CO2 inventory through the use of satellite technology and spectroscopic techniques. His presentation will focus on the carbon budget, remaining emissions to stay below 2 degrees, and the role of remote sensing in monitoring the global carbon inventory.
This presentation is part of the West Ferris’ stratospheric balloon mission set to launch this spring.
A primary goal of The Underpass Mission is to coordinate the balloon flight with an overpass of one of NASA’s satellites that are engaged in monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide, namely the OCO-2 satellite and OCO-3 on the International Space Station. The school’s payload is carrying three CO2 sensors to conduct local sampling of the atmosphere for comparison post-flight to NASA’s remote measurements.
Dr. Poulter has connected the West Ferris Near Space group with the science team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory charged with operating the Carbon Observation apparatus on the International Space Station. They have agreed to execute a pointing request on the date of the school’s balloon launch such that the Pointing Mirror Assembly (PMA) on the ISS will direct the measurement device toward a region centred on North Bay.
The idea for this mission was suggested to West Ferris teacher Kelly Shulman when she met Dr. Poulter at her presentation to NASA in Maryland last October, and he offered his support in the effort.
The overarching goal of this endeavor is to engage students in learning about the science of climate change and the role of carbon dioxide in global warming while strengthening their skills in physics, engineering and computer science.
