ASCEND!
(Aerospace Scholarships to Challenge and Educate New Discoverers)
ASCEND is a statewide Arizona Space Grant workforce development program designed to engage undergraduate students across the state in the full “design-build-fly-operate-analyze” cycle of a space mission. This program complements regular classroom learning by offering direct hands-on immersion with the full mission cycle. Student teams define science goals and then design and build payloads to achieve those objectives on high-altitude weather balloons that typically reach altitudes up to 100,000 feet. Payload instrument packages are designed to measure a variety of atmospheric data as a function of altitude. Onboard cameras obtain images and videos to document the flight and capture images from the edge of space. Novel structural designs provide strong lightweight platforms for instrument packages.
ASU’s ASCEND team is supported by the Arizona Space Grant Consortium and is part of the Sun Devil Satellite Lab (SDSL). ASCEND provides an important satellite activity for SDSL members that includes design, build, fly and analyze all within one academic year. The team is also supported by ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative, which provides the team with access to the Interplanetary Laboratory for design, fabrication, testing and general body meetings.
2024-25 ASU ASCEND Project
The team had an ambitious project to design and build a light-weight, mechanically and thermally stable payload capable of recording onboard sensor data and communicating data to a mobile ground station. This required the following:
- Design and build a custom carbon fiber UFO housing module w/easy accessibility
- Fully implement all sensors and onboard storage devices on custom PCBs using surface mount components
- Develop maintainable, modular, and configurable payload and ground station software
- Acquire and process real-time telemetry data during flight via UHF radio
- Perform detailed weather analysis comparing onboard sensor data w/ national weather models
- Safely record and recover video footage from 360 camera
Custom designed printed circuit board “Strato Core” Connects peripherals to the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller and onboard storage devices.
Custom designed carbon-fiber payload in the shape of a UFO with a dome for the Insta360 camera on top provides a very light and strong payload housing.
ASCEND Statewide Collaboration
Arizona Space Grant Consortium (AZSGC)
ASCEND is a statewide program run through the lead institution, The University of Arizona, with team participation from Arizona State University, The University of Arizona, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Glendale Community College, Phoenix College, Central Arizona College, Western Arizona College, Dine College, Pima Community College, and Casa Grande Union High School.
There are two launches per year, one in mid November and one in late March or early April. All the ASCEND teams meet up the night before launch at a Tempe hotel and give oral presentations on their mission goals and payload design and engineering. Launch occurs on the following day from a location selected as optimal through flight predictions. Two 3000g latex balloons filled with helium are used to lift payloads to between 90,000 and 100,000 feet in altitude. Launch, chase and recover leads to a dramatic full-day adventure for students and mentors.
Arizona Near Space Research
Arizona Near Space Research (ANSR) is a 501(c)(3) organization that promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through Amateur Radio and High-Altitude Balloons (ARHAB). ANSR has partnered with the Arizona Space Grant Consortium on the ASCEND project since 2005. ANSR members lead the team payload review on the evening before the launch as well as providing the materials and expertise for successful launch and recovery.