The Ballenas Secondary School team that’s preparing to launch an experiment 10,000 feet high into the New Mexican sky via rocket is raising funds so that some of them can see it happen.
To support that trip, the team is holding a car wash and hot dog sale at Family Ford in Parksville (410 Island Hwy. East) on Saturday, May 19, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The BSS CubeSat team of 15 students, with the help of physics, astronomy and science teacher Carl Savage, has been busily designing a CubeSat (a 10-by-10 centimetre standard cube that can be launched into orbit to perform experiments or provide data) to be loaded onto a UBC team’s rocket and launched during the Spaceport America Cup.
The Ballenas team has completed the prototype of its CubeSat (which seeks to determine if a cheap computer called a Raspberry Pi could survive a rocket launch). The team also plans to send 11 people (including students, teachers and parents) to New Mexico for the launch in June.
The team has so far secured donations of airline points from Qualicum Beach council, and was offered up to $7,000 from Parksville council’s contingency fund, pending fullfilment of council’s funding request policy.
RELATED: Qualicum to donate airline points to Ballenas students
— NEWS Staff,
CubeSat team