SEPTEMBER 23, 2011
EDUCATION
THEPRESS.NET
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11A
Deer Valley science going suborbital by Samie Hartley Staff Writer NASA concluded its 30-year space shuttle program in July, but that doesn’t keep Deer Valley High School science teacher Jeff Adkins from dreaming about venturing into space. He’s earthbound for now, but Adkins’ work will reach for the stars in 2012 at an experimental rocket launch sponsored by Masten Space Systems. Masten is currently testing reusable suborbital rockets that can be sent into space, returned to Earth and sent into space again. Once the technology is perfected, Masten would like to send teachers into space via Teachers in Space, an organization that aspires to take teachers into space and return them to Earth to share their experiences with students. Masten is still testing its technology, but it has room on its test rockets to transport technological devices briefly into space to record data that can be analyzed in the classroom. Adkins, who has been teaching science at Deer Valley for 13 years, submitted an application and was invited to conduct an experiment during a flight next year. “Masten is sponsoring education activities while it tests its reusable rockets, and right now I’m building a radiation tracker that will be placed in the nose of the rocket,� said Adkins. It’s basically a little computer that’s programmed to record times of radiation detection and the measurement of the radiation. There is a memory card in the probe, just like a memory card in a digital camera, that will record all the information during the flight. When the rocket returns, my students and I will be able to examine the data.� Adkins first heard about the Teachers in Space program in the 1980s. He was too young to apply but remained in contact with the organization. Teachers in Space was launched by NASA, but now that privately owned rockets have proven capable of sending humans into space, teachers interested in exploring space still have a chance to boldly go where few teachers have gone before. “It’s the dream that one day students will be able to access space in the classroom as easily as they access microscopes today,� Adkins said. While Adkins is overseeing this first project, which is expected to launch before school breaks for summer, he’s assembling a team of students interested in building a similar radiation probe that could be used as a second tracker or a backup should the first device fail. For the first experiment, the radiation probe built by Adkins will soar a minimum of 5 kilometers, equivalent to 3 miles or approximately 15,800 feet. The rocket is expected to be airborne for only a matter of minutes before returning to its launch site. Although the rocket won’t leave the atmosphere, Adkins said a great deal of information can still be gathered at an altitude of 3 miles. Following the probe’s return to Earth, Masten will send the probe back to Adkins for analysis. He’s unsure of what results will be garnered by the test, but either way, the information will be valuable. The metal
used in the rocket’s cone could impair the collection of radiation data, which is just as important a finding as pages of radiation measurements, said Adkins. What Adkins likes most about this opportunity is that he gets to share his work with his students and join forces with them on a follow-up project based on the first data collection. The collaboration is similar to a college-level academic partnership shared between students and professors, and Adkins is looking forward to working with students who are equally intrigued by the subjects of space, rocketry and technology. To comment, visit www.thepress.net.
Deer Valley High School science teacher Jeff Adkins is building a radiation probe to be sent into space in 2012.
Photo by Samie Hartley
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