Student-built PASCAL collects stratospheric particles on NASA balloon
A University of Chicago student team flew a particle collector to 23 miles on a NASA high-altitude balloon and retrieved samples for analysis.
The story in focus
A University of Chicago student team built and flew PASCAL, a particle collector, to 23 miles on a NASA high-altitude balloon. NASA ended the flight early due to drift, but the payload was recovered with stratospheric particles for study.
- PASCAL was designed, built, tested and operated by College students through the UChicago Space Program.
- The experiment collected particles 23 miles above Earth aboard NASA's High Altitude Student Platform balloon.
- NASA terminated the flight early because the balloon drifted toward forests and mountains near Santa Fe, but the payload was recovered.
Experiment and flight
PASCAL, or Particle Acquisition from Stratospheric Conditions for Analysis in Laboratory, was created by twelve student volunteers to sample particles in the mid-stratosphere, between 15.5 and 25 miles in altitude. The project was one of 17 university experiments accepted for NASA's High Altitude Student Platform balloon campaign.
In early September, the balloon lifted off from NASA's facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The flight was planned for about 20 hours but lasted less than seven after NASA initiated an emergency termination because the balloon changed direction and was heading over forests and mountains near Santa Fe. The payload was successfully recovered and shipped back to UChicago.
Research gap and next steps
Faculty advisor Elisabeth Moyer said every sample from these altitudes matters because so few exist, and noted the difficulty of operating instruments at low pressure. Project lead Mason McCormack said human contamination in the stratosphere, such as particles from deorbiting satellites, solid rocket fuel and wildfire smoke, remains understudied because direct sampling largely stopped after the Cold War.
The UChicago Space Program plans to resubmit PASCAL for next year's balloon launch. The team's embedded engineer, Zumi Riekse, said many interested undergraduates will continue making payloads for the competition.
Why did NASA end the PASCAL balloon flight early?
NASA terminated the flight because the balloon changed direction and was heading over forests and mountains near Santa Fe, making recovery harder. The payload was still retrieved successfully.
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