Aerial Mapping with Balloons.
Team : Watching-Place; Youth Science Initiative (Cambridge, MA), MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initative, National Geographic
While working as the education and outreach leads with MIT’s Space Exploration Initiative, we developed and facilitated several workshops focused on aerial mapping, inspired by Public Lab’s community mapping programming. In these workshops, learners (k - 12) developed model climate-sensing satellites with various payloads, including Raspberry Pi-based cameras, imaged local environments, tested hypotheses, and tinkered creatively with their data.
Key partners for the development of these workshops included the Youth Science Initiative--a Cambridge-based program for increasing diversity in the STEM workforce--and National Geographic Student Expeditions.
The youth scientists first learned about the history and development of cubesats (as well as their use) before developing their own, iterating on their design, and finally launching on the MIT campus.
Students experimented with artistic renderings of images taken by their on-board cameras:
