School committee approves high school seniors’ trip to present student CubeSat data in California

At the Feb. 10 meeting the Mendon-Upton Regional School Committee approved a student field trip request for four seniors to present student-built high-altitude balloon/CubeSat work at a conference in California.

Jim Gorman, who led the presentation, told the committee his students built a small payload that flew to roughly 24 miles altitude during an August launch at a NASA high-altitude balloon facility. Gorman said the students’ sensors returned data that prompted follow-up analysis and a presentation at the National Defense Industrial Association conference; staff later encouraged submission to the CubeSat Developers Conference.

Gorman said the conference runs Tuesday–Thursday, April 22–24, and the group would travel April 21–25 during April school vacation. Four seniors who worked on the project would attend; two had traveled on the August flight and two had not. Gorman said private and nonprofit sponsors — a company identified as Max IQ (a Virginia-based partner) and NDIA funds — would cover student and teacher registrations and help defer travel costs.

The committee moved and seconded a motion to approve the trip; the chair called the vote and members present voiced their approval.

Gorman said the students were scheduled to present data to NASA Wallops the next day and that the group had an accepted abstract for the California conference.

No specific dollar amount for travel or total trip cost was specified in the meeting record; presenters described registration and travel support from Max IQ and NDIA.