Sisters HS students launching balloon into near-space

A group of Sisters High School students is heading to Brussels to send a balloon high above the Earth, into what’s often called “near-space.” It’s for a science experiment that will show which types of materials can keep you the warmest, including the jackets you wear in the winter.

Senior Sydney Rawlins, senior Amy Hills, senior Makenna Liddell and junior Emma Farley will test materials ranging from consumer-grade Patagonia jackets to modern and dated NASA space suits.

“We wanted to see, as consumers, how good are the products that Patagonia is producing, as well as get to compare our data with NASA’s data and see how accurate can we get,” Liddell said recently.

Their experiment earned them a spot in the Asgard: Scientific Balloons for Space Education program. It’s the second year in a row the Asgard program chose a team from Sisters High School.

“It’s really cool, because we as Sisters High School students set it up in a way that it can carry on for years to come, so that other Sisters High School students can continue the project,” Liddell said.

They say they’re the only group from the United States, and one of 12 groups world-wide to be invited to Brussels to test their experiment in April.

“We as a group were like, ok we want to be able to go to Belgium and test this and be with other students internationally,” Liddell said. “That would be a really amazing experience.”

The group will attach swatches of six different materials to the gondola below a hydrogen-filled balloon. Sensors on a small computer in the gondola will monitor the temperatures of each swatch as the balloon travels 18 miles into space.

“Based on that data that we receive back after we recover the balloon, we can tell how good each material is at insulating and how much stress it can withstand when it’s up there,” Hills said.

Representatives from the locally-owned Patagonia store in Bend want the group to share their findings. They say Patagonia does their own testing, but never up near space.

“I think it can show if performance holds up in extreme environments which is obviously crucial if you’re really getting out there,” said Michael Tauben, stock supervisor for Patagonia Bend. “You want to know that your gear’s going to hold up.”

This is as extreme as it gets. The balloon will reach a point in the atmosphere where it’s -76 degrees Fahrenheit.

So you’ll be able to truly see which winter jacket would keep you the warmest.

If you want to see their experiment in action, the team will be doing a similar launch from the Sisters Airport in May.