Decoding animal communication with AI

Every spring in Palestine, Texas, the wide-open fields around NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility fill with students and faculty from across Louisiana. They arrive carrying sensors, laptops, and carefully engineered payloads they have spent months preparing. The goal is to send their experiments to the edge of space and return with meaningful data, while reflecting NASA’s long-standing commitment to develop future scientists and engineers.

NASA’s student programs have long served as an entry point for hands-on exploration, connecting students to the agency’s missions and giving them direct exposure to real aerospace environments. Among these initiatives, the Louisiana Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for Students, also known as LaACES, provides a robust undergraduate introduction to scientific ballooning.

Just after dawn on May 19, student-crafted instruments lifted off smoothly from the flight line, notching the 74th and 75th launches in a long-running collaboration between the facility and Louisiana Space Grant Consortium. The 2026 LaACES campaign consisted of 11 payloads that were designed and built by nine Louisiana university teams – Louisiana State University, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana State, McNeese State, Loyola University, and Southern University, as well as and one high school team, St. Joseph’s Academy, during the weeklong event.

Read the full article on miragenews.com

Author Credit: The Mirage

Image Credit: The Mirage / NASA

Original Post Date: 8.4.26

From Curiosity to Discovery: Presbyterian College students showcase a summer of asking bigger questions

Read the full article on presby.edu

Author Credit & Image Credit: Presbyterian College

Original Post Date: 8.4.26

Rockets’ red glare: UW-River Falls Falcon Rocketeers win NASA WSGC Collegiate Rocket Launch Competition

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcon Rocketeers were named Grand Champion of the 2026 NASA Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Collegiate Rocket Launch Competition, held April 24-25 at Richard Bong State Recreational Area in Kansasville. The team received a $3000 prize and a VIP Tour of Sierra Space in North Freedom.

“I am very happy with the rocket team’s performance,” said Team Lead Brook McLaird, a senior physics major from Kansas City, Kan. “We put in a lot of work throughout the school year and I am so pleased that it paid off!”

The team worked on the project from September through May, designing and building the rocket, reporting on their progress, participating in the launch competition and producing a final report after the launch.

“We have to write four reports and create two presentations,” McLaird said. “The judges use these reports to not only make sure we are planning and building a safe rocket but also assess our time management, project management and teamwork.”

The teams are judged on their reports and presentations as well as the performance of their rocket at the launch event. The rocket launch is judged on altitude, design challenge success and safety. This year’s design challenge was to stabilize the rocket in flight and have it rotate 90 degrees clockwise, hold for five seconds and rotate back 90 degrees counterclockwise, then deploy all parachutes and land without being damaged. This year’s rocket reached an altitude of 3,600 feet, the highest of all 10 teams in the competition and 1,000 feet higher than the Falcon Rocketeers’ third place finish in 2025.

The team’s faculty adviser, Physics Professor Suruj Seunarine, said the effort is entirely student led.

“I’m very proud of them and very impressed by their execution of the challenge, especially the complicated rocket roll that required high precision control,” Seunarine said. “They had a good balance among leadership, experience and skills, and there was no shortage of enthusiasm.”

Read the full article on uwrf.edu

Author Credit: University of Wisconsin | All in Wisconsin | UW River Falls

Image Credit: Contributed Photo

Original Post Date: 7.3.2026

SAU Rocket Workshop reaches new heights at Magnolia Municipal Airport

Southern Arkansas University’s annual High-Powered Rocket Workshop sent student-built rockets into the sky at the Magnolia Municipal Airport, capping off a four-day program in rocket design, engineering and flight.

Held in June, the workshop welcomed approximately 30 high school students, undergraduate students, teachers, and college faculty members from across Arkansas. During the four-day program, participants lived on SAU’s campus, worked in collaborative teams, and gained practical experience in rocket design, manufacturing, instrumentation, flight preparation, and recovery.

The workshop was supported by the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium through a $30,000 grant secured by Dr. Abdel Bachri, dean of SAU’s College of Science and Engineering. Funding from ASGC and NASA allowed participants to attend the program and use specialized equipment, materials, software, and facilities throughout the week.

Rather than observing demonstrations, participants completed nearly every stage of the rocketry process themselves. Teams began by developing and testing digital models using OpenRocket simulation software. They then moved into SAU’s physics laboratories and engineering facilities to manufacture components, prepare fins, create customized parts, assemble airframes, and install recovery and flight-monitoring systems.

Read the full article on Saumag.edu

Author Credit: SAU Mag

Image Credit: SAU Mag

Original Post Date: 8.5.2026

A NASA Scientific Balloon Program annual campaign is getting ready to take flight at the agency’s balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Six balloon flights carrying scientific experiments, technology demonstrations, and student payloads are scheduled to launch starting in mid-August.

This year’s campaign marks the 20th flight for the High-Altitude Student Platform carrying payloads developed by student teams. Over the course of two decades, more than 1,900 students from about 25 institutions across the United States have participated in flying experiments on the balloon platform. This year, 17 student teams will fly payloads to the edge of space that are prototypes for future CubeSats or larger payloads.

The High-Altitude Student Platform program is a partnership among the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium, the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and the agency’s Balloon Program Office and Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas.

Four balloons will carry technology demonstrations and secondary science experiments called “piggyback” missions. This includes the second year for NASA’s Balloon Program Office’s Balloon Optimization Opportunity Payload, or BOOP!, which allows multiple technology instruments to be tested during flight for future missions.

A new science payload to study the Sun’s corona will fly using the Wallops Arc Second Pointer (WASP), a specialized platform that can point scientific instruments at targets during flight at sub-arc-second accuracy. This flight will demonstrate the payload’s capabilities for a potential future Antarctica mission to observe the Sun over one solar rotation, which would take at least 27 days.

Read the full article on NASA.gov

Author Credit: Jamie Adkins

Image Credit: NASA/Francis Reddy

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — Bluefield State University students Gabrielle Justice and Danaye Walters have been selected to serve as NASA West Virginia Space Grant Ambassadors for the 2026–2027 academic year.

Justice and Walters were chosen from a strong statewide pool of applicants. As ambassadors, they will help promote NASA WV Space Grant opportunities, connect fellow students with available programs and support STEM outreach efforts across West Virginia.

“We congratulate Gabrielle and Danaye on earning this opportunity to represent Bluefield State University,” President Darrin Martin said. “Their selection reflects their commitment to STEM education and their willingness to help other students discover opportunities that can shape their academic and professional futures.”

The NASA WV Space Grant Ambassador program engages students from participating colleges and universities in promoting educational, research and career opportunities connected to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Read the full article on blackbygod.com

Original Post Date: 8.18.2026

Author Credit: BBG

Image Credit: Black By God (BBG)

Moo Muhammad, a Computer Science student, is shooting for the stars, rising from a ride-share driver who once lived in his car to become the winner of a highly competitive scholarship. He’s the latest recipient of the NASA Delaware Space Grant, which awards $5,000 in tuition to an outstanding undergraduate.

“While NASA Space Grant awards have traditionally been associated with the natural sciences, this award highlights the growing role of computer science and interdisciplinary STEM education,” says Dr. Milton Muldrow Jr., dean of the College of Sciences and Engineering.

As part of the NASA Space Grant program, Wilmington University receives federal funding to provide undergraduate STEM, Computer Science, and Cybersecurity students with hands-on experience in aerospace and earth-science projects. The NASA consortium also includes the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Delaware Technical College, Swarthmore College, and Villanova University.

Muhammad is the first WilmU student in recent years to be awarded the Space Grant. He completed an associate degree in Cybersecurity at Philadelphia Community College, where he earned a 4.0 grade point average and gave the 2024 commencement address.

“Receiving this NASA grant is both an honor and a tremendous opportunity,” he says. “I’m grateful for the support and excited to gain experience that will help prepare me for a career in computer science.”    

Author Credit: Eileen Smith Dallabrida

Image Credit: Wilmington University

Original Post Date: 8.17.2026

Read the full article on blog.wilmu.edu