KY Space Grant TP-22-023: Support for Formation of a UK Team to Participate in NEBP

Support for formation of a UK team to participate in National Eclipse Ballooning Project PI Sean Bailey ABSTRACT The National Eclipse Ballooning Project is a NASA Science Mission Directorate Sci-Act funded effort to integrate education and science through an innovative data acquisition and analysis campaign using scientific ballooning during the 10/14/2023 annular and 4/8/2024 total solar eclipses. The proposed effort seeks to support the formation of a team of undergraduate students to represent the University of Kentucky in this project. Funds will be used to support student training, materials and supplies, travel and participation in the summer workshop to be held in Summer 2023 in preparation for the October 2023 annular eclipse. Students will be part of the broader atmospheric science team and, as such, will learn to conduct radiosonde weather balloon launches in support of the science effort to measure the atmospheric response to the sharp transition in solar radiation, as well as receive training on the data analysis and data management required by such a large-scale project. As such, the team project is well aligned with the NASA Kentucky Space Grant Data+Science and Earth+Space themes.