Two tribal school teams in South Dakota are the winners of the 2024-2025 NASA TechRise Student Challenge.
Students from Lower Brule High School and Sicangu Oyate Ho, Inc. Saint Francis Indian School were selected from 720 entries across the country.
"I think they were really amazed that there were so many applications and that we were selected," said Bree Oatman, a science teacher at Lower Brule High School, speaking about the student team she's leading in the TechRise Challenge this semester. "So, it's really cool that this year there's two teams from South Dakota and we're both from tribal communities."
This is the fourth annual TechRise Student Challenge, which awards winning teams $1,500 to build an experiment in a flight box. The flight box launches into the stratosphere on a NASA-sponsored commercial flight test this summer.
"I was interested in getting involved because I love science and math," said Jacobi Hairy Shirt, a 10th grader on the Sicangu Oyate Ho, Inc. Saint Francis Indian School TechRise team. "And I wanted to learn more about engineering and design. Plus, the idea of launching an experiment on a hot air balloon was just too cool to pass up."
The TechRise teams consist of students in 6th to 12th grade. The teams meet weekly to work on their experiments with mentorship from NASA's partnering organization, Future Engineers.
Lema Leader Charge is the middle school principal at Sicangu Oyate Ho, Inc. Saint Francis Indian School. She says she's excited to see the younger students on the team explore the STEM fields.
"A lot of times our students don't know what is out there without them being involved in something like this project that's been happening," said Leader Charge. "So, I'm really excited for them. And I wish I could be there with them every step of the way to see their excitement, because that's what it's all about. Opening up our kids' eyes to what's out there."
When they launch this summer, the flight boxes will ascend on a high-altitude balloon to approximately 70,000 feet. During the four-hour flight, they'll be exposed to the unique environment of the stratosphere and conditions that can't be replicated in ground-based testing.
For their experiment, the Lower Brule High School team is sampling bacteria in the stratosphere using a motorized collection system that they design, build and code themselves.
"NASA is really interested in learning more about bacteria and how they can survive in the atmosphere," said Oatman. "Because if you're launching a rocket or a spacecraft through the atmosphere, you don't really want hitchhikers going onto the side of the ship and making it out into space. And contaminating the International Space Station or potentially even the moon or Mars."
Following the launch of their flight box, the Lower Brule High School team is partnering with Oglala Lakota College to study the bacteria collected in their flight box.
"We'll have to take our sampler, remove the media that we're using in it to attract the bacteria, and then try to culture them in Petri dishes and get colonies of bacteria to grow," Oatman said. "And then from there, we'll try to isolate DNA so that we can identify the organisms."
Meanwhile, the Sicangu Oyate Ho, Inc. Saint Francis Indian School TechRise Challenge team is developing a device equipped with specialized sensors to detect carbon dioxide and aerosol emissions in the upper atmosphere. They'll analyze the data they collect from the payload to quantify the carbon footprint of human acticity and industries, assessing its environmental impact.
"These gases rise into the atmosphere, with some reaching the stratosphere, which is precisely what we're aiming to measure," said Dr. Maria Heidi Alaine V. Tahir, the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) teacher and NASA TechRise school team leader at Saint Francis Indian School. "Our students have designed a device equipped with advanced sensors, cameras and custom coding to fly into the stratosphere and quantify carbon dioxide levels, providing valuable insights into our atmospheric conditions."
Tahir hopes participating in the experiment provides her students with a unique opportunity to grow their skills while contributing to important scientific discoveries.
"I want them to develop their full potential in science, engineering, technology," said Tahir. "Experience all of these things hands-on ... And, someday when they look back on their high school or middle school years, they wouldn't forget that once upon a time, they were part of the NASA TechRise Challenge initiative."
