COLLEGE RESEARCH & EDUCATIONAL FLIGHTS
Applications are accepted at any time
College students and faculty/staff who are interested in utilizing our high-altitude balloon program for their own research or educational initiatives must submit an application and short flight proposal. Proposals will be accepted year-round. Due to limited personnel and other prior ballooning commitments, we cannot guarantee availability (or good weather) on the proposed flight date(s). Please consider this when developing your proposal timeline.
Before submitting a proposal, please take the time to familiarize yourself with our high-altitude balloon program. We recommend the following:
- Check out our High-Altitude Ballooning 101 page to learn more about how our high-altitude balloon launches work.
- Read through our extensive Ballooning FAQ page to see if we have already answered some of your questions.
- Watch highlight videos from some of our previous balloon launches.
ELIGIBILITY
- Open to students and faculty at the University of Wyoming and all Wyoming community colleges.
- Research groups, class projects, senior design projects, and individual student or faculty projects are all eligible.
REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS
- Proposals must be submitted at least 3 months prior to the proposed flight date to allow time for review, planning, and flight prep.
- The flight must include at least one custom payload package provided and paid for by the student or faculty/staff.
- The custom payload packages must conform to all FAA regulations for free unmanned balloons.
- If the student or faculty/staff has funding available to pay for some or all of the flight costs, we request that they cover as many of these costs as possible. Proposals that can cover a larger portion of the flight costs are more likely to be allotted their own flight.
- The student or faculty/staff is expected to attend and participate in their balloon launch and payload recovery.
FLIGHT PROPOSAL SUBMISSION
Completed applications must be submitted through the ONLINE FLIGHT APPLICATION FORM. Our review process will consider the merit of the proposed flight, additional funding potential to cover flight costs, and Space Grant personnel availability based on the proposed timeline.
There are three parts required for a complete proposal:
- Online Application Form
- Proposal Document (Template/Instructions) – Must be uploaded with the online application form.
- Letter of Support (student proposals only) – Must be e-mailed by the student’s (or group’s) advisor directly to wsgc@uwyo.edu.
- Curriculum Vitae (faculty/staff proposals only) – Must be uploaded with the online application form.
QUESTIONS?
E-mail: wsgc@uwyo.edu
Phone: (307) 766-2862 or (307) 766-2987