The Science behind the mission

Initial CubeSat Project Proposal 2020 - BlueSky10

Mooresville High School NAF Academy of Engineering

Proposal Written by: Kamryn & Joseph

Project by: Kamryn, Joseph, Tristan, Isabella, Caleb, Clark, Khadeejah, Drina & JonVincent

Instructors: Ms. Julie Blocker, Ms. Heather Cook, Ms. Ashley Ericson, Mr. Benjamin Estes, Ms. Melissa Ligh, Ms. Renee Parkman, Mr. David Sharpe, Mr. Mike Moore & Ms. Lindsay Smith

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Science:

1. Overall Scientific Question / Hypotheses:

What effect does the growth of the Town of Mooresville have on air quality, land use, and temperature?

2. Scientific Topic(s) of Discussion:

1. Deforestation:

“Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest.” Forests cover around 30% of our landmass on Earth. Today, one-and-a-half acres of forest are cut down every second. That’s 36 football fields every minute. Construction is one of the leading causes of deforestation because of the need for immense amounts of open space to construct: a. the primary buildings, b. the road/transportation network, c. infrastructure such as water/sewage, power, gas, etc… and d. miscellaneous construction such as common areas, retail, etc...

2. Air Pollution:

“Air pollution is a mix of particles and gases that can reach harmful concentrations both outside and indoors.” Air pollution can have very serious health consequences. Some types of air pollution have been directly correlated to increased cases of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and respiratory diseases such as asthma. In the United States, nearly 134 million people (of 328.2 million) (40%+/-) are at risk of disease and premature death because of air pollution, according to American Lung Association estimates. Construction is one of the main contributors to our air pollution. The primary particulate pollutant that comes from basic construction practices is PM10 (particulate matter with a diameter less than 10 microns generating polluted dust) which can become bound with other particulates that will cause VOCs (volatile organic compounds.) Gas pollutants are also a major threat to our air quality from construction. These gases include carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, with the primary gas pollutant being carbon dioxide.

3. Thermal Pollution:

Thermal pollution is pollution caused by an unnatural change in temperature. Unfortunately, there has been little research and studies conducted on the link between thermal pollution and construction, however, you can correlate some information given currently released statistics by various sources. The current research available for thermal pollution with water is very prominent and well-articulated, but this is not the case with air pollution. Given current statistics, we know that dark-colored asphalt shingles absorb and reflect more heat than that of its lighter-colored counterpart. Given today’s current residential construction trends, manifested by James Hardie, a shingle and concrete-fiberboard siding company said “The most popular colors of roof shingles are shades of black and brown...” After discovering this data, we can now assume that with current trends leaning towards darker colors that there is going to be an increase in ambient air temperature due to the reflection of temperature-intense UV rays.

4. Impervious Surfaces:

“An impervious surface is a hard area that doesn’t allow water to seep into the ground. Instead, the water runs off the impervious surface, picking up many types of pollution in the process, and then flows into a storm drain or a nearby body of water.” The problem that comes with impervious surfaces is that after they are put in place, there will be no way for the water to run off naturally. Impervious surfaces can be counteracted by using alternative materials such as: a. using alternative driveway/sidewalk materials (grass pavers, mulch, gravel, swept sand pavers, uncemented brick, or pervious concrete,) b. simply reducing the surface area of your driveway or sidewalk and c. Greenscaping your rooftop with planting. There are other methods you can use to help fix the problems that are associated with impervious surfaces such as using techniques such as: a. dry-wells (a drain that helps allocate excess water to underground and b. plumbing your gutter-system to your sewage lines, or a retention pond in your local neighborhood/community. However, these methods are more costly and are unlikely to find in lower-end communities.

3. Quantity, Frequency & Length of Testing

a. Quantity of Testing

Our experiments will take place approximately 12 times. A new data collection will take place at least 4 times in each stage.

b. Frequency of Testing

Our data collections will be conducted 4 times before development, 4 times during development, and 4 times after development. We need to conduct at least 4 experiments per development-stage in order to offset the effects of seasonal temperature and humidity changes.

c. Length of Testing

Our total experiment will take place over two to three years. Each data collection event will take approximately 1.5hrs each with 20 minutes for launch, 50 minutes for data collection, and 20 minutes for landing.

4. Community Mentors

a. Mooresville Middle School - Ms. Laura Smith, 7th Grade Science Teacher.

• “5th and 7th grade have weather and air quality in the standards. We got a weather station last year mounted on our roof at MMS to monitor all weather data- but air quality wasn't in there. That would be great. We teach the kids to graph the data and make observations about it. We could show them all of the information we got and then teach them how to put it into graphs so that they could then analyse the results”

b. Town of Mooresville - Ms. Marissa Metzer & Mr. Jonathan Young, Town Engineers.

• Provided a PowerPoint outlining what they do to protect the environment during development.

5. Scientific Purpose Feasibility

We have the capability of programming our CubeSat to gather our information. Using softwares provided by the individual components, and open-source software, we will be able to easily interpret and communicate our results. Given these circumstances, this Scientific Purpose remains feasible.

Data Collection:

1. Communication of Findings:

a. We will communicate our findings by creating a public website for our community to view that will have a collection of the information we have gathered throughout the mission that will include easy-to-read charts, graphs, and reports.

b. We will also share our results with Mooresville Middle School so that they can be familiarized with what affects the air-quality. Since weather and air-quality is in their learning standards, and though they have a specific standard for weather, they don’t have a specific standard to interpret the way certain things affect the air quality.

2. Processing Data:

a. Our data will be processed in a number of different ways. For one, We will use the default XINABOX sensor data to process information about things like pollution and temperature, and for two, we will use an A.I. software to process images for comparing before and afters of deforested land as well as impervious surfaces.

b. During the mission we will be using a variety of mathematical processes to analyze images and raw data from our XINABOX sensors. The specific mathematical processes we use would have to be determined when we have a physical sensor in-hand. Without being able to physically use and experiment with the sensor, it may not be feasible to determine these processes. We will be able to ensure that our components are properly calibrated and give good, accurate data by conducting a type of preliminary scan that will determine the “base” data that the components emit and using those “baselines” as a reference to use before each evaluation.”

Launch:

1. Method of Testing

We will use a drone to launch our CubeSat because after looking at the basics of where BlueSky10 needs to go we concluded that it only needs to get to a height around 200-300 feet above the ground depending on how large of an area we are looking at.

2. Quantity of Testing

The drone along with BlueSky10 needs to be able to fly at least twelve times, at least four times before the land has been disturbed, at least 4 times while the development is being built, and at least 4 times after the development is finished.

3. Conducting Tests and Ensuring a Successful Launch

The first step in having a successful launch is making sure the conditions of the launch are favorable. The next step is checking to ensure BlueSky10 is properly fastened to our launch drone by utilizing materials such as zip ties and rope. To collect the proper amount of data we need so we can evaluate the findings and information of the first launches of the drone. We have to make sure to collect accurate statistics and material to record on our website to share with the town of Mooresville.

4. Additional Thoughts

We also need to determine the best times to fly the drone depending on wind. rain etc.