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High-Altitude Ballooning Student Research with Yeast and Plant Seeds

Bernhard Beck-Winchatz

Bernhard Beck-Winchatz

STEM Studies Department, DePaul UniversityChicago, IL, United States
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Beck-Winchatz, Bernhard
 and 
Judith Bramble

Judith Bramble

Environmental Science and Studies Department, DePaul UniversityChicago, IL, United States
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Bramble, Judith
  
Jan 18, 2022
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Article Category: Research Article
Published Online: Jan 18, 2022
Page range: 117 - 127
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gsr-2014-0010
Keywords
© 2014 Bernhard Beck-Winchatz et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1.

In addition to one or more containers with student experiments, the flight hardware consists of a helium or hydrogen-filled weather balloon to provide the necessary lift, a parachute for the controlled descent of after the balloon bursts, and one or more GPS trackers that transmit the location of the balloon to a chase vehicle on the ground.
In addition to one or more containers with student experiments, the flight hardware consists of a helium or hydrogen-filled weather balloon to provide the necessary lift, a parachute for the controlled descent of after the balloon bursts, and one or more GPS trackers that transmit the location of the balloon to a chase vehicle on the ground.

Figure 2.

Cosmic ray counts measured on October 11, 2013 with an Aware Electronics RM-60 Geiger counter. The Pfotzer maximum is evident at an altitude of approximately 20 km.
Cosmic ray counts measured on October 11, 2013 with an Aware Electronics RM-60 Geiger counter. The Pfotzer maximum is evident at an altitude of approximately 20 km.

Figure 3.

Yeast and plant seeds flown on the inside (left) and outside of a payload container, which also contains an RM-60 Geiger counter and Vernier LabQuest 2 data logger used to measure cosmic rays.
Yeast and plant seeds flown on the inside (left) and outside of a payload container, which also contains an RM-60 Geiger counter and Vernier LabQuest 2 data logger used to measure cosmic rays.

Figure 4.

Illustration of the exposure of samples attached to different parts of a payload container to solar UV and cosmic rays. Samples attached to outside of the container lid (A) are exposed to both UV and cosmic rays, represented by wavy arrows and straight lines, respectively. However, solar UV cannot penetrate Polystyrene, so samples attached to the inside of the container (B) are only exposed to cosmic rays.
Illustration of the exposure of samples attached to different parts of a payload container to solar UV and cosmic rays. Samples attached to outside of the container lid (A) are exposed to both UV and cosmic rays, represented by wavy arrows and straight lines, respectively. However, solar UV cannot penetrate Polystyrene, so samples attached to the inside of the container (B) are only exposed to cosmic rays.

Figure 5.

HA1 yeast grown on YED media show the characteristic red phenotype. Larger white colonies represent back mutations to the wild type. These colonies can manufacture their own adenine. They do not turn red and continue to grow after exhausting the small amount of adenine in the media. The right side shows a higher rate of mutation than the left.
HA1 yeast grown on YED media show the characteristic red phenotype. Larger white colonies represent back mutations to the wild type. These colonies can manufacture their own adenine. They do not turn red and continue to grow after exhausting the small amount of adenine in the media. The right side shows a higher rate of mutation than the left.

Figure 6.

Raphanus sativus and Brassica rapa plants grown from seeds carried on a balloon flight and from control seeds.
Raphanus sativus and Brassica rapa plants grown from seeds carried on a balloon flight and from control seeds.

Examples of quantitative measurements of reproductive rates and phenotypic traits of Brassica plants_ The average number of flowers and seedpods was lowest and the average length of the longest seed pod was shortest for the seeds that were flown on the outside of payload containers, although these differences are not significant (F2,33=2_6, 1_6, and 1_1; p=0_08, 0_22, and 0_44, respectively)_ In each case, the coefficient of variation (CV) was largest for the seeds flown on the outside_

Plant Number of flowers Number of seed pods Length of longest pod (cm)
Control Inside Outside Control Inside Outside Control Inside Outside
1 3 4 2 0 1 0 1.5 3.5 4
2 3 4 3 0 2 0 2.5 3.5 3.5
3 3 5 3 1 1 0 1 2.5 2
4 3 4 4 3 1 2 1 0.5 3
5 5 3 4 2 1 1 0.5 1 1.5
6 3 3 5 1 1 1 1.5 0.5 0.5
7 4 6 3 1 0 0 4 2 0.5
8 5 4 4 1 0 1 2.5 1 0.5
9 8 3 5 0 0 0 2 1.5 1
10 6 6 4 1 0 0 2 3.5 0
11 5 5 1 2 2 0 0.5 3 0
12 4 4 0 0 0 0 2.5 3 0
Average     4.33     4.25     3.17     1.00     0.75     0.42     1.79     2.13     1.38
CV     0.36     0.25     0.44     0.95     1.01     1.60     0.56     0.56     1.04
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English
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Life Sciences, Life Sciences, other, Materials Sciences, Materials Sciences, other, Physics, Physics, other
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