Delgado Aerospace Catalyst Experiences Program Receives Louisiana Space Grant Support

July 30, 2018

Delgado Community College’s Louisiana Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for Students (LaACES) program has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the NASA-sponsored Louisiana Space Grant Consortium (LaSPACE) to support student activities for the 2018-2019 academic year. This will be the fifth year that external funding has been secured for the program.

Delgado Community College uses the LaACES Ballooning Program as a model for boosting student interest in STEM careers and continuing their education in STEM majors at four-year institutions. The program was developed in 2003 in response to growing concerns that the NASA, aerospace industry and general STEM workforce was rapidly aging and the number of U.S. citizens training to become scientists and engineers was in steady decline, possibly jeopardizing the U.S. technological lead in the world as well as NASA’s ability to implement future missions. 

Over the last decade, LaACES has been the model for student ballooning programs developed by other National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program consortia as well as for programs of a national scope that focus on minority institutions, high school teacher training and advanced student payloads. These exceptional programs have been recognized by NASA with the Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Achievement Outreach team award and a Group Achievement Award.

Students in the program receive hands-on experience in the following:

• Electronics – Basic knowledge about circuits, sensor interfacing and data acquisition.
• Programming – How to program a microprocessor, the BASIC Stamp, how to read and store data from various sensors and interfacing devices.
• Project Management – How to plan, manage and track the progress of a NASA project.
• Balloon Payload Design – Facts and skills relevant to the successful development of a payload.
• Science – Presentations on science topics relevant to balloon payload.

Students also receive a travel and lodging expenses-paid trip to the NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas and a daily meal stipend.

In May 2017, the Delgado LaACES team was featured on television science program host Adam Savage’s Maker Tour, and the Delgado students traveled to Southern Illinois University to launch two high-altitude balloons as part of a NASA-sponsored project to livestream aerial video footage of the “Great American Eclipse” in August 2017.

All Delgado LaACES students train on fabrication equipment in the college’s Fab Lab at the City Park Campus in New Orleans.