A 13 year old sent a Hello Kitty to space for a science project in February. Maybe she’ll take us to Mars by 2020? — Click to Tweet.
Last month, seventh grader Lauren Rojas had a school project. But like many students, did she figure out what she could get away with and phone it in from there?
Nope. This ambitious young space cadet created a Hello Kitty space explorer out of a weather balloon and a digital video recorder. Her teachers at Cornerstone Christian School in Antioch, California must have had their jaws drop.
Since recording her video, the footage has gone viral on YouTube, garnering over 1 million views on the young woman’s channel.
Not Just A Silly Video
Lauren’s video, as entertaining as it may be, was not her intended final product. As with any science project, she was collecting data.
Lauren’s mission was to examine the effects of altitude on air pressure and temperature. One way she demonstrates her data is through the video, where she explains that the weather balloon reaches 53 times it’s original size before finally exploding.
At that point in the flight, the camera and Hello Kitty Doll had reached 93,625 feet, which is
in the outer reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere. When the box started falling, a parachute released. Eventually everything landed 45.7 miles southwest of the launch site, hanging about 50 feet off the ground in a tree.
How’d She Do It?
Turns out, most of her materials were Lowes and Home Depot. Everything except the Hello Kitty Doll and the parachute and the flight computer, the latter two of which were ordered through High Altitude Science.
Perhaps next time your kids have a science project, you’ll encourage them to shoot for the moon — not literally, of course, but almost!
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