JP Aerospace Goes to Kickstarter for Kids to Space Project

JP Aerospace is an all volunteer DIY space program. They have flown over 14,000 PongSats so far – more student payloads than the rest of the world’s space programs combined. With your help they will be flying 2,000 more student projects this September.

All the projects fit inside ping pong balls. JP Aerospace calls them PongSats. Students from all over the world send their PongSats to be flown to 100,000 feet on weather balloons. After retrieval, the PongSats are returned to their creators along with data from the flight, a DVD with video of the launch and on board scenes, and a certificate showing they flew. Projects have ranged from plant seeds to full upper atmospheric labs, all in a ping pong ball. The PongSats are getting more and more complex, some with GPS and cameras in them and some even made on 3D printers.

PongSats are flown at no cost to the participant. Over a thousand students and other PongSat builders are signed up so far for this September. To help fund this very worthy endeavor or to find out more, check out the Kickstarter page: 2000 Student Projects to the Edge of Space