Sampling Microplastics and Extremophile Organisms on Balloon Borne Payloads

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dc.contributorBering, Edgar
dc.contributorRenshaw, Andrew
dc.contributor.authorRuszkowski, Jason
dc.date.accessioned2023-07-07T01:24:31Z
dc.date.available2023-07-07T01:24:31Z
dc.date.issued2023-04-13
dc.description.abstractThe Microplastics and Extremophiles team under the University of Houstonï¾’s Undergraduate Student Instrument Project intends to launch an instrument to collect microplastics and extremophiles within the stratosphere between 20 km and 30 km above Fairbanks, Alaska. The team is also planning on the use of several ground collecting instruments both in Fairbanks, and in Houston, Texas, that will measure microplastics by precipitation and deposition. The balloon platform was selected for its low speed, high altitude, and long flight time. This flight would ascend to about 30 km, and provide at least half an hour of measurement time within the desired altitude range. The instrument itself would consist of a lightweight, mylar bellows system, driven by pulleys. This design meets the high flow rate requirements to achieve the largest feasible sample, while maintaining the lightest weight. Raman spectroscopy will be utilized for analyzing microplastics while samples of extremophiles will be analyzed via PCR and 16S rRNA sequencing.
dc.description.departmentHonors College
dc.description.departmentPhysics, Department of
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/14865
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectPhysics
dc.titleSampling Microplastics and Extremophile Organisms on Balloon Borne Payloads
dc.typePoster

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