(Bozeman) – Montana State University recently received a three million dollar grant from NASA as part of the Aerial Science, Collaboration, and Education Network for Discovery, or ASCEND program. This project looks to bring together 40 undergraduate teams from across the country to measure pollutant distribution at different heights, and the equipment is designed by students in MSU’s Balloon outreach, Research, Exploration and Landscape Imaging System, abbreviated to BOREALIS.
MSU associate professor and BOREALIS flight director Michael Walach said, “This research is particularly relevant to Montana, where wildfire smoke is an increasingly important air quality issue.”
Proposals from interested schools will open in January 2027, and no prior experience with balloons, drones or air quality research is required. Selected teams will train in 2027 and collect data during four coordinated seasonal campaigns in 2028.
