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Summer Students Scan the Radio Skies with SunRISE

Summer Students Scan the Radio Skies with SunRISE

  • High school students from across the US are participating in the SunRISE Ground Radio Lab campaign to collect, process, and analyze space weather data related to solar radio bursts.
  • The students, led by the University of Michigan and NASA’s SunRISE mission, are identifying and categorizing solar radio bursts that can impact global navigation systems.
  • Participating high schools receive free online training modules, monthly webinars with space science experts, and kits to build their own radio telescopes to observe low-frequency emissions from the Sun and other objects.
  • The students’ findings have been presented at local science fairs and national conferences, including the Solar Heliospheric and INterplanetary Environment (SHINE) conference in Juneau, Alaska.
  • Other than participating in the campaign, schools can also get involved by visiting the Ground Radio Lab website to learn more and apply to participate in future projects.
L. Y. Zhou, a senior at Skyline High School, Ann Arbor, MI, representing the SunRISE Ground Radio Lab (GRL) summer research project team at the Solar Heliospheric and INterplanetary Environment (SHINE) conference, held in Juneau, AK in August 2024. Other contributing high school students were S. Rajavelu-Mohan (Washtenaw Technical Middle College, Ann Arbor, MI), M. I. Costacamps-Rivera (Centro Residencial de Oportunidades Educativas de Mayagüez, Mayagüez, PR), E. Schneider (Marquette Senior High School, Marquette, MI), and L. Cui (Skyline High School, Ann Arbor, MI).

Solar radio bursts, intense blasts of radio emission associated with solar flares, can wreak havoc on global navigation systems. Now, as part of the Ground Radio Lab campaign led by the University of Michigan and NASA’s SunRISE (Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment) mission, which is managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, high school and college students across the nation are collecting, processing, and analyzing space weather data to help better understand these bursts. 

Participating students have presented their findings at local science fairs and national conferences, including the Solar Heliospheric and INterplanetary Environment (SHINE) conference held in Juneau, Alaska in August 2024. These students sifted through thousands of hours of observations to identify and categorize solar radio bursts.  

Your school can get involved too! 

Participating high schools receive free, self-paced online training modules sponsored by the SunRISE mission that cover a range of topics, including radio astronomy, space physics, and science data collection and analysis. Students and teachers participate in monthly webinars with space science and astronomy experts, build radio telescopes from kits, and then use these telescopes to observe low frequency emissions from the Sun and other objects like Jupiter and the Milky Way. 

Visit the Ground Radio Lab website to learn more about the new campaign and apply to participate.

Details

Last Updated

May 28, 2025

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Q. Who is leading the Ground Radio Lab campaign?
A. The University of Michigan and NASA’s SunRISE mission, which is managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Q. What are solar radio bursts?
A. Intense blasts of radio emission associated with solar flares that can wreak havoc on global navigation systems.

Q. Who are some of the participating high school students in the Ground Radio Lab campaign?
A. L. Y. Zhou, S. Rajavelu-Mohan, M. I. Costacamps-Rivera, E. Schneider, and L. Cui.

Q. What is the SunRISE mission?
A. A space experiment mission managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Q. How are participating high schools involved in the Ground Radio Lab campaign?
A. They receive free, self-paced online training modules, participate in monthly webinars with space science and astronomy experts, build radio telescopes from kits, and observe low frequency emissions from the Sun and other objects.

Q. What is the purpose of the Ground Radio Lab website?
A. To learn more about the new campaign and apply to participate.

Q. Who can get involved in the Ground Radio Lab campaign?
A. High schools across the nation can get involved by applying to participate through the Ground Radio Lab website.

Q. What topics are covered in the free, self-paced online training modules for participating high schools?
A. Radio astronomy, space physics, and science data collection and analysis.