Dr. Stephen Cheng Personal Web Page

 

You may find the various projects of Dr. Cheng including the National High Altitude Balloon Experiment (HABEX) in collaboration with Dr. David Gerhard and the Food Laboratory with Dr. Vincent Ziffle here.

 

 

National High Altitude Balloon Experiment

 

 

A team of students at the University of Regina began launching helium-filled stratospheric balloons, gathering data and taking photographs from the edge of space using easy-to-program do-it-yourself electronics in 2013. To date, launching a space balloon (and retrieving the payload afterward) has been difficult and expensive, but this team of students has developed a kit of equipment and instructions to make it easy for anyone to perform this experiment. As an avenue for science promotion, participating in launching and retrieving a space balloon and collecting and analyzing the data has enormous potential. The National High Altitude Balloon Experiment (HABEX) program (also known as S2SS2S) has enabled schools, science centres, and other organizations across Canada to explore the stratosphere and share their findings with each other and the world. The program was funded by NSEAC PromoScience, Science Rendezvous, TD Friends of the Environment Fund, Globalstar, Praxair, and the University of Regina.

 

As of 2022, the project is in hiatus but we continue to provide support for our partners and those who might want to try out launching a space balloon.

 

Instruction Videos

Electronics Kit Unboxing Fall 2016

Flight Train Kit

Rope Handling

Balloon filling, sealing, and flight train assembly

Payload Box-Building Video 1

Payload Box-Building Video 2

Payload Box-Building Video 3

Payload Box-Building Video 4

 

Food Laboratory

Dr. Cheng enjoys cooking and traveling in his spare time. During his Sabbatical in 2018, Dr. Cheng created a set of food laboratory experiments for the Chemistry of Food and Cooking course taught by Dr. Vincent Ziffle at First Nations University of Canada. The on-going project studies the chemistry behind food and cooking as well as using food and cooking to engage students in science.