The CGUHS Near Space Research Team is part of a NASA Space Grant funded project: Neal Allado (Programmer), Ella Barth (Electrical Systems), Evan Centeno (Systems Integration), Angel Gonzalez (Power Management), Jonathan Lawson (Programmer), Danika Liebhart (Designer), Melody Limon (Designer), Elijah Ramirez (Fabrication), and Elias Razo (CAD SolidWorks). The Arizona Space Grant Consortium sponsors several projects for undergraduate and graduate students at institutions of higher learning around the state. CGUHS is the only high school in Arizona that participates in this project. The project the team is participating in is called ASCEND (Aerospace STEM Challenges to Educate New Discoverers). Students are tasked to “Design and build small payloads for launch from high-altitude weather balloons. Teams measure various atmospheric parameters as a function of altitude up to about 100,000 feet and some obtain a series of timed images of the Earth throughout the balloon's ascent to characterize surface features, cloud structure, and the Earth's curvature.” The CGUHS team has two previous launches. They presented the results of their two flights in a breakout session at the Arizona Space Symposium held in Tucson last April. They were also able to sit in on presentations by Arizona undergraduate and graduate students and learn of their projects and the work they had done as recipients of a NASA Space Grant. Team members are currently updating their designs and working to build, program, and test an instrument payload for a high-altitude balloon launch scheduled for mid-November. Their goal is to use ultraviolet, O2, and O3 sensors to detect the ozone layer as their payload rises into the stratosphere and to track their payload using GPS and altitude sensors. They will also gather data on temperature, pressure, and humidity throughout the flight. For more information, visit https://spacegrant.arizona.edu/research/ascend. The Cougars are advised by John Morris, CTE Engineering/CTE Software & App Design/Mathematics teacher.