K–12 Inspirational Payloads


The overall objective of the ACCESS for Education Program is to educate and inspire the future aerospace workforce, and to foster commercial space activities through a national hands–on space experiment flight program. For Inspirational payloads, which are intended for students in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade, the primary goal of the ACCESS Program is to allow the students to connect with space activities in a tangible way, with less of a focus on space commercialization activities. This section of the website is designed to excite and motivate you to the possibilities of working with K–12 students to design and build an Inspirational payload that will fly to space!


All of the details and requirements for Inspirational payloads participating in the ACCESS Program are given in the ACCESS Payload User’s Guide. However, since the ACCESS Payload User’s Guide is a fairly long and involved technical document, this webpage provides a basic overview of the ACCESS Program for Inspirational payloads.


This page outlines:



Inspirational Payload Experiment Ideas

Below are some themes to consider when brainstorming potential Inspirational payload experiment ideas. This listing should not be considered an exhaustive list of potential payload ideas. The ACCESS Program recognizes the tremendous talent and creative spirit in the nation’s schools and looks forward to the unique ideas generated by Inspirational payload organizations.

  • Explore the Launch Vehicle Environment
    • Experiments in this group explore and quantify the launch and space flight environment experienced by the payload. These experiments will measure things such as temperature, pressure, vibration, noise, etc. The findings from these experiments will help answer the question: "How is the launch and space environment different than the environment on Earth?"
  • Explore How the Space Environment Changes Things
    • This group of experiments explores if and how the space environment changes things. An example would be an experiment where a batch of seeds is divided in half, half of the seeds are flown to space in the Inspirational payload, and half of the seeds remain on Earth. Then, seeds from both groups are planted and compared to see if the space environment has changed any of the plant attributes.
  • Explore How the Space Environment Effects Processes
    • This group of experiments explores if and how the space environment effects processes. This includes looking at organic processes, such as microorganism reproduction or yeast growth rates. This group of experiments could also explore crystal formation and/or growth.
  • Other Possibilities
    • Many other possibilities exist for Inspirational payloads. These can be payloads of your design, or payloads for testing hardware needed specifically for launch and space flight. One example of this is to design and build a robust G–switch. A G–switch is used to initiate power to payloads on the rocket, and turns on as the rocket accelerates upward.


Team/Class Organization and Concept Development

After you review the list of payload experiment ideas, you need to decide how the ACCESS Program fits into your classroom structure. How many students will be involved? What are their skills and abilities? How will the group decide on their payload topic? Would it work better in they divided into small groups and each group had a specific task? Only you, as an educator, know what works best for your students and classroom/group.


During the process of organizing your group and developing your experiment topic, please keep the following points in mind to ensure that you maximize this unique experience for your students:

  • Make sure that the complexity of your payload experiment is appropriate for your group’s grade level;
  • Use the scientific method throughout the development of the payload – this is required for all ACCESS payloads. More information about the scientific method is provided in the next section of this webpage;
  • Take into account the mass and volume limits given in the ACCESS Payload User’s Guide as you design your experiment. Each Inspirational payload is limited to 1 pound (including the weight of the container) and must fit completely within the Inspirational payload container; and
  • Think about how your payload concept will optimize the mass and volume of the Inspirational payload allotment. Since space activities are both expensive and infrequent, develop your payload concept such that the mass and volume you have been given are not wasted. Part of good space payload design, even for real–life aerospace engineers, is making sure that every gram of mass and/or square–centimeter of volume is used effectively.


Fitting the ACCESS Program into Your Classroom Curriculum

The ACCESS Program is currently developing lesson plans that will help educators fit the Inspirational payload development into their classroom curriculum. If you have any lesson plan ideas or content that you would like to share, please e–mail them to the ACCESS Program. If you are interested in donating time or money to the expedited development of lesson plans, please visit our ACCESS for Education Foundation How Can I Help? webpage.


As a starting point for fitting the ACCESS Program into your classroom curriculum and meeting educational standards, begin with the scientific method when developing your payload. Following the scientific method is a requirement for all ACCESS Payloads. In addition, educational standards require students to have an understanding of scientific inquiry.


Implementing the scientific method for Inspirational payloads can be as simple as:

  • Define the question (example: does space change basil seeds?);
  • Gather information and resources (research the topic in the school library or on–line);
  • Form a hypothesis (what do the students think will happen to the seeds by being in space?);
  • Experiment and collect data – this is where you will design your experiment and build your payload. Part of planning your experiment will be deciding how you will collect and compare data, including how the space flight of the payload fits into the overall experiment. The experiment and data collection section of the scientific method procedure can be broadened by doing some experiments "on Earth" related to the payload topic and hypothesis;
  • Analyze data (after it flies to space – what happened? what changed? was this what you expected?);
  • Interpret data and draw conclusions;
  • Publish the results – the data and conclusions will need to be provided to the ACCESS Program as the Post–Flight Experiment Results Submittal;
  • Retest – this might be done by future Inspirational payloads. Your class or group could recommend a follow–up experiment or question for a future inspirational payload group to explore;

For additional references on the scientific method, check out the following links: Wikipedia–scientific method and Science Fair Central–scientific method.



ACCESS Program Schedule and Requirements

A top level ACCESS Program milestone schedule is given in the ACCESS Payload User’s Guide. It is important that you review and understand this schedule before making a commitment to participate in the ACCESS Program. A few key items from the top level schedule are as follows:

  • Submitting the ACCESS Payload Entry Form represents a commitment by your organization to participate in the ACCESS Program – please do not submit this form until you are confident of your class/group ability to commit to the ACCESS Program.
  • As your team develops your payload – document, document, document – photos and student journals are two easy methods to use. This documentation will help when your students prepare the Flight Ready Data Submittal (FRDS).
  • Submitting the Flight Ready Data Submittal (FRDS) represents a commitment by your team that your payload it ready to fly in as little as 60 days. If your payload isn’t ready – don’t submit the FRDS.
  • When your FRDS is accepted by the ACCESS Program Office you will be placed on the Inspirational payload manifest – the manifest is a listing of Inspirational payloads that are ready to fly to space. The manifest works on a "first in – first out" basis – your place on the manifest will be above other payloads that submit their FRDS after yours, and below those that have previously submitted their FRDS.
  • We cannot guarantee a launch date – when you contact the ACCESS Program Office we will have an estimate of the general time frame of the next scheduled space flight, but remember this is always subject to change.


Entry into the ACCESS Program

You’ve read through the ACCESS Payload User’s Guide, brainstormed possible Inspirational payload experiments, and considered how the ACCESS Program will fit into your curriculum and schedule – and you’ve decided that you are ready to participate in the ACCESS Program! Now is the time to complete and submit the ACCESS Payload Entry Form. The ACCESS Payload Entry Form is a Microsoft Word document which, once complete, should be submitted via e–mail to the ACCESS Program Office. Once the ACCESS Program Office has reviewed your entry form, you will be contacted via e–mail to let you that your team has been accepted into the ACCESS Program. Your team/payload will also be placed on the Inspirational Payload Participant List.



Developing Your Inspirational Payload

Details on design requirements, recommendations, and testing requirements for Inspirational payloads can be found in the ACCESS Payload User’s Guide.Photo of Inspirational payload container You’ll notice in the ACCESS Payload User’s Guide that your Inspirational payload must be housed in an Inspirational payload container. The ACCESS Program Office has a limited number of these containers pre–fabricated and available for use. Please contact the ACCESS Program Office to determine current container availability.


Remember to document the development of your payload with photos and text. This will help your class when they complete the Flight Ready Data Submittal (FRDS). The ACCESS Program Office is available to answer questions and provide guidance as you develop your payload. Feel free to contact us for guidance or assistance.



Ready for the Countdown to FLY TO SPACE!

Once you’ve completed your payload and you’re sure it’s "flight ready" – you need to complete and submit a payload Flight Ready Data Submittal (FRDS). Information on how to complete this submittal is provided in the ACCESS Payload User’s Guide, Appendix B. After the Flight Ready Data Submittal has been reviewed and accepted by the ACCESS Program Office, your payload will be placed on the Inspirational Payload Manifest. Feel free to contact the ACCESS Program Office at this point – we can give you an estimate of when your payload will fly to space. Once your launch has been scheduled, the ACCESS Program Office will contact you using the contact information from your entry form/FRDS at approximately L-60 days (i.e. 60 days prior to your space flight launch) to coordinate launch preparation details.



Final Project Requirements and Reports

After your Inspirational payload flies to space on an ACCESS launch, your final requirement in the ACCESS Program is to provide a summary report of your space flight experiment results to the ACCESS Program Office. This report, which is called the "Post–flight Experiment Results Submittal", is described in the ACCESS Payload User’s Guide, Appendix B. This final submittal will provide valuable information and insight to the ACCESS Program and is the final step for the students in the scientific method. You have 90 days from the completion of the space flight to submit this report. Payload organizations will not be allowed to enter another experiment payload into the ACCESS Program until this requirement is satisfied.


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