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SSEP Students in Space

SSEP Students in Space. Meet informally Thursdays after school from now through Nov. 1 Room B-  Hang out, get your questions answered - or, if I can’t, contact the national program director, Rachel Manzer rmanzer@hotmail.com MSJHS school community lead - Dr. Brucker.

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SSEP Students in Space

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  1. SSEPStudents in Space • Meet informally Thursdays after school from now through Nov. 1 • Room B- • Hang out, get your questions answered - or, if I can’t, contact the national program director, Rachel Manzer rmanzer@hotmail.com • MSJHS school community lead - Dr. Brucker

  2. NASA-sponsored competition to design and fly an experiment in Microgravity aboard the International Space Station • Contents: • Microgravity • Timeline • FAQs • Links • Resources • Fluid mixing enclosures • Examples of prior winning proposals • MSJHS school community lead - Charlie Brucker

  3. SSEP Student Spaceflight Experiments Program • Design and fly an experiment in Microgravity, aboard the International Space Station • no thermally-induced convection • no sedimentation/stratification • no hydrostatic pressure • reduced contact with vessel walls • A nationwide competition limitedto 24 school communities, MSJHS being one of them. • The winning proposal is guaranteed a flight aboard SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2013. • Covered - $20,000 - the cost for an independent experimenter to fly an experiment on ISS.

  4. Critical Timeline for Student Experiments • Sep - Nov 1, 2012: Experiment design and proposal writing • Community-wide engagement in SSEP • Student teams frame experiments • Student teams write and submit five-page proposals to community’s SSEP lead organization • Nov 2-9: School wide design review • School-based review of student experimental design proposals • School review team forwards three proposals to Teachers in Space • Sep 26 update: “Each Flight experiment Workshop will be able to send in 2 experimental proposals. This is a change, it used to be 3. This change has been made due to the sheer number of proposals and number of available reviewers.” • Nov 9: Deadline for submission of winning proposals for Step 1 Review

  5. Critical Timeline • Nov 9-12: Proposals processed and distributed to Step 1 Review Board • Nov 12-19: Step 1 Review Board selects three Finalist Proposals • Must meet Proposal Requirements Checklist (downloadable) • Three finalists will be posted on Teachers in Space Website • Nov 19, 10 PM ET: Deadline for Finalist Proposals to be received by NCESSE via email for Step 2 Review. • Nov 19-29: Step 2 Review Board makes tentative flight experiment selection, with comments • Nov 29-Dec 7: Student team responds to comments • Outstanding questions regarding fluids/solids to be flown • Special handling instructions • Required astronaut interactions aboard ISS • Dec 7 - Public announcement of winning proposal, lead passes to winning school.

  6. Critical Timeline • Dec 7, 2012: NCESSE (National Center for Earth and Space Science Education) provides experiment details to NanoRacks for delivery to NASA • List of fluids and solids to be flown, with prescribed concentrations, to be given to NASA toxicology for flight safety review • Timeline for astronaut interaction provided to NASA’s ISS crews activity scheduling team • Dec 12 - NASA Toxicology receives list of experimental samples • Toxicology requires list 90 days in advance of launch • Launch therefore can take place no earlier than Mar 12, 2013 • Teachers In Space will pay the $20,000 required to fly the winning experiment onboard the International Space Station. Guaranteed to fly.

  7. FAQ • Will there be additional cost to school? Yes - You will need to pay for: • Shipping to and from Houston, TX • All materials needed to do your experiment (Mix Stix will be provided to winning team) • Optional: Students can present the findings of their experiment at the Smithsonian Institution (need to verify this). • Optional: Students can attend the launch if there is an invitation. • The biggest question: How do I get started? • Grab your favorite healthy snack, go to the SSEP website, and start getting familiar with the program: http://ssep.ncesse.org/ and http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/SSEP.html • You are participating in Mission #3. Carefully read: the Home page, the About SSEP page, and the How to Participate page.

  8. FAQ • Flight duration - Sep 18 update - The current plan for transporting the SSEP Mission 3 experiments payload to ISS is to have it launched on a U.S. ferry vehicle from the east coast of the U.S. in spring 2013, and return it to Earth using either a U.S. vehicle or a Russian Soyuz spacecraft about six weeks later, in spring or early summer 2013. Student team experiments will therefore be in orbit for approximately six weeks according to the current schedule. • Experiment temperature condition • Experiment light condition • Certificated teacher required to chaperone student travel? • Any analysis aboard ISS, e.g. photographs of FME? • Analysis (on earth) by professional laboratory, e.g. SEM

  9. FAQ • Press releases - All press releases must be approved by Teachers in Space and SSEP program.

  10. Links • In Our Own Words - Impact from Community Leaders, Teachers, Students, Parents, and Local Partners: http://ssep.ncesse.org/communities/in-our-own-words/ • SSEP In the News - Extensive media coverage, including feature stories by NASA, local coverage from outlets across the nation, and for Mission 1 to ISS, coverage by the NYT, MSNBC, Forbes, the Washington Post, etc: http://ssep.ncesse.org/communities/in-the-news/ • SSEP Communities and Local Partners: http://ssep.ncesse.org/communities/community-directory/ • Prior Flight Experiment and Honorable Mention Finalists: http://ssep.ncesse.org/communities/experiments-selected-for-flight/selected-experiments-on-ssep-mission-2-to-iss/ • A NASA video showcasing the power of the program: http://spaceports.blogspot.com/2012/05/student-science-is-underway-with-spacex.html • SSEP represented at February 7, 2012, White House event on STEM education: http://ssep.ncesse.org/2012/02/ssep-co-pi-kyra-smith-and-community-program-co-director-anthonette-pena-represent-ssep-at-the-white-house/

  11. Links • An alphabetical list of ISS experiments: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/List.html

  12. Resources • Mission #3 officially starts Sep 19. However, there is no reason why we can not start now (start with Mission #2 Proposal form). • On the website under Resources: Teachers - How To Move Forward. http://ssep.ncesse.org/teacher-and-student-proposer-resources/to-teachers-how-to-move-forward/ • SSEP Website: Resources – Document Library http://ssep.ncesse.org/teacher-and-student-proposer-resources/document-library/. All the documents you need: • Experimental Proposal Template • Info on the Mini-Lab (MixStik) • Power Point on SSEP • Materials List • And MUCH more • Passwords to get into protected areas on site: • User Name: Mission • Password: One!

  13. Experimental Fluids Mixing Enclosure (FME)

  14. Experimental Fluids Mixing Enclosure (FME)

  15. Winning proposals selected for flight aboard the final Shuttle Mission (Atlantis, STS-135) 1. How Does Microgravity Affect the Maximum Cell Size of Tardigrades? Grades 9-11, Ridge View High School, Galva-Holstein, Iowa Principal Investigator: Dana Hustedt Co-Investigators: Jacob Biddle, Austin Hayden, Isaac Jepsen, Gretchen Kistenmacher, Michael Perrett, and Taylor Radke Teacher Facilitators: Art Witten, High School Chemistry and Physics Teacher, and Patty Wheeler, High School Biology, Anatomy, and Environmental Science Teacher Proposal Summary: The purpose of this experiment is to see how microgravity will affect the cell size of tardigrades, commonly referred to as “water bears.” We will do this by sending up a group of tardigrades and sufficient food supply for them to feast upon. We hope to detect any significant growth difference between the microgravity specimens and earth bound specimens. Any cell size difference would support the idea of microgravity having some effect on the cells.

  16. 2. Physiological effects of microgravity on germination and growth of Arabidopsis thaliana Grades 9-12, Henry E. Lackey High School, Charles County, Maryland Co-Principal Investigators: Courtney Buckman, Charles Campbell, Kristin Conyers, Devon Johnson, Chinyere McKoy-Nwachukwu, Christine Kim, Sam Paras, Sydney Scott, Paul Warren, and Deborah Cline Teacher Facilitators: Lara North and Romulo Gabriel, Science Teachers Proposal Summary: The experiment detailed herein investigates the effect of microgravity on the growth of plant structures during seed germination. The team believes plant growth in a microgravity environment will result in significant changes to the majority of plant structures of the Arabidopsis thaliana model organism. The set of seeds exposed to a microgravity environment will be compared to a set of seeds grown on Earth as a control group. The comparison tool that will be used is a scanning electron microscope. The main focus of this experiment will be on the vascular tissues and the root systems of the models. However, all plant structures will be studied. A. thaliana, a small flowering plant, is widely used as a model organism in plant biology. It was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced. If this mission is successful, individual genes of the wild type A. thaliana could then be mutated in order to determine the specific effect of microgravity on expression of individual gene sequences. Because A. thaliana has been extensively experimented with, a pattern could emerge when examining the relationship between mutated seeds germinated in space and mutated seeds germinated on Earth.

  17. Disciplines Explored in Previous Missions • Protein crystal growth - to obtain highly ordered, large, X-ray diffraction quality crystals in order to determine the three dimensional structure of the protein for development of drugs. • Inorganic crystal growth - to obtain more geometrically perfect crystals to develop superior material properties and encourage microscopic analysis of materials by students. • Bacteria and related organisms - to study the effect of Zero-G on bacteria to see if there is any change in the expression of natural antibiotic resistance. • Fish and other aquatic life - to determine the effect of microgravity on cell growth, with applications in cell regeneration and tissue engineering on earth and potential food sources in long duration space flight. • Food products - to study the behavior of food products in space for the development of new food products. • Seeds and plant studies - to study the effects of microgravity on the germination and root/shoot development of seeds.

  18. Disciplines Explored in Previous Missions • Fluid diffusion - to study fluid diffusion processes in microgravity. • Cell biology - to gain a better understanding of cell growth and function in microgravity. Help understand diseases such as osteoporosis. • Micro-encapsulation - to produce more uniform, stronger, and multilayered capsules for safer and more controlled delivery of medicine. Miscellaneous - cotton, HCl, NaCl acqueous, oil, natural and synthetic fabric, paper, aluminum foam, Delrin, clay, putty. Biological fixatives and growth inhibitors can be used to stop or slow down the growth of organisms during an experiment. This can be desirable to avoid confounding your experiment with the effect of gravity upon reentry and return to earth. This list, including many examples from each discipline, can be found at http://ssep.ncesse.org/teacher-and-student-proposer-resources/document-library/, “Master List of Experiment Samples”

  19. Additional stuff . . . • Nanoracks homepage: http://nanoracks.com/. Nanoracks provides repeatable access to the International Space Station microgravity environment for commercial and educational research projects. Nanorack’s permanently installed, low-cost, hassle-free, standardized, plug-n-play facilities have vastly lowered costs for commercial space research users. • Microgravity mini research laboratories • Developed by Instrumentation Technology Associates, Inc. (ITA): http://www.itaspace.com/news.html • SSEP is currently using the Fluids Mixing Enclosure (FME) mini-lab. • Stromatolite Explorer http://microbes.arc.nasa.gov/movie/large-qt.html. Not microgravity, but well done and stimulating investigation of a microbial matt community where photosynthesis migrates to an oxygenic sulfur-based chemistry and bacterial oxygen-based metabolism migrates to sulfur-based compounds.

  20. To Do List • Mission #2 proposal form  • Master List of Experiment Samples  • Thursday meetings • Fliers to science teachers • Wednesday announcements • Meeting refreshments • Unanswered FAQs • Verify that students can present the findings of their experiment at the Smithsonian Institution • Find Mission #3 proposal form

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