How many high school students (ages 14-18) do you know that have had an experiment flown and carried out in space? Not many, if any, I bet! Can you imagine how exciting that would be? I know I certainly would have loved to have been able to say my experiment and flown into space when I was that age!
Well that is exactly what some students from King’s College Mission Discovery 2012 are going to be able to say. The 2 winning team’s experiments from the 2012 King’s College Mission Discovery are manifested to launch via Orbital’s Orb-1 Mission on Thursday bound for the International Space Station! WOW!
One of the experiments will test the effectiveness of antibiotics on E. Coli in space, something that has never been examined in depth before. The findings could have significant implications for the health of astronauts in space and the development of antibiotics here on earth.
The second experiment will examine whether slime mold grows three-dimensionally in space due to the lack of gravity. We know that here on earth slime mold has spatial memory, and can even solve mazes by avoiding its own trails.
See photos here on ISSET’s Facebook page of the students building their experiments.
Launch is currently scheduled for Thursday at 9:19pm (Eastern Time) out of Wallop’s Launch Facility. As anyone associated with any sort of spaceflight knows this can of course change so be sure to check for status at the Orbital Page for updates
http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/MissionUpdates/Orb-1/MissionUpdate/index.shtml
I am excited to say that I will be there to view the launch and many of the surrounding activities so I promise photos and updates as often as I can! Follow along (if you’re not already) on Twitter as well – my handle is @spacechelle.
And if you’re interested in the opportunity to compete to have your experiment flown into space – check out the various ISSET Mission Discovery Events that are being offered all over the world in 2014! http://isset.org/mission_discovery/ Worth noting – most Mission Discovery events are open to High School AND University students. Are you a University that would be interested in hosting a Mission Discovery? Let me know! I would love to talk to you about it!
Space Inspires! I feel so incredibly fortunate to be part of this!
Stay tuned!