We are very excited to announce that we will be engaging in a unique opportunity to extend our “Farming Mars” curriculum by participating in a research project on board the International Space Station (ISS)!
Magnitude.io produces a self contained lab for microgravity experiments. These “ExoLabs” have the ability to control and monitor the intensity and wavelength of light, carbon dioxide levels, humidity and temperature. Additionally, they have cameras on board to document the experiments. Our ExoLabs will be Earth Analogs of ExoLabs on the ISS. We will be conducting plant growth experiments and comparing our results with those of other schools in the network as well as those growing on orbit!
Our ExoLabs are due to arrive at school by the end of this week. The space bound experiments will launch on Saturday morning, November 11th, from NASA Wallops Flight Center on Wallops Island, VA at 7:37 am EST. The launch vehicle is an Orbital ATK Antares carrying the Cygnus spacecraft S.S. Gene Cernan (last man on the Moon). The ExoLabs will part of the 7,000 lb payload that includes clothes, supplies, food and other science experiments. It is possible that the spacecraft would be visible, low on the southeastern horizon about two minutes after launch. Look for a bright spot rising and moving from south to east.
The S.S. Gene Cernan will take about two days to catch up to the ISS and the crew aboard the ISS will grapple spacecraft with the CanadArm and berth it with the ISS on Wednesday, November 15. Experiments will commence as soon as the astronauts unload the spacecraft and install the ExoLabs in their racks in the US National Laboratory. There are several early morning opportunities over the next couple of weeks to see an ISS flyover.
Our experiments will run synchronously with the experiments on orbit and we will be able to directly compare data via photos and graphs through a web portal. Each student will have their own account, using their school email and password as login credentials.
We invite you all to watch the launch and berthing, carried live on NASA TV and follow our experiments over the next couple of months.
Ad Astra!
mw
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