Open Window School Experiment Launched to ISS on Sunday morning
Open Window School alumni scientists Armaan Thomas, Atiwit Miles Chanbai, and Cadence Ching experienced a once in a lifetime opportunity watching the launch of the experiment they developed to the International Space Station on the SpaceX-21.
The experiment investigates the Effects of Microgravity on Penicillium Chrysogenum’s Ability to Inhibit Cell Wall Synthesis in Staphylococcus Epidermis. They are hoping the results will be useful for creating easier and more sustainable ways to develop antibiotics in space.
The experiment flew as part of the Apollo payload of SSEP Mission 14 to International Space Station on SpaceX CRS-21, successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Once aboard the ISS, the experiment was stowed in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM; also nicknamed Kibo) on ISS.
The experiments were conducted by astronauts to the students’ specifications over a period of four to six weeks while the experiment was in flight. Experiment interactions were then communicated to our students via an online experiment log, so our Open Window School students were able to conduct their Ground Truth (control) experiments here at Open Window on the same timeline.
Over fifty teams of fourth through eighth grade Open Window students worked during the fall of 2019 on proposals for microgravity experiments, which were reviewed in a two-step process. This 2-step proposal review process modeled a real call for research proposals by an organization such as NASA, NSF, or NIH.
The team prepared the experiment for flight this fall, specially designing it to work within the constraints of a Fluids Mixing Enclosure (FME) research mini-laboratory and pass a NASA Flight Safety Review.
In addition to the microgravity experiment, Open Window School will send two official mission patches designed by students Rebecca Wu and Trudy Inagawa on the flight.
Head of School Elaine Christensen explains: "SSEP offers a deeply authentic experience for Open Window school students to be scientists, where they develop an experiment in line with the work of leading researchers from around the world.”
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program [or SSEP] is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with DreamUp PBC and NanoRacks LLC, which are working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.
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