NASA'S 'Kids In Micro-G' Program Seeks Science Submissions For 2011
HOUSTON -- NASA's "Kids in Micro-g" challenge is accepting proposals from students in fifth through eighth grades to design a classroom experiment that also can be performed by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Proposals are due by Dec. 8.
The experiments should examine the effect of weightlessness on various subjects: liquids, solids, the law of physics and humans. The experiments are expected to have observably different results in microgravity than in the classroom.
The experiments should examine the effect of weightlessness on various subjects: liquids, solids, the law of physics and humans. The experiments are expected to have observably different results in microgravity than in the classroom.
The apparatus for the experiments must be constructed using materials from a special tool kit aboard the station. The kit contains items commonly found in classrooms for science experiments. The experiments must take 30 minutes or less to set up, run and take down.
"This is a wonderful program that gives students the opportunity to
have their experiments carried out in space by astronauts," said Mark
Severance, ISS national laboratory education projects manager at
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "The students will compare
the results of experiments conducted in the classroom with those
conducted in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station."
A panel of microgravity scientists, classroom teachers, NASA education
and station operations personnel will select the winner and five
runners-up. Their experiments will be performed on the orbiting
laboratory next spring. During this past summer, astronauts performed
nine student experiments aboard the space station. NASA selected
those experiments from 132 submissions.
To learn more about how to submit proposals for the 2011 challenge,
contact the ISS Payloads Office at
jsc-iss-payloads-helpline@
More information about the challenge and other NASA education programs
also is available at:
http://www.nasa.gov/education
For more information about the space station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
Source: NASA