31 May 2017
The Bowral High School year 8 STEM class has successfully dispatched their experiments to the United States for launch into space by NASA.
Blast Off to Space Research.
Three teams of students in the Year 8 STEM class have been selected to have their own experiments performed in space using NASA rockets. The original experiments were imagined and developed by the students in the first term of this year. The Cubes in Space program uses formal and informal learning environments, where students are exposed to engaging online content and activities in preparation for the design and development of an experiment to be integrated into a small cube. Throughout the experience, students develop key 21st century skills; communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity. The Bowral High School teams are the only teams that have been successful in having experiments fly in space.
The experiments will be launched via sounding rocket in late June 2017 from NASA Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia or by high-altitude scientific balloon in late summer 2017 from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico.
Team Bone: A bone will be suspended on stilts with clay or play dough attached to the sides of the bone to examine the effects of launch and reentry on bones.
Team Pinto Beans: The experiment is to find out if a pinto bean can still germinate after being out in space and to survive the conditions and radiation from space.
Team Blu Tac: What effect will space travel have on the physical properties of Blu Tac?
Letter of Acceptance (pdf 185 KB)
Cubes in Space™ a program by idoodledu inc., in collaboration with NASA's Langley Research Center, NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and Colorado Space Grant Consortium, offers global design competitions for students 11-18 years of age to develop STEAM-based experiments for launch into space.