ISS Project Featured on NASA website

Students Blaze a Trail Using NanoRacks-CubeLabs for Space Station Research

12.22.10

Students at Valley Christian High School (left to right: Michael Lee, Veronica Lane, and Taehyun Park) work with mentor George Sousa to construct their NanoRacks-CubeLabs hardware. (Credit: Valley Christian High School) A good education is the launch pad that enables students to shoot for the stars with their future goals. They work their way up by preparing in grade school for college, which leads to their subsequent career of choice. Students at Valley Christian High School in San Jose, California, however, are not waiting for the university setting for ignition on their dreams. Instead they are seizing the opportunity to embrace math and science education via the school's Applied Math Science and Engineering Institute, AMSE for short.

Students participating in AMSE conceptualized, designed, built, tested, and are now flying an experiment on the International Space Station as part of Expedition 25/26. The AMSE advisory board collaborated with NanoRacks, a private company that provides research opportunities on the space station through the International Space Station National Laboratory. Together they enabled Valley Christian High School students to be the first high school to take part in space station research using NanoRacks-CubeLabs.

Valley Christian students underwent a rigorous application process to qualify to participate in this exciting chance for hands-on microgravity science and engineering. The final project team includes 24 students guided by Dan Saldana, a retired satellite design engineer. The team chose a plant growth experiment for their focus. This experiment uses a student-designed, self-contained plant-seed growth chamber that plugs into the NanoRacks-CubeLabs platform onboard the station. An internal camera provides snapshots of the stages of growth during the experiment, which crewmembers then downlink to the school as data for analysis.

Students gained real world experience by planning, working, and seeing a project like this through to launch. They designed hardware and worked within specific parameters for safety, weight, etc. This included researching which plants would likely work best in the microgravity environment, given the 4 by 4 by 8-inch size of the NanoRack-CubeLabs unit. The plants had to be small enough to avoid outgrowing the growth chamber, while sturdy enough to survive limited irrigation and flight duration. William Kohlmoos, CubeLab Design Engineering Manager and student, recalls the selection process, "The payload group chose three plants: basil, marigold, and Wisconsin fast plant. The reason we picked these was because they were an appropriate decision based on the time we were allotted, which was 30 to 60 days."

The students plan to make a video documentary of their efforts, as well as maintain a Web site and blog. The AMSE Institute also hopes to hold a CubeLab Education Conference in 2011 to raise awareness of such opportunities for other schools. Veronica Lane, CubeLab Program Manager and Project Manager of Robotics and Senior at Valley Christian, comments on the range of influence hoped for in this project, "The mission of [this study] is to research, design and fabricate a plant growth experiment that will grow aboard the international space station. We also want to help other schools do a similar experiment and grow our own Applied Math Science and Engineering Institute."

The goal of this project is for students to learn to balance school commitments, along with a successful space station project. Benefits include engineering experience, project management skills, science education growth, applied research, and technology studies. The inspirational act of conducting a hands-on space station experiment is the fuel that will ultimately fire these students imaginations and lead them on an already bright trajectory towards careers in math and science.

by Jessica Nimon
NASA's Johnson Space Center
International Space Station Program Science Office

ISS Project Featured on NASA website

Students Blaze a Trail Using NanoRacks-CubeLabs for Space Station Research

12.22.10

Students at Valley Christian High School (left to right: Michael Lee, Veronica Lane, and Taehyun Park) work with mentor George Sousa to construct their NanoRacks-CubeLabs hardware. (Credit: Valley Christian High School) A good education is the launch pad that enables students to shoot for the stars with their future goals. They work their way up by preparing in grade school for college, which leads to their subsequent career of choice. Students at Valley Christian High School in San Jose, California, however, are not waiting for the university setting for ignition on their dreams. Instead they are seizing the opportunity to embrace math and science education via the school's Applied Math Science and Engineering Institute, AMSE for short.

Students participating in AMSE conceptualized, designed, built, tested, and are now flying an experiment on the International Space Station as part of Expedition 25/26. The AMSE advisory board collaborated with NanoRacks, a private company that provides research opportunities on the space station through the International Space Station National Laboratory. Together they enabled Valley Christian High School students to be the first high school to take part in space station research using NanoRacks-CubeLabs.

Valley Christian students underwent a rigorous application process to qualify to participate in this exciting chance for hands-on microgravity science and engineering. The final project team includes 24 students guided by Dan Saldana, a retired satellite design engineer. The team chose a plant growth experiment for their focus. This experiment uses a student-designed, self-contained plant-seed growth chamber that plugs into the NanoRacks-CubeLabs platform onboard the station. An internal camera provides snapshots of the stages of growth during the experiment, which crewmembers then downlink to the school as data for analysis.

Students gained real world experience by planning, working, and seeing a project like this through to launch. They designed hardware and worked within specific parameters for safety, weight, etc. This included researching which plants would likely work best in the microgravity environment, given the 4 by 4 by 8-inch size of the NanoRack-CubeLabs unit. The plants had to be small enough to avoid outgrowing the growth chamber, while sturdy enough to survive limited irrigation and flight duration. William Kohlmoos, CubeLab Design Engineering Manager and student, recalls the selection process, "The payload group chose three plants: basil, marigold, and Wisconsin fast plant. The reason we picked these was because they were an appropriate decision based on the time we were allotted, which was 30 to 60 days."

The students plan to make a video documentary of their efforts, as well as maintain a Web site and blog. The AMSE Institute also hopes to hold a CubeLab Education Conference in 2011 to raise awareness of such opportunities for other schools. Veronica Lane, CubeLab Program Manager and Project Manager of Robotics and Senior at Valley Christian, comments on the range of influence hoped for in this project, "The mission of [this study] is to research, design and fabricate a plant growth experiment that will grow aboard the international space station. We also want to help other schools do a similar experiment and grow our own Applied Math Science and Engineering Institute."

The goal of this project is for students to learn to balance school commitments, along with a successful space station project. Benefits include engineering experience, project management skills, science education growth, applied research, and technology studies. The inspirational act of conducting a hands-on space station experiment is the fuel that will ultimately fire these students imaginations and lead them on an already bright trajectory towards careers in math and science.

by Jessica Nimon
NASA's Johnson Space Center
International Space Station Program Science Office

Kentucky University Cubelab Testing

Students in space: Plant growth CubeLab nears launch

What can happen when creative, talented and motivated high school students are turned loose to experiment in space, to do real science aboard the International Space Station?

Undergoing power and fit checks and a stint in the vacuum chamber, an elegant and sophisticated CubeLab payload from Valley Christian High School in San Jose went through a battery of mission readiness tests this week at the Kentucky Space labs at the University of Kentucky. Containing its own growing environment and monitoring system designed by students at Valley Christian, the two-unit CubeLab will record and relay data on plant growth in an effort to answer questions related to the effect of micro-gravity on the cultivation of plants in long duration space flight.

The payload is currently scheduled to go to the ISS in February aboard the Japanese HTV-2.

Kentucky Space enjoys regular access and egress from the station thanks to a strategic partnership with NanoRacks, LLC, and is currently working with customers needing to do repeatable, low-cost microgravity research. Each NanoRacks Platform - there are two on station now - hosts up to sixteen mini plug-and-play CubeLab modules, or combinations of labs such as the two-unit from Valley Christian shown here. Your payload inquiries are welcome.

If you are reading this news entry via our syndicated feed, video of the first platform being installed powered up on the ISS can be seen on the Kentucky Space web site.

Wayne

Oct 19, 2010

KySat-1 cleared for ride to space

Having passed a tough mission readiness review, KySat-1 has been cleared to be integrated as a secondary payload on the NASA climate mission, Glory.

Launch is currently scheduled for February, 2011.

Here is a picture of the spacecraft on the bench at a Kentucky Space lab at the University of Kentucky. It will soon be delivered to CalPoly, which will integrate it into the Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or PPOD, a standard launcher that deploys CubeSats once they have reached space.

KySat-1 incorporates S-band radio, a camera and the ability to talk to school children on playgrounds across the commonwealth.

Wayne

Oct 18, 2010

"Flown Hardware:" CubeLab-2 back from the ISS

Back from the International Space Station, CubeLab-2 was de-integrated today at Space Systems Lab at the University of Kentucky, which will compare the effects of radiation in space on the flown payload to an identical, control cube at the university.

CubeLabs are miniature plug-and-play labs powered by the NanoRacks Platform, each of which can host up to 16 of the experimental modules. Two racks are currently on the ISS.

In this video, watch astronaut Shannon Walker install the first NanoRacks Platform.

Thanks to its strategic partnership with NanoRacks, Kentucky Space enjoys regular access and egress from the station and is actively working with customers needing affordable, repeatable micro-G research opportunities.

Wayne

Oct 15, 2010

Curiosity: Bigger, badder Mars rover

In this animation, the entry, descent, landing and sample acquisition of the Mars Science Laboratory can be seen.

And in an update posted last week, NASA pointed out that one of the several instruments on board, the sample analysis instrument (SAM) is currently undergoing thermal and vibration tests to ensure that the payload can survive the jarring launch and cold journey to Mars. Likewise, the engineers at Kentucky Space do much the same thing to ensure that our orbital craft are flight worthy.

Look for news on the Kentucky Space orbital program soon.

The mass spectrometer, gas chromatograph, and tunable laser spectrometer, which collectively make up SAM, will assess, along with the other instrumentation, whether the planet has ever been, or might currently, host microbial life.

SAM will soon ship to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for integration into the SUV-sized rover, which underwent its first mobility tests earlier this year.

Curiosity will leave for Mars next year and arrive in 2013.

Project Dead lines

By October 18th the Cube lab will be sent for out gassing testing.

Also on October 18th another prototype cube lab will be sent for integration testing.

Lastly on November 20th the fight unit will be set and ready to be shipped to the Japanese rocket.

Getting the test model ready.

Valley Christian's International Space Station team is getting ready to test their first experimental cube lab. The testing will occur from October 4th through the end of November. They experimental module will go through numerous and rigorous testing. The testing will consist of an electromagnetic Interference test that will take place at Huntsville, Alabama at Marshall Flight Space Center. There will also be out gassing tests at the University of Kentucky. The acoustic and vibration testing have been cancelled due to the protection provided by the ESD material on the Japanese booster. Also the depressurization testing will be done at the University of Kentucky, the module will be depressurized from 14.8 PSI down to 4 PSI at an interval of 30 seconds. All this must be done to insure the sucess of the project.

Project Overview

This program will be a Summer 2010 program AND an after school program that will run during the 1st semester of the 2010/11 school year. Students must be enrolled in the AMSE Program in order to be on the ISS Project Team. Students may enroll into the AMSE Program here: /quicklinks/mathscience/hs-application if they will be a high school student during the Fall, 2010 term. NOTE: Applications to be part of the ISS Project Team are now closed.

The project will be guided by Mr. Dan Saldana (retired satellite design engineer) as well as a few other professionals in related fields. Students will work as a team to plan, design, program, build, test & document several printed circuit boards to interface with a science experiment (TBD) inside the CUBE-LAB. The entire CUBE-LAB project fits into a 4” x 4” x 4” aluminum box with a USB connector. The CUBE-LAB will be connected to the ISS astronaut’s computer via a USB cable and the data will be downloaded to VCHS each day, for 30 days, once the payload is in orbit at the ISS. This data will be aggregated and analyzed daily by the ISS Project Team. This is expected to happen during the February --> March 2011 timeframe

The project steps will be recorded in a documentary video that will be filmed and produced by VCHS students.

IV. Student Time Commitment

Since the launch date is currently expected to be in February of 2011 (see section V, below) , we are required to have the student built CUBE-LAB completed and ready to deliver to the University of Kentucky by early to mid November 2010 for pre-launch testing. The University of Kentucky will do all testing at their site and then forward our CUBE-LAB to Cape Canaveral. Our students will have done many pre-tests prior to shipment to the University of Kentucky.

In order to meet this aggressive schedule, VCS will select the ISS Project Student Team members by the end of April 2010 and start working on the project with the student during the summer of 2010; and, it will continue through the 1st semester of the 2010-2011 school year. During the first quarter of 2011, data from the CUBE-LAB aboard the ISS will be downloaded to the students and it will aggregated, analyzed, and a report will be written by the students on their findings.

The time commitment for a student on ISS Project team is in three parts, as follows:

Part-I: Summer 2010 (45 Hours):

July 12-16 1:30-4:30PM
July 19-23 1:30-4:30PM
July 26-30 1:30-4:30PM

Part-II: August – October 2010-2011 (55 hours)

Weekly, after school Tuesdays and Thursday (2 hours each day)*
Weekly, Saturday AM (2 hours)*

*Note: Some students may not be able to meet all three days (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) each week during the school year. Students needing to be excused from certain meeting dates will need to work with the ISS project team to stay current with their work commitments on this project.

Part-II February – March 2011 (35 hours)

The project experiment aboard the ISS will be monitored for 30 days during Q1 of 2011. Students from the project team will aggregate data daily (1hr x 30days) and report (5hrs) on this project by the end of March.

Students are also expected to work this project aside from the above schedule times if work is not completed during the project team meeting times.

The ISS Project goal is for students to be able to balance their school commitments with the success of the ISS Project. All students that participate in this program have much to gain if the project is a success.

V. Project Timeline

Click here for a larger image of the project schedule