Manitoba Aerospace Week

Student space project ready for launch T By Holli Moncrieff For the Free Press he sky isn't even close to the limit for the students of Brant-Argyle School. This winter, their winning science experiment will be launched into outer space as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program. Brant-Argyle's project was selected from 1,254 proposals submitted to the program. As of one of 17 winning entries, it's also the first international experiment to be chosen and the first one from an elementary school in Canada or Manitoba. "We had to develop an experiment that could fit in a test tube and go to the International Space Station," explained Maria Nickel, a science and technology teacher at Woodlands School. Nickel is also the director of Student Spaceflight Experiment Program – Interlake. "The same experiment will be run on earth so we can compare the results." The experiment will study how cosmic radiation affects DNA and whether green tea, a natural antioxidant, can prevent radiation damage. The experiment will use yeast cells, which will be exposed to cosmic radiation for four weeks and then returned to earth for examination. "CancerCare Manitoba has been a big part of this," said Nickel, who has been assisting the three Grade 5 students from Brant-Argyle School as they prepare the experiment and assemble the necessary paperwork. "The kids have been treated like NASA researchers – they have to go through the same processes, the same checks and balances. Their initial time frame was eight weeks. I told them they either met their deadlines or they forfeited their spot." The launch has since been delayed until early December. "It's been a huge learning curve for the kids because they're not used to delays like this," Nickel said. "When they go into the workforce, these are the kind of things they'll be faced with." Nickel participated in the Advanced Space Academy for Educators offered by Honeywell. Her space club has been a popular extracurricular activity at Woodlands School for five years. Between 16-18 students are accepted for the club, and they must apply to get in. Nickel found out about the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program while searching for an astronaut who would be willing to Skype with her space club. Each experiment costs $20,000 U.S. Nickel and the students were able to get a provincial grant for $10,000. The rest of the money came from the private sector and individual donors. "The students don't want to do anything else. I haven't seen this kind of engagement from them in a long time. This has really caught their fire," she said. "This is something positive for Canadian kids." Two other experiments from students in the division were runners-up. All three experiments will be demonstrated to members of the Manitoba Aerospace Association during Aerospace Week. The other experiments investigate whether or not the royal jelly made by honeybees can slow bone loss in astronauts, and whether algae can be used as a biofuel source. 10 Manitoba Aerospace Week September 9 - 13, 2013 Top: Maria Nickel, science and technology teacher at Woodlands School, tries her hand as flight director at Mission Control in Houston. She was tasked to be flight director for a shuttle mission at the Honeywell Space Academy for Educators. Middle: SSEP students work with glovebox training. At left: Nickel 'free floats' at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Nickel and student Tess Doerksen speak to an astronaut during the uplink to the International Space Station. Doerksen's uncle helped design and build the Canadarm. Submitted photos Students from kindergarten to Grade 8 also designed and competed in a mission patch competition. The winning designs, which came from kindergarten to Grade 8 students at Argyle and Grade 5-8 students at Stony Mountain School, will be launched on Sept. 5. with some of the Mission 3 experiments. The school division is hoping to raise enough money to send the awardwinning students to the NASA Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to see their experiment launched into space.

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