When a SpaceX rocket lifts off Thursday evening at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, seven Arkansas State University students will be there, anxiously observing as their research experiment heads to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch is scheduled for 7:44 p.m. Central time.
In SpaceX’s 25th cargo resupply mission (CRS-25), the Dragon capsule will include supplies to the ISS, along with science projects from A-State and Stanford.
The launch in Florida will culminate the students’ work that began in December 2020 after their proposal to NASA’s Student Payload Opportunity with Citizen Science (SPOCS) program was selected. The biology and engineering majors began their planning toward submitting their proposal for the competitive program several weeks prior to their presentation.
This interdisciplinary SPOCS team includes seven members: Benjamin Whitfield of Little Rock, an electrical engineering major and team leader; Katherine Willis of Blue Springs, Mo., Claire Greene of Conway and Hannah Seats of Brookland, who are biological sciences majors; and Landon Perdue of Brookland, Mason Rhodes of Benton, and Jacob Oster of Bay, who are mechanical engineering majors.
The launch, along with a live broadcast interview featuring the SPOCS team, will air live on NASA TV and the NASA website. Whitfield and Greene will be the two A-State students doing a live interview during the broadcast.
Titled "Microgravity Environment Impact on Plastic Biodegradation by Galleria mellonella," their proposal is described as an experiment to discover the ability of waxworms to degrade plastics in space. The ISS experiment could help provide answers for a more sustainable environment on earth and future, long-term space travel.
Though members of the team are involved in various internships and summer jobs, all are able to attend the launch. The biology crew is driving the waxworms to the space center while the engineering students will fly in and meet up with the others. They will be working in the labs at Kennedy up until handoff of their experiment.
“They all have multitasked on this project and all team members have been involved in most all aspects,” explained Dr. Maureen Dolan, associate professor of molecular biology. “Each member took lead on various aspects of the project, from designing and conducting waxworm preliminary experiments, to the experimental prototyping and build of the housing unit, leading curriculum development for citizen science and outreach activities, to social media management.”
Their experiment was initially meant to go last December, but the team opted to wait until CRS-25 to give adequate time to optimize the experimental design, then perform pre-flight testing. Between NASA’s selection of A-State’s project and the launch this week, the project evolved significantly, providing additional perspective on the educational aspects of the experience.
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