For the first time, an experiment created by NSW public school students will be part of a mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
The “Algae in Microgravity” experiment from Casula High School students was selected to be sent in the 2024 mission to the ISS as part of the Powerhouse: Future Space program.
The experiment seeks to determine how microgravity influences algae growth, with potential findings related to global warming and climate change.
“Our experiment is aimed at finding a sustainable way to produce algae or to make algae reproduce faster. Our hypothesis is that algae will hyper-reproduce in microgravity due to the lack of gravity,” team member Marko Stojisavljevic said.
Marko said that in the long term, algae could be used to make Mars into a green planet.
“The Earth became a green planet because algae was the first form of life to evolve and it’s what allowed everything else to exist and created our atmosphere,” the high school student said.
“It converted all the methane and carbon dioxide into oxygen, giving us an ozone layer and allowing everything to live.”
The team was part of the program’s Powerhouse: Future Space inaugural cohort.
As part of the program, students pitched their experiment ideas last week to a panel that included European Space Agency reserve astronaut Meganne Christian, astrophysicist Ilana Fein and Australian Space Agency chief technology officer Aude Vignelles.
Over the past two years, 180 students across Arthur Phillip High School, Casula High School, East Hills Girls High School, Hurlstone Agricultural High School, Jamison High School and Seven Hills High School used NASA-inspired design to develop the experiments.
Other microgravity experiments involved honey production, insulin development, neuron development, and microbial resistance.
The Powerhouse: Future Space program is being run in partnership between Powerhouse, the NSW Department of Education and Magnitude.io.
NSW Department of Education’s STEM project adviser 7-12 Dr Scott Sleap said the partnership opened doors for students interested in science, technology and space.
“The results of the Powerhouse: Future Space program highlight the benefits of empowering students to discover practical solutions through a world-class curriculum,” Sleap said.
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