Highland Terrace student experiment chosen for Space travel

Highland Terrace students
Their science experiment will be going to the
International Space station
Photo courtesy Shoreline Schools

A Shoreline student experiment from Highland Terrace Elementary has been selected to participate in Mission Two to the International Space Station this fall through the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program,  (SSEP).

Highland Terrace Elementary students Aden Helland, Matthew McMillan, Tuguldur Myagmarsuren, Jack Parkinson and Dylan Probizanski designed an experiment with the help of their teacher, Peggy Nordwall, about crystal growth and impurities in microgravity.

"Our question is if crystals grown in microgravity will pick up impurities. This would be important because of the need to fabricate pure, defect-free single crystals for their use as semi-and superconductors."

The Student Spaceflight Experiment is a national educational program undertaken by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, http://ncesse.org (NCESSE) in partnership with NanoRacks, LLC. Shoreline is one of only 11 districts nationwide to be chosen for this program.

• Student Spaceflight Experiments Program announcement
• Learn more about the experiments selected for the program

The Spaceflight Program uses a commercial spaceflight payload, which will contain the student experiments, and will be placed aboard ferry vehicles for transfer to the International Space Station. The student experiment flight opportunity is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is in partnership with NASA under a formal Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a national laboratory.

Highland Terrace sixth graders and Einstein Middle School eighth graders participated in a competition in which they worked in teams to design an experiment that answers the question, "What phenomenon associated with a physical, chemical, or biological system would I like to explore with gravity turned off for a period of time?"

A committee of science professionals from the community evaluated the proposals and selected three to be sent to the National Center for Earth and Space Science for the final evaluation where the Highland Terrace proposal was selected. The students will prepare the winning proposal in the specially designed NanoRack Mini-lab kit and send to Houston for launch.

The other Shoreline finalists were:

• Structural Changes of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Lipid A in Microgravity. Einstein Middle School students Lisa Jensen, Julia Manfredini, Francisca Ritoch and Joely Shepard. Structural changes of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Lipid A in microgravity. This is important because if the lipid A structure is modified, perfectly healthy astronauts could be vulnerable to a PA bacterial infection.
• Fluid Dynamics in Microgravity. Einstein Middle School students Connor Austin, Yann Dardonville, Noah Hoppis and Brianna Prosch. Testing the effect of microgravity on the surface tension of fluids with different densities, specifically, oils that can be refined into polymers and fuels for space travel.

The Einstein teachers are Ellen Smith, Mary Thurber and Ryan Paulhamus and the Highland Terrace teachers are Peggy Nordwall and Dennis Griner.

The Highland Terrace and Einstein students will make a presentation on their experiments at 7 p.m. Monday, June 11 at Shoreline Center during the Shoreline School Board's regular meeting.

In addition, several middle school and elementary school students designed a flight patch to accompany the experiment in space. Patches designed by Carly Krantz of Highland Terrace and Lauren Cook of Einstein were selected to fly with Mission 2 to the International Space Station this fall.

This experience for these young students and staff and was made possible by the support of the Shoreline community, including the Shoreline Public Schools Foundation, the Knossos Foundation, the Wong family, Tiia-Mai Redditt, Einstein PTSA and Highland Terrace PTSA.

Parents and community members with expertise in science and research mentored students with their proposals or participated on the evaluation committee. More information about this learning opportunity.