Delaware students' experiments bound for space

While floating in the almost non-existent gravity of space, does a seed sprout differently? How do fruit flies grow from larvae to adults, and how does their physiology change? Do antibiotics work differently in micro-gravity than they do on earth?

These are not idle questions, scientists say. As humans relentlessly push toward a better understanding of outer space, the effects of zero gravity on life are becoming an increasingly important issue to comprehend.

Right now, high school and college students in Delaware are joining the quest to answer those questions.

Several student teams are putting finishing touches on projects that will be sent up to the International Space Station. It's part of a program called the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, which aims to spur interest in space and science by involving young people in the actual science of space.

"The point is that this is a really authentic scientific experience," said Matthew Bobrowsky, director of special programs at the College of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology at Delaware State University.

DSU has already earned a spot for an experiment on the space station, and about a dozen teams of students are currently working on proposals in hopes that spot will be theirs. Each team is crafting a research proposal that will explain what their experiment will do, what questions it might answer and what practical applications it will have.

Daniel McCluskey, for example, wants to see if long-grain rice grows differently in zero-gravity than it does on earth.

A review committee of mostly DSU faculty will select three finalists from those groups, and a national review in Washington, D.C., will select the experiment that will go to space.

The experiments have to work under strict parameters. They must be housed in tiny plastic containers, called "mini-labs," that are divided into portions. Dividers can be moved to mix the different experimental components together.

Take the experiment that students at Caravel Academy in Bear have submitted, called "A Comparative Study of the Effects of Microgravity on Drosophila Melanogaster," otherwise known as the fruit fly. The students want to see how the flies' life cycles change due to the lack of gravity.

The Caravel team already has a ticket on board a July resupply mission, hitching a ride a "Dragon" reusable spacecraft operated by the private spaceflight company Space X.

"Not to be corny about it, but the students are over the moon," said Meredith Swartzendruber, the science teacher organizing the project.

Their design separates a seven-inch tube into three sections. The first contains fruit fly larvae; once in space, astronauts will remove the first barrier to give the flies food and water to allow them to survive. When the experiment is about to head home, the third barrier will be removed to allow a chemical "inhibitor" to essentially freeze the experiment in place so that the return to gravity does not corrupt the results.

The students will be following the exact same procedures back on earth as a control. That will allow them to compare the "space flies" to their regular counterparts and see what conclusions can be drawn.

Fruit flies make good test subjects, Swartzendruber said, because they are biologically similarities to humans but have brief life cycles.

By studying fruit flies' full life cycles, the team hopes to contribute to an understanding of how long-term stays in space affect growth and development. Most astronauts' missions to space are brief because a lack of gravity plays havoc with muscle and bone growth, requiring them to exercise for hours simply to maintain a body strong enough to walk on Earth.

Scientists are trying to work out ways to prolong missions, which will be necessary if humans are to ever go to Mars or beyond. Astronaut Scott Kelly is currently performing a groundbreaking experiment, spending a year in space to further research into the issue.

Going to space is obviously not cheap. For many missions, it can cost tens of thousands of dollars for every pound of cargo that blasts off.

The Caravel team raised $21,500 to punch their ticket to space, including at $10,000 grant from Agilent Technologies, crowd-sourced funding on the website GoFundMe, and funds raised through various school organizations.

A team at Caesar Rodney High School has already had an experiment approved, studying whether microgravity slows or quickens the reactions of enzymes, and is currently trying to raise money to afford the trip.

The team has established a GoFundMe website and is seeking donors and sponsors from the local community.

Daniel Lopez, the school's assistant principal, said the experience has shown students how scientists work in the real world.

"They really are running a grant proposal, just like any university researcher or scientist," Lopez said. "Going through reviews and edits of your proposal, finding funding, all these are things that real scientists have to do."

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.