Kids in Micro-g challenge – A Fresh Attempt by NASA

There’s just a little bit of time left for students to present proposals for NASA's "Kids in Micro-g" challenge. Students in fifth through eighth grades are tapped to design a classroom experiment that also can be performed by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Proposals are due by Dec. 8.

The experiments should examine the effect of weightlessness on various subjects: liquids, solids, the law of physics and humans; that are expected to have observably different results in microgravity than in the classroom. The experiment apparatus must be constructed using materials from a special tool kit aboard the station. The kit contains items commonly found in classrooms for science experiments. Also, the experiments must take 30 minutes or less to set up, run and take down.

"This is a magnificent program that gives students the chance to have their experiments carried out in space by astronauts," said Mark Severance, International Space Station National Laboratory Office education projects manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "The students will evaluate the results of experiments conducted in the classroom with those conducted in the microgravity environment of the station."

A panel of microgravity scientists, classroom teachers, NASA educators and station operations personnel will select the winner and five runners-up. Their experiments will be performed on the orbiting laboratory next spring. Last summer, astronauts performed nine student experiments aboard the space station that were selected by NASA from 132 submissions.