Ecole Ballenas students Marco Loffredi, Victor Kamel, Robert Lachance, Alexander Marshall and Filipe Pereira have achieved a remarkable feat for high school science students. (submitted)

By Spencer Sterritt

space science

Parksville science students sending project to space

Jul 11, 2019 | 6:41 AM

PARKSVILLE — Five École Ballenas Secondary School students shot for the moon and now their science project will orbit among the stars.

The experiment Sprouts in Space will be launched to the International Space Station on July 21. It’s a test to see if alfalfa sprouts can be successfully grown in zero-gravity and be an essential source of nutrients for astronauts on long voyages.

École Ballenas science teacher Carl Savage told NanaimoNewsNOW the project is a thrilling chance to engage with students in a unique and exciting way.

“It’s very important that in education today we give our students these opportunities to explore what’s really interesting them, what’s driving them,” he said.

The quest to launch a science project into space began in September 2018 through the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. It gives roughly 300 students across North America the chance to design, propose and test real experiments.

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Savage said it was a lengthy and challenging process for students, who’s proposals were rigorously vetted by some of the top minds from NASA and other scientific organizations.

“They can say they’ve gone through the entire process, from proposal writing, experimental design, hypothesis testing, all the way through to analyzing the data and the bitter end of determining if their hypothesis is true.” _{Carl Savage}

Savage stressed much of the real scientific process, such as creating proposals and successfully pitching ideas, isn’t taught in high school.

The alfalfa sprouts were chosen for research due to the possible needs for long-term space travel. They produce a large amount of food from only a few seeds and need minimal watering.

The five students behind the project are confident their test about the International Space Station will succeed, since other vegetables like lettuce have already been grown in zero-gravity.

They’ll be in Florida at Cape Canaveral to watch the rocket launch their experiment into space.

The students are fundraising and accepting donations for their trip, which can be made online here.

Several Nanaimo students made the journey to Florida last summer for an experiment testing how muscles would atrophy in zero-gravity.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit