The students experiment is set to come back from the International Space Station this weekend.  The school is also linking up with The Space Station on Thursday for a video conference.  Cool things just keep happening.

National Convention video

Here is the You Tube link to the Smithsonian Institute's video of the students presentation at the SSEP national Convention in Washington DC.  I was blown away by both the High School and the Middle School presentations.  These students were professional in their projects and their conduct.  They were great representatives of Presidio. 

Click on the link below to view the video.

http://ssep.ncesse.org/current-flight-opportunities/ssep-mission-2-to-the-international-space-station-iss/ssep-mission-2-flight-phase-operations/

Dedication and Preparation

It's time to start thinking about preparing the experiment for flight.  We are ready!  There has been hours of discussion, dozens and dozens of hours researching, we have practiced loading the FME's, and practiced for this over and over.  I can't even begin to guess how many hundreds of hours have gone into this project or how dedicated the students have been to be able to devote the amount of time they have to get this far.

Our school district has devoted an incredible amount of resources towards this project and it could never have been accomplished without their support.  In an era when schools have to face extreme budget cuts and find themselves having to do away with programs, our district is finding ways to support programs that benefit students.   So much dedication to this, students, teachers, school district, even families, we won't let you down! 

We are only waiting for newly designed FME's to arrive so we can begin.  As soon as they arrive we will prepare them so that one of the FME's can be sent to NanoRacks and NASA in order to be prepared for launch.  Although the launch date isn't final our experiment needs to arrive by Aug. 31st.

Below is a very technical explanation of how the FME works (and a few pictures too).

 A Fluids Mixing Enclosure (FME) mini-lab. Shown is a Type 3 FME, containing 3 separate volumes of fluids and/or solids.

1. Introduction to the FME Mini-Lab
The FME is a very simple mini-laboratory designed to carry small samples of fluids and solids—the Experiment Samples—and provides for the samples to be mixed at an appropriate time in orbit. This allows you to explore the effects of microgravity on a physical, chemical, or biological system contained in the mini-lab. Each mini-lab is a cylindrical tube 6.75 inches long (17.1 cm), with an outer diameter of 0.5 inches (1.3 cm). It can contain one, two, or three separate volumes of fluids and/or solids. You can think of the FME as one, two, or three small test tubes that can be mixed in orbit. Figure 1 provides a graphic showing the design of an FME which contains 3 separate volumes.
Each flight experiment for SSEP Mission 2 to ISS must be designed for operation in a FME. The SSEP payload to the International Space Station will contain one FME for each flight experiment. The FMEs will be placed in a Payload Box which can contain up to 24 FMEs (see Figure 2). SSEP flight experiments will share the Payload Box with flight experiments from professional researchers in academia, industry, and government. NanoRacks has the ability to fly multiple Payload Boxes to accommodate a payload of more than 24 FMEs. Once in orbit, the Payload Box is placed in a rack on Kibo—the Japanese Experiment module (JEM) on ISS.

2. Operating the FME Mini-Lab

 A FME Payload Box containing up to 24 FMEs.

The largest volume in the FME containing fluids and/or solids—the Main Volume— runs along the length of the tube. Up to two sealed cylindrical glass Ampoules (vials), each capable of containing additional fluids and solids, can be placed inside the Main Volume, and are therefore bathed in the fluid contained in the Main Volume. At a prescribed time, an astronaut can bend the flexible FME over a specific Ampoule, cracking open the Ampoule and allowing the Ampoule’s contents to mix with the contents of the Main Volume. You can expect the ampoule to break into a few observable glass pieces. Once an Ampoule is broken, shaking the FME will enhance mixing.
There are three types of FMEs depending on how many different ‘test tubes’ your experiment will need—

Type 1 FME: contains only 1 experiment sample in the Main Volume, with no inserted glass ampoules. An experiment using a Type 1 FME by definition requires no mixing.

Type 2 FME: contains 2 experiment samples, one in the Main Volume and a second in a Long Ampoule. Figure 3 provides a graphic of a Type 2 FME.

Type 3 FME: contains 3 experiment samples, one in the Main Volume and two additional samples in two Short Ampoules—Ampoule A and Ampoule B. Figure 1 provides a graphic of a Type 3 FME. 

4. Mixing the Experiment Samples in the FME Once in Orbit, and Astronaut Handling
To mix samples in the FME, the glass ampoule is cracked open by flexing the FME like you would activate a glow stick. Each FME is self-contained, allowing each student flight experiment team to define when mixing is to take place for their experiment, which can require up to two interventions by an ISS crew member in the case of a Type 3 FME containing two glass ampoules.

FME Type 3

Sally Ride

Sad news today.  Sally Ride, first American woman in space, passed away today.  In honor of her accomplishment I am posting a picture of Illiana with Sally's uniform that she wore in space.

Thank you Sally for being the first!

A little relaxation

Whew...presentations are over, it is Independence Day in our nations capital, we may never get to experience this again.  LET'S DO SOME SIGHTSEEING!

Some of us decided to try to visit as many points of interest as we could in the 24 hours we had left in Washington D.C..  Trains, taxis, and miles and miles of walking led to a once in a lifetime experience.

Looking east on the National Mall at the U.S. Capitol building.

 Another picture of the Capitol building, the big white tent is where the 4th of July concert was located.

 Illiana in front of the Lincoln Memorial

 Me in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

 Illiana and I climbed all those stairs.

 Stopping to look back at the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool.

 Proof that we did climb the stairs!

 This is one of my favorite pictures!

 The Vietnam Memorial.  There were a lot of visitors, many of them were taking rubbings and pictures of the names on the wall.

 Another favorite picture.  The Vietnam Memorial with The Washington Monument in the background.

 The Executive Office Building all decked out for the 4th.

 The White House from the North lawn.

 Illiana in front of The White House.  We waited trying to see if President Obama would make an appearance, but no luck.

 Nuclear arms protesters across from the white House

 First subway ride for the students.

 Main hall of Union Station

 Students walking through Union Station

 Replica of The Liberty Bell

 Union Station entrance dressed up for the 4th

Just for fun Illiana and Ali.

In the meantime...

When the you tube video of the presentation gets uploaded I will post a link.  I know y'all are waiting to see the video.

In the meantime......

Here are pictures of the poster presentations at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

 Preparing for the poster presentation.  Jackets off, shirtsleeves rolled up, a more relaxed atmosphere.

 Poster is ready.  Thank you Ms. Rubner for the beautiful prints.

 The public was welcome to ask questions and talk to the scientists.

 The Middle School students and Mr. Monte in front of their poster.

 The Middle School posters were very colorful and the students very eager, attracting plenty of attention.

 You can't have too many group photos of good looking, intelligent scientists.

 Mr. Christensen inviting the students to participate in an engineering competition.

 Answering questions with Dr. Vanhala.

 Dr. Livengood enthusiastically discussed the biological components of the experiment and gave some advice which will enhance the results.

Illiana

June 2, 2012

Today is the day when we will present in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The nerves have not really kicked in yet. I do not know how I will react when I’m on the stage. Hopefully practice makes perfect.

At around 10 am our name was called out. “The next team to present is Presidio, TX.” Here we go! I did not even feel nerves walking on the stage. As soon as Ali began introducing us, my heart started pounding. In my mind I would tell myself to keep cool. I had never felt so nerves. But then I told myself, Hello you know the material just say it!!! This helped me loosen up, and I was able to present with confidence. What felt like a hour of talking on stage really was only like 7 minutes. But we got through it as a team. We received a lot of positive feedback from the SSEP program and the audience.

YAY!!!