Announcing the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Eighth Flight Opportunity – SSEP Mission 6 to the International Space Station for the 2014 Academic Year
Opportunity for a School District, Even an Individual Large School, to Engage a Few Hundred Grade 5-12 Students in Very Real Microgravity Experiment Design for Flight to the International Space Station (ISS)
TIME CRITICAL: interested school districts are directed to inquire about the program no later than October 31, 2013
Experiment Design and Proposal Writing Phase: February 24 – April 28, 2014
Launch of Your Community’s Selected Fight Experiment expected Fall 2014
Note: this program is not for an individual class or small group of students.
From Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Director of the (501c3 non-profit) National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in the U.S, and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally, and creator of the SSEP initiative –
Dear STEM education colleague,
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program was designed as a model U.S. national STEM education initiative to inspire and engage the next generation. SSEP provides truly authentic STEM education experiences with seamless integration across STEM disciplines, and cross-disciplinary connections to reading, writing, communication, and art and design. And it is garnering very significant media attention at the local and national level. We are truly inviting YOUR students to be real researchers, and your community to be part of America’s Space Program – in fact we want you to have your OWN Space Program.
To give you a sense of the embraced pedagogical approach when we created this program, you might want to share the following 3-minute Symphony of Science music video with interested staff. It is from my Keynote Address to 6,000 science teachers on STEM education in the 21st century, delivered at the 2011 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) National Conference, and the philosophy it contains reflects SSEP:
SSEP TOP-LEVEL STEM AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OBJECTIVES:
1. For school districts, even individual schools, SSEP provides an opportunity to implement a systemic, high caliber STEM education program tailored to local curricular need, which immerses a community of grade 5-12 students in every facet of authentic research. The program is designed to reflect the Next Generation Science Standards.
2. The program is designed to inspire and engage the next generation of scientists and engineers, and is accomplished by providing each participating community their own very real Space Program. This is not a simulation.
3. A program that is highly inspirational, and capable of garnering significant media attention for participating communities. Real microgravity experiments designed by student Teams launch on either SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, or Orbital Science’s Cygnus,from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), VA, with student delegations invited to the launch.
4. More broadly, SSEP is about a commitment to student ownership in exploration, to science as journey, to the joys of learning, and to science as an interdisciplinary tapestry that extends to vital written and oral communication skills, and design.
5. The program uses a Community Engagement Model for STEM Education, which can extend to all K-12 students, their teachers, and families, and generate significant excitement across the community.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW:
SSEP Mission 6 to ISS will provide each participating community a real microgravity research mini-laboratory capable of supporting a single microgravity experiment, and all launch services to fly the mini-lab to the International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth orbit in Fall 2014, and return it safely to Earth for student harvesting and analysis. Mirroring how professional research is done, student teams across your community design their own microgravity research programs, and submit real but grade level appropriate research proposals. Proposals from across your community go through a formal review process, and the community’s flight experiment is selected by a Review Board meeting at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, a National Partner on SSEP. The design competition – from program start, to experiment design, to submission of proposals by student teams – spans 9 weeks from February 24 to April 28, 2014. Content resources for teachers and students support foundational instruction on science in microgravity and experiment design.
This is a true science immersion program where students are asked to be real scientists and go through the exact same process as professional researchers vying for research resources and research opportunities. SSEP addresses a wide range of biological and physical science disciplines, including: seed germination, crystal growth, physiology and life cycles of microorganisms (e.g. bacteria), cell biology and growth, food studies, and studies of micro-aquatic life. Students design experiments to the technology and engineering constraints imposed by a real research mini-lab and flight operations to and from Earth orbit.
Students also have their own research conference at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, in early July of each year. It is a venue where they can report on experiment design and research findings to the community of their peers. Video clips of all team presentations are archived by the Smithsonian on YouTube.
MILESTONE DATES:
9-Week Experiment Design Phase in Your Community: February 24 – April 28, 2014
Selection of Your Community’s Flight Experiment: May 29, 2014
Ferry Flight to ISS: expected Fall 2014
Ferry Flight Return to Earth: expectation is Launch + 6 weeks
National Conference at Smithsonian in Washington, DC: early July 2014 and July 2015
TIME CRITICAL:
ALL INTERESTED COMMUNITIES ARE ASKED TO READ THIS EMAIL CAREFULLY AND INQUIRE BY October 31, 2013; schools and districts need to assess interest with their staff and, if appropriate, move forward with an Implementation Plan.
DEADLINE FOR COMMUNITIES TO BE ABOARD (approved Implementation Plan and funded):
February 17, 2014. To meet this deadline, the Center needs to begin working with interested communities as soon as possible.
HERITAGE:
Since program inception in June 2010, there have been seven SSEP flight opportunities: SSEP on STS-134 and STS-135, which were the final flights of Space Shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis; and SSEP Missions 1 through 5 to ISS. Through the first 6 flight opportunities, 60 communities have participated in the program, a total of 21,600 grade 5-14 students were fully immersed in microgravity experiment design and proposal writing, and 5,090 experiment proposals were submitted by student teams. 14 communities have participated in 2, 3, or 4 flight opportunities, reflecting the sustainable nature of the program.
Latest news: on-orbit flight operations aboard the International Space Station for SSEP Mission 3 experiments began on September 30, 2013, conducted by astronaut Luca Parmitano. The Falcon I payload of Mission 3 experiments was transported to Station on the historic first flight of the Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft. It was launched aboard an Antares rocket from the new Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Wallops Island, VA, on September 18, and berthed with Station on September 29. Falcon I experiments return to Earth on Soyuz 35S on November 11, 2013.
We are now in pre-flight operations for the launch of the Mission 4 Orion payload of SSEP experiments in December on the Orbital Sciences 1 (Orb-1) mission out of the MARS. Community delegations will be in attendance. (YES THIS IS VERY REAL.)
The initiative was also highlighted last year at the 2nd Annual White House Science Fair event.
NEXT STEPS – WE ARE ON A FAST TRACK:
1. CAREFULLY read the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program home page (link
below), which serves as an Executive Summary for the program and the Mission 6
to ISS flight opportunity. Also below are the links to the extensive media coverage, and program testimonials from community leadership.
2. Contact us via the SSEP home page, or call me directly at: 301-395-0770
SSEP HOMEPAGE: http://ssep.ncesse.org TESTIMONIALS: http://ssep.ncesse.org/communities/in-our-own-words/ MEDIA COVERAGE: http://ssep.ncesse.org/communities/in-the-news/ Be part of history by making history CONTACT: Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Center Director Cell: 301-395-0770 Email: ssep@ncesse.org National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) http://ncesse.org PO Box 2350 Ellicott CIty, Maryland 21041 SSEP STRATEGIC PARTNERS: National Center for Earth and Space Science Education Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education NanoRacks, LLC SSEP NATIONAL PARTNERS Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) Subaru of America, Inc. This on-orbit, real research opportunity for students is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.