Several Student-Led Experiments To Fly On Endeavour 39
Phoghat writes "STS-134, the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour – is set to carry several experiments of students from the middle school, high school and collegiate levels. Two of these payloads are sponsored by the NASA Florida. The first experiment is one that could provide some guidance on future long-duration space flight missions, it deals with seed germination. As missions take astronauts further and further away from Earth, they will need to be able to produce their own food. Learning everything possible about the effects of micro-gravity on seeds therefore is viewed as relevant and important research. Another experiment, one comprised of squid embryos is being spearheaded by the University of Florida and will research the physiological impact of the micro-gravity environment on the animal's growth and development."
Space Chicken (Score:4, Funny)
This space chicken tastes just like squid!
Seed germination? (Score:2)
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Well for one thing that article mentions tree seeds rather than more immediate crop seeds.. for another, I'd imagine that it's quite a complex topic that is worth doing plenty of research on, and there will be better analysis equipment available now than there was in the 70s.
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The major issue in question here is really about the dosages of cosmic radiation that seeds can handle; fluctuations in magnetic field are unlikely to have any impact, and obviously, since seeds tumble all the time, simply exposing them to microgravity isn't going to affect their development (until they germinate and start needing to know which way is down.)
Since grass and trees are about as fa
Bit schizophrenic (Score:1)
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Because the only missions we've ever ran were Space Shuttle missions. No Apollo missions. No Mercury missions. No future missions on a yet to be designed space craft that are heading to Mars.
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There's more to distance and height, of course, but as long as we're counting you'll note that the Apollo missions, specifically Apollo 13, took humans the furthest from Earth. We've spent the last 40 years not reaching higher and higher.
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It's because computer power isn't the biggest hurdle in space travel. Cheap and effective propulsion is the problem, and we only have marginal improvements compared to 40 years ago.
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Err, about that computer stuff...
The smaller processors are actually somewhat of a bigger hazard. These things known as cosmic rays [wikipedia.org] (and simila) tend to occasionally wreck delicate bits such as living cells and microscopic transistors. While no big deal down here on Earth, it is a big deal in space - w/o the big magnetic shield that the Earth currently enjoys, there's a whole lot more cosmic rays out there, than there are down here.
Back in the day [wikipedia.org], the computer parts were spread relatively far apart, and ev
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Electricity from a Potato.... (Score:3, Funny)
In *space!*
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GLaDOS? That You?
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D'oh! Spoiler!
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They can put it next to my "Lemons that will BLOW YOUR HOUSE UP!" experiment.
Do any of the editors ever edit? (Score:1)
I know it's the usual cut-and-paste FS taken from TFA, but would it kill someone to do a little tidying up of grammar and punctuation?
Two of these payloads are sponsored by the NASA Florida.
Who calls it "The NASA"? I'll let that one pass.
The first experiment is one that could provide some guidance on future long-duration space flight missions, it deals with seed germination.
That should be a semi-colon (if you're not going to rewrite the entire god-awful sentence anyway), not a comma.
Learning everything possible about the effects of micro-gravity on seeds therefore is viewed as relevant and important research.
"is therefore" not "therefore is".
Another experiment, one comprised of
That should be "composed of" or "comprises", not "comprised of".
Another experiment, one comprised of squid embryos is being spearheaded by the University of Florida
Pair your damn commas!
and will research the physiological impact of the micro-gravity environment on the animal's growth and development."
So is that one animal, or several animals?
Here endeth the lesson.
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Who calls it "The NASA"? I'll let that one pass.
Copy-and-paste was broken. That should read:
"Two of these payloads are sponsored by the NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium."
The rest of your complaints were with TFA, not TFS. The summary was just a copy-and-paste job...
That should be a semi-colon, not a comma.
Error was from TFA, not TFS.
"is therefore" not "therefore is".
I'd use "comma therefore comma is". But again, error was in TFA.
That should be "composed of" or "comprises", not "comprised of".
"Comprised of" is perfectly acceptable.
Pair your damn commas!
TFA, not TFS.
So is that one animal, or several animals?
One animal: the squid.
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The rest of your complaints were with TFA, not TFS. The summary was just a copy-and-paste job...
That fails to make the situation any better!
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Who calls it "The NASA"? I'll let that one pass.
Well, according to Invader Zim, it's supposed to be called "NASAPlace" [invaderzim.tv].
I don't know about you (Score:2)
I've re-re-read, re-read it, and I still see - Experiments To Fly On Endor.
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It's dangerous to go alone. Take this [wikihow.com].
Really? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is it only for the benefits of the students, or are you telling me that NASA waited until the very last shuttle launch to test something as important as seed germination in space?
And now, for the Slashdot cliché: screw the damn squids, they'll come back as giant evil overlords because of the space radiation or something...
Re:Really? (Score:4)
It's not NASA studying seed germination, it's the students performing a [largely meaningless] "experiment".
NASA does love this kind of "experiment" though - because all they have to do is toss the packet of seeds in the back of a locker and ignore them. Teachers love this kind of "experiment" too because it gives the appearance of doing Serious Science without requiring too much work.
Apple seeds ? (Score:2)
Apparently, they are planning a very long mission if they will have the time to grow apple trees on board.
Farms.... IN SPAAAAACE! (Score:3)
As missions take astronauts further and further away from Earth,
ORLY? When's that happening?
they will need to be able to produce their own food.
For a long mission, say Mars, is it more efficient to just pack some sort of dense food or grow your own? You need more than seeds- growing medium, fertilizer, etc. You need to devote space for growing. I suppose you also get oxygen production for your efforts.
If you're taking a permanent presences, say something substantial at L4/L5, well, OK then.
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Last month was the final flight of Discovery. This is the final flight of Endeavour.
Oh, crap (Score:2)
sponsored by the NASA
Makes it sound as though purchasing NASA is part of the grand publicity tour of The Donald.
This expensive nonsense has been done before (Score:1)