Dairy Meadow Scientists - Mars Balloon Launch
Our Dairy Meadow Scientists are at it again! Our school will once against participate in the MarsBalloon Launch run by the Thales Group. Dairy Meadow will be sending two experiments into space.
Sewing the Seeds of Space Void
We want to test various plant seeds including herb and vegetable seeds and see how they react to the environment. We would test whether or not they would be able to actually grow once being exposed to space conditions, then identify and observe any changes.
To test this, we would use various seeds and keep identical seeds at school. Then, we would attempt to grow the seeds in regular conditions with soil and natural sunlight. We could continue observing the plant as it grows and look for irregularities or identify which plants did not grow. From this, we can draw conclusions about the types of plants that could be suitable to grow in space in the future.
This is relevant to space exploration and astronaut’s ability to breathe in space. We know that our brains are very sensitive and vulnerable to damage which is especially important to astronauts and space scientists. Since plants provide oxygen, future martians could develop this idea and grow plants in the space ship where the astronauts are living and working. Being able to grow plants in space would also support scientists with growing food- for example wheat. If wheat could be grown on another planet, it could be harvested and returned to earth and support countries that do not have enough food.
Southall Space Rice
We want to test the effect of sending grains of rice into space and see if the change in atmosphere effects how the rice cooks. We chose rice because it represents our Southall Community!
To test this, we will keep the same amount of rice (record weight) as a control at our school. We will send the space rice (record weight) into space and first observe any visual changes we can see. Then, we will cook the rice using identical methods and identical measurements of water and make observations to the cooking process. Does the rice cook at the same speed? Does the rice cook properly? And finally, we will weigh both batches of rice and make comparisons – are they the same weight after being cooked?
It is relevant to the future as we’ve linked this experiment with the effects of global warming and pollution. We have done a lot of damage to our planet with over building industry and mass producing foods and products and this has had harmful effects on the environment. By exploring other options and methods of growing food, we could work to making our planet a better place. We chose rice because it is a simple, staple food and can also contribute to countries facing poverty and lack of food. Our Southall Space Rice can be provided to these countries without having a negative effect on our planet.
Check out more info here:
https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/futuremartians
Thank you to all Dairy Meadow Scientists who took part and shared your ideas for our experiments. I can’t wait to watch the footage of our experiments being sent up into space!
2022_2023_Moon_Comp
