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SPOCS team members from NASA, DreamUp, and Nanoracks with the University of Idaho and Columbia University SPOCS teams at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA Kennedy Space Center
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – December 21, 2021 – At 5:07 AM ET today, Tuesday, December 21st, the 24th cargo resupply mission from SpaceX lifted off carrying six student experiments from DreamUp in its Dragon capsule, alongside about 6,500 pounds of cargo, equipment, experiments, and supplies for the crew on board the International Space Station. DreamUp, the leader in space-based educational offerings, is proud to support these educational payloads from student researchers around the world. The Cargo Dragon is scheduled to berth to the Space Station on Wednesday, December 22, 2021.
This morning’s mission included three student Mixstix experiments supported by the Ramon Foundation and developed by students at Tichon Hadash in Tel Aviv, Shimon Ben Zvi in Givatayim, and Amit Zefat Yeshive in Tzfat. The experiments examine the effects of microgravity on the degradation of plastic by bacteria, the response of a community of intestinal microbes to antibiotics, the effect of Moringa seed powder and copper pieces on E. coli cultures, and the effect of a technique that enhances or inhibits gene expression in certain cells, called transfection, on the rate of drug delivery into lung cancer cells via a technology called Nano-ghosts. The Ramon Foundation is also preparing for the launch of the next Israeli astronaut to the Space Station in 2022.
The first two Nanolab payloads from the Student Payload Opportunities with Citizen Science (SPOCS) also launched on this mission. This program, supported by STEM Earth at the NASA Johnson Space Center and conducted in coordination with Nanoracks, is an opportunity for five Artemis Generation university student teams to conduct research on the International Space Station. Each student team was also tasked with engaging their local community through citizen science and outreach. The University of Idaho’s Vandal Voyagers launched an investigation entitled “Bacteria Resistant Polymers in Microgravity,” and Columbia University’s Columbia Space Initiative launched “Characterizing Antibiotic Resistance in Microgravity Environments (CARMEn).”
The final DreamUp investigation launched on SpaceX CRS-24 is a 1U Nanolab developed by Aurora, d.o.o., which is conducting the experiment as part of the larger Qucopartex project in collaboration with students and the biotechnical faculty at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. “Qucopartex 22” is an investigation studying how exposure to space affects various materials such as high-quality beryl and volcanic glass pebbles. Lauren Milord, Director of Programs at DreamUp said, “DreamUp is honored to support student research from a broad range of learners, from elementary school to university, and from the United States to Israel and Slovenia. As the low Earth orbit economy rapidly develops, it is critical to provide opportunities for students to develop real-world STEM skills today so they can be tomorrow’s innovators.”
These launch opportunities were made possible via our partnership with Nanoracks and its Space Act Agreement with NASA.
For additional media inquiries, please email us at info@dreamup.org, and for continued updates, be sure to follow @DreamUp_Space on Twitter and Instagram.
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About DreamUp
Based in Washington, DC, DreamUp is the first company bringing space into the classroom and the classroom into space. Uniquely positioned to inspire kids globally and engage them through scientific discoveries in space, DreamUp aims to foster an educational community where space-based research and projects will be available to all learners of all ages. DreamUp has a proven track record with more than 500 student research payloads from around the world launched on SpaceX and Northrop Grumman rockets to the International Space Station via a partnership with Nanoracks and its Space Act Agreement with NASA. For more information, visit https://www.dreamup.org/.
