Stockton Spaceflight SSEP Mission 14

Stockton students and their faculty mentors began the process of designing experiments and writing proposals for the Mission 14 Student Spaceflight Experiments competition at Stockton University joining student groups around the country.  (September 6th- November 2nd, 2019).  In addition, a Mission Patch art competition including our K-12 partners was initiated.  Mission patches selected from the competition will fly with the experiments to the International Space Station and return to their artists.

Student proposals were subject to two levels of scientific review.  The first level was a panel of local scientists and educators who chose three semi-finalist to move forward to the level 2 review.  Level 2 review was by a panel of scientists and educators at the National SSEP headquarters.  (November 15th - December 17th, 2019 )

Stockton SSEP semi-finalists moving forward to Level II review were:

 1)  "Will Tomatoes grow up in space using a Hydroponic system?" Emily Alter

2)  " The Effects of Nitrogen Fixation in Pisum sativum in Microgravity."  Sophia Bradach 

3) "Bio-Resin: Microgravity effects on resin Water Resistance and Thermostability"   Alex Blake 

In our local competition, Gillian Kenney received an Honorable Mention for her proposal: " What are the effects of microgravity on bacteria such as E. coli and how it responds to antibiotics?" 

The Level II scientific review panel at the national SSEP selected the flight experiment for Stockton:   

 " The Effects of Nitrogen Fixation in Pisum sativum in Microgravity."  by Sophia Bradach   working with mentor Dr. Straub.

Currently the Flight operations team is optimizing the experiment to be submitted to NASA for flight safety review and final clearance to be included in the mission flight payload.  Once cleared, the experimental flight minilab will be loaded at Stockton and shipped to Nanoracks/Dream Up in Houston for integration into the flight payload.  It will then move to the launch site in preparation for launch.   

The launch for Mission 13 is scheduled for late spring/early summer 2020.  Currently there is not a firm date but you can check with the M14 Flight Operations page of the SSEP for updates as well as the NASA Launch Schedule site.  It is expected that the launch will be from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, FL; but that could change.   Stockton will send a students and faculty team to attend the launch of Mission 14 and present research posters to the public at the launch,

Stockton SSEP students from Mission 13and Mission 14 will be attending the SSEP National Conference at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in late June, 2020.