The scientists at The Smarties Science Club are preparing to become
space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have
been into space.
In September 2015, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International
Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they will spend several months in
microgravity before returning to Earth in March 2016. The seeds have been sent
as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign
for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.
JRCS will be one of up to 10,000 schools to receive a packet of 100
seeds from space, which they will grow alongside seeds that haven’t been to
space and measure the differences over seven weeks. The pupils won’t know which
seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the
RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional
biostatisticians.
The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable the students
to think more about how we could preserve human life on another planet in the
future, what astronauts need to survive long-term missions in space and the
difficulties surrounding growing fresh food in challenging climates.
Rocket Science is just one educational project from a programme
developed by the UK Space Agency to celebrate British ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s
Principia mission to the ISS and inspire young people to look into careers in STEM
(science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, including horticulture.
Follow the project on Twitter: @RHSSchools #RocketScience
