Worms of school projects onboard Antares rocket have been also lost

Dear readers and followers,

few days after the terrific failure during take-off of the Antares space rocket, the space community starts to see the consequences for the all projects linked to this dramatic event. The rocket was carrying more than 2200 kg of equipment and supplies for the international space station. No one was injured when the rocket, built and launched by +Orbital Sciences and Technologies, Inc., exploded into what witnesses said looked like a "ball of fire" after lifting off from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.

Credit image: +NASA 

Actually, over a dozen school projects were onboard the U.S. supply rocket that exploded shortly after liftoff from the Virginia regional space launch pad. Fortunately, a group of California students will have another shot at getting their project. 

Credit image: Urban promise academy middle school

The project, developed by students at the Urban Promise Academy middle school in Oakland, would have sent the worms to the International Space Station to study the effects of space on composting."They were very distressed initially when the rocket blew up. Of all the points of potential failure, that wasn't one that students or staff had anticipated," said Flint, a staff member of the school leading this student project. But Flint added that school officials were assured they would have a second chance to send the project into space on an upcoming launch, though it was not immediately clear when.

The study of life in space is a huge topic and many experiment are done in orbit, such as the last one of the Russian space program with gecko. 

The project was among 18 student investigations onboard the rocket when it exploded, according to a NASA statement. The winners were selected from a pool of nearly 1500 proposals from across the country, +NASA  said.

It was not immediately clear whether the other projects would also be included on another flight.

Source: +NASA 

Remember that this blog is free, but you can support us with Flattr

Stay tuned

Student built rocket took off from the Bonneville salt flats, Utah

Credit image: NASA - Dusty hood 

A student-built rocket took off from the brilliant white hardpan of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County, Utah, May 17th 2014 during the Student Launch rocketry competition. 

Sixteen teams, comprised of some 250 student participants from 15 states, launched rockets of their own design, complete with three working science and engineering payloads apiece, cheered on by approximately 500 spectators.

NASA Student Launch is an annual education event, designed to inspire young people to pursue studies and careers in the science, technology, engineering or mathematics field. The event is organized by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and sponsored by ATK Aerospace Group of Magna, Utah. The grand-prize-winning school team will be named by NASA and ATK in late May. 

Successful NASA's launch of suborbital rocket dedicated for student experiments

Dear followers,

yesterday morning, a suborbital rocket, carrying experiments developed by university students from all USA, was successfully launched at 6:00 am from +NASA's launch range at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.  

Credits: +NASA / Chris Perry

The Rocksat-X program is conducted with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. The goal of the program is to provide a hand-s on experience in developing experimental setup dedicated for space flight. This great experience leads the students to participate to a real life space project.

The rocket launched yesterday reached the approximated altitude of 94 miles above the Atlantic ocean before landing using parachute close to the Wallops Flight Facility. The recovery of the payload is still in process.

The students will get back their experimental equipment later to see how they performed and begin data analysis. Moreover, they will use data sent by other experiments during the flight via the telemetry system on board the rocket.