The private spacecraft - the Israeli experiments

Scientific experiments by students from Israel arrived at the space station in the Cygnus spacecraft

The "Cygnus" spacecraft, which successfully docked at the International Space Station yesterday, is the second private spacecraft to bring equipment to the station. The spacecraft of the Orbital Sciences company completed its first supply flight on the first day of the week, and officially joined the "Dragon" spacecraft of the Space-Ex company, which has already made several such flights. Along with the food, clothes, spare parts and other essential items that she brought with her over 1,200 kg of equipment, several scientific studies, including two experiments by school students from Israel, also reside in honor.

Mix in space

One experiment, by the students of the "Atidim" school in Holon, will test whether sugar crystals are formed in conditions of zero gravity in a different way than on Earth. The students launched into space a test tube with a sugar solution, in the other experiment students from "Or" High School in Tzur Hadassah will test how the lack of gravity affects the mixing of oil and water. In order for the experiment to be possible, the oil was replaced with epoxy glue, which hardens shortly after contact with water, and freezes the situation as it was in space. The experiment was developed by the students in a process that lasted about two years. "I am very happy that the experiment I invented with some of my friends made it to space. It's a lot of fun if we discover good things, and we can influence science. It's very exciting," says one of the young scientists, Einav Moyal, a XNUMXth grade student at Or High School. "The experiments at school greatly developed my personal knowledge of science, my interest in the field and my abilities."

A formative experience

The educational experiments in space were initiated by the Israeli company NSL, and they are carried out with the support of several bodies including the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Science. "Such an experiment is simply touched by the realization of a dream. Show them that it's close, possible, it's at their fingertips. It's simply inspiring, and that's the essence of teaching in my opinion, to inspire," says the teacher who coordinated the experiment at Or High School, Bat Chen Cohen, the coordinator of the scientific-technological reserve at the school. "The whole process that brought us to assembling the experiment is a school for decision-making, for teamwork, for scientific thinking, for how teams of researchers work."

The experiments in space should be planned so that they are small, durable, easy to operate, and maintain the situation in space, so that they can be compared to a control experiment done on Earth. In a few weeks, the experimental test tubes will be returned to the ground, and will be tested in the schools, and the students, who will analyze the results, will be able to tell later that, at least for them, the studies were out of this world.