Using ants, plants, and even brine shrimp, a group of Girl Scouts will be among the first researchers to help test a new autonomous research platform on the International Space Station (ISS) that is helping to expand the affordability of microgravity research.

The Faraday Research Facility, developed by ISS U.S. National Laboratory Commercial Service Provider ProXopS, LLC., will launch on SpaceX's upcoming 23rd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission. If validated, the platform-capable of housing up to 12 remotely operated "microlab" experiments-could provide a cost- and resource-effective way to transport, conduct, and return spaceflight investigations.

The Faraday Research Facility was designed to support a wide variety of scientific research from diverse investigators and student researchers. On this mission, the facility will support research from the Houston Methodist Research Institute and the Second Baptist School in Houston, as well as a trio of projects designed by winners of the 2020 Making Space for Girls space exploration challenge. More than 680 Girl Scouts submitted ideas for spaceflight experiments, space-themed art, and space-related essays through the competition, organized by SpaceKids Global and ProXopS in partnership with the Girl Scouts of Citrus Council.

The winning ideas for a spaceflight experiment have been developed into flight projects that are ready for launch to the ISS. Running the Girl Scouts experiments in the Faraday Research Facility will allow ProXopS to test the platform's capabilities while helping inspire young women to pursue interests-and hopefully careers-in space-related fields, said ProXopS Faraday Research Facility Mission Manager Jeff Fitch.

"If we can cement kids at a young age into thinking they can be scientists, into thinking science is cool, we might get more engineers and scientists coming out of college. That's what we need right now," Fitch said.

One of the Girl Scouts experiments will examine how tomatoes, peppers, and lemongrass grow in microgravity. Another will assess the tunneling behavior of ants in space, in the hopes that ants could someday help aerate the soil for crops grown on other planets. The third will incubate and sustain a colony of brine shrimp, popularized as "sea monkeys," to see whether other crustaceans could be raised in space as a fresh protein source for future astronauts.

In the Faraday Research Facility, the specimens will be watered and fed remotely and autonomously, controlled by a team back on Earth with minimal crew interaction. Images taken with the platform's internal cameras will be transmitted daily so the scouts can monitor the progress of their experiments and compare the spaceflight samples with their control experiments on the ground. At the end of the mission, the Faraday Research Facility will safely return the samples to Earth for further analysis.

"The Making Space for Girls program developed by SpaceKids Global and our Council is intent on inspiring the next generation of female leaders in the space industry," said Maryann Barry, Girl Scouts of Citrus CEO. "Our 2020 ISS Mission Challenge, which could not have been accomplished without the tremendous support of ProXopS, offered participating girls a life-changing, hands-on opportunity to become part of the space industry's scientific community."

If successfully validated, the Faraday Research Facility-with its flexibility, customizability, and economy of scale-could drastically reduce the cost of sending experiments into space, Brinkley stated. This cost reduction could enable researchers and educators to conduct multiple spaceflight investigations, honing their research.

"Being repeatable and scalable is all tied to being able to mature your science," Brinkley said. "We wanted the Faraday Research Facility to be a simple and affordable solution to enable repeatable spaceflight research that fosters a long-term research strategy."

To learn about the other payloads the Faraday platform will support on its upcoming flight-including potentially game-changing biomedical technology from the Houston Methodist Research Institute-visit the ISS National Lab's SpaceX CRS-23 launch page here.

Related Links
SpaceKids Global
Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News

Thanks for being there; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5+ Billed Monthly		SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal

Northrop Grumman set to launch 16th cargo delivery mission to ISS
Dulles VA (SPX) Aug 10, 2021
Northrop Grumman is set to launch the company's 16th resupply mission (NG-16) to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) contract. For the NG-16 mission, the Cygnus spacecraft will launch aboard the company's Antares rocket, carrying approximately 8,200 pounds of supplies, equipment and experiments for the astronauts aboard the station-the company's largest resupply delivery to date. Antares is set to launch Aug. 10 at 5:56 p.m. EDT from the Mid-Atlantic ... read more

Read more from original source...