Palatine Scouts to send experiment to space station
Eighth-grader Elliot Lee of Palatine has dreamed of becoming an astronaut ever since he saw the movie "Apollo 13." But now he's working on the next best thing: preparing an experiment that will be tested in space at the International Space Station.
Elliot is a member of Boy Scout Troop 209, based at the First United Methodist Church in Palatine. Widely regarded as one of the largest troops in the Northwest suburbs, with more than 100 members, a subsection of the troop ranging in age from 12 to 17 formed to pursue STEM challenges.
They learned of a design challenge offered up by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space - in partnership with the Boy Scouts of America - and they set out to find a project that would be accepted.
Initially, they collected more than 80 project ideas from troop members and their parents. They whittled those down and eventually came up with one they call the Ames Project, or Our Team Ames for Space.
Essentially, the experiment aims to determine whether the rate a substance mutates is different in a zero gravity space environment as compared to earth.
"We're looking at the way cells mutate as an indicator of cancer," says Ian Malek of Hoffman Estates, a senior at St. Viator High School.
Just to submit a proposal, they needed to create a 10-page thesis that documented all areas of their project.
In the end, their experiment was one of three accepted.
In February, their project, housed in a small container, will be on board a rocket blasting off from Cape Canaveral and headed for the International Space Station.
"This is as close as it gets to a real-life experience in space," says Elliott,
The Scouts have been meeting once a week at the church to prepare their experiment.
"I love it," says Saipranav Venkatakrishnan, a seventh-grader from Palatine. "It incorporates science and biology with technology and engineering."
Right from the start, the Scouts divided into four groups, including teams that work on the camera, sensors, software and analytics.
"We're making sensors that measure humidity, pressure and radiation," says Harmon Bhajin, a ninth-grader from Palatine.
Tony Pluta, a seventh-grader from Palatine, is working with older Scouts on the software and programming team. They're coding a camera to take photos in space so that Scouts back on earth can see how fast a substance is mutating.
"Each photo will be time-stamped," he says.
Another Scout, Logan Boyer of Palatine, says he was drawn to the excitement of working on a project to be tested in space, but he quickly found out how much work was involved.
"We've really had to dig in to all of the math and technology aspects of it," he says. "We're learning a lot about real-life stuff."
Ben Carlsen, a freshman at Fremd High School, puts it this way: "It's been an insane amount of research. Literally, when we get here, we have to start working."
Not that any of them are minding. They are fundraising to be able to travel to the launch date in February. Once their project arrives at the space station, it will remain therefor 30 days, while the Scouts monitor its progress back at their lab at the church.
Once the project returns, they will conduct a similar experiment on earth as a variable to compare results.
Ultimately, the group will be writing up a final conclusion to submit to the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, whose officials will circulate it to the wider scientific community.
All of which astounds Troop Master Mike Blanck of Palatine, who readily concedes that much of their research is over his head. But this much he knows: the STEM program in Scouting is just another way his Scouts are learning to be leaders.